startup password, not user pw

[evox15]

hello, i have a hp envy h8 desktop. it used to be my brothers and he passed away last year so i got ahold of it. it was sitting for over a year because it all the sudden got slow, like there was a virus so he went and bought a new gaming computer. so i plugged it in after being off for about a year or so it started up fine no password to turn on and no user password either. i surfed around looking for pics or whatever he may have had on it and didnt find to much. so i turned it off. the next day i went to turn it on and it now asks for a password before it even gets into the startup screen. i cannot even get into the bios either. i dont understand what happened as the first time i turned it on there was absolutely no password needed to be turned on and booted up. he had a notebook with a bunch of passwords he had used for multiple things and none work. the admin password that i researched online doesnt work , many of the master passwords i have came across online does not work either. so im asking the community or some experts here for your help. this pc has almost nothing on it and was maybe a year old so i know its not old and has plenty of cpu power in it to run functionally. but i just cannot get on it now.. tried pulling the battery from mobo and clearing the system with the pin and that doesnt even work. HELP! i really dont wanna trash this computer or put a new hd in it. i didnt even get to look fully through this computer i  just skimmed it and turned it off. and now it asks for a startup password before it even starts loading the boot up screen!

[KingOP]

I don't know if this will help you. I had a similar problem on my Pavilion and found a password on the bottom of the case. I tried that password and it worked from there on.