Bios (power on) password reset on 23-r010 all-in one

[rockynm]

How do I reset the power-on password on a Pavilion all-none model 23-r010?  I have tried removing CMOS battery over night,  removing "CMOS+ PW" jumper (booting and rebooting), and doing these 2 things in multiple  combinations.  No luck.  Please help.

[erico]

Unfortunately, the image of the motherboard only shows the jumpers in the default position. It is a guess to figure out which one is CMOS PWD and which is clear password. Too bad HP did not specify. They used to do that in this type of image. You were lucky to even find the image. They don't post that information for very many PCs these days. We have complained to HP about that and were told that they use what the manufacturer of the motherboard supplies.

Remove the jumper, and that is just an assumption, close up the case and then start the PC. That should clear the password and allow you to power on the PC.

[rockynm]

Thanks for the quick reply.  Your image matches what I have on my motherboard.  Unfortunatly, I have already tried your solution.  I've assumed that the top jumper is the correct one but having no results, I tried the other two as well.   And as stated initially, have done this with and  without the CMOS battery removed.  A real stumper.  Any idea what the "Flash Override" jumper is and wether this might help without causing something catastrophic?

[erico]

I wouldn't play around with the flash override jumper.

That refers to the BIOS CMOS chip current rom file.

You really don't want to mess with that one as it will essentially make the motherboard dead.

I suggest removing the hard disk or at least disconnecting its SATA connector before trying anything else.

I consider myself fortunate to have never needed to use the paranoia "power-on" password setting. 

You may be at the stage where the only fix is having to have HPcertified repair center or an HP Service Center resolve the issue.  The following thread contains an HP response to a member who had the same issue that you are facing.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Laptop-all-of-a-sudden-require...

[rockynm]

Thanks.  Being a computer support tech for many years in my past, your suggestion to start taking it down to simpler a state is what I would do.  The link you provided about a another similar case rings familiar.  This is my mothers computer and she swears that the POP just mysterioulsy appeared one day.   -hence no idea what the password might be.  BTW, my recent experience with Dell on an out of warranty problem was MUCH  more  satisfactory.  More on-line resources and even  phone support, which helped fix my problem.  HP is pretty thin in the support dept.  Thanks again. 

[rockynm · Accepted solution]

Update 

Bios (power on) password reset on 23-r010 all-in one

 Finally found the answer.  As I was about to give up and call a HP service center I noticed a chart in  the center of the motherboard  behind the second RAM slot (but not near the jumper blocks with "CMOS+PW"  label). 

It indicated the following:

1-3 Clr PW

3-5 Normal

2-4 Clr CMOS

4-6 Normal

Then I got out a magnifying glass and found the jumper block #'s as 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, what you would expect of a dual  in-line jumper block.  This is the dual in line 3 jumper block closest to the SATA H Drive connection as shown in the photo provided by Erico.  So to disable the Bios (power-on) password you "cross jumper" between 1-3: It Worked.

Note:  while the motherboard chart shows 3-5, 4-6  as normal, mine was jumpered (presumably from the vendor) as 3-4, 5-6.  (as shown in the photo).  I left it that way as the system is now working correctlyHP Pavilion 23-r010 mb

[erico]

Excellent. It is a shame that the HP document did not give a description on how to do that. They used to, but it seems that is relegated to the past.

Thank you for posting back and describing how you were able to resolve the problem. 

Please mark your last post as the solution so others facing the same issue can find and use your solution when they search on the internet.

Sharing positive results and methods is a good thing!