Cannot Access BIOS Due to Administrator Password

[NW8000]

Hi All,

We are trying to resurrect an old HP Compaq NW8000 workstation as it has all the necessary peripheral ports to connect with our machinery in the factory.

When we started up the computer it worked fine, but we want to reformat it and clean it up for the engineers to use in the factory.

We were able to format the unit fine, but on start-up discovered that the boot sequence was wrong and that it wanted to use the hard-drive first rather than the CD or USB port, so we tried to access the BIOS to change the boot sequence only to discover that there is an ‘administrator’ password to access the BIOS.

As we have no idea what the ‘administrator’ password, we want to reset this back to factory defaults but have been unable to do so.

We have removed the CMOS battery for over a week only to discover that the system still has a password!

Does anyone know how to resent the ‘administrator’ password to access the BIOS?

We are happy to pull the machine apart if required.

Regards, Fabian

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer is this...

Unplug the PC, and remove both the main and CMOS batteries.

Press and hold the power button for 15 seconds to drain any residual current from the motherboard.

Leave things be for 30 minutes.

Now, this is important...

DO NOT reinstall the CMOS or main batteries.

Plug in and turn on the PC (A/C adapter only) and see if the BIOS P/W is now cleared.

[NW8000]

Hi Paul_Tikkanen,

We tried your solution, but it did not work.

I was wondering if the motherboard on this notebook has a jumper rest feature similar to other PCs?

Cheers, Fab

[CherylG]

Your Maintenance Manual says to clear the pw- remove both batteries and power cord and wait 5 minutes. Reinstall the RTC battery and attach power cord.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00803690

[NW8000]

Hi CherylG,

Yes we tried this but it did not work, we even left the disconnected batteries out for a week and it did not work!

I am starting to think that there is a secondary power source for the CMOS that is not documented or that this model of computer has a flash drive type BIOS which cannot be formatted!

Cheers, Fab

[CherylG]

I am pretty sure there is no jumper but I didn't read through the entire Manual I posted above.

Just curious how you formatted the hdd? Did you not boot form a utilty usb/cd?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Fab:

See if that model has a clear P/W jumper like the TC4400 has...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Archive-Read-Only/tc4200-tc4400-BIOS-password-reset/m-p/4612...

If not, unfortunately, I don't have any other ideas for you to try.

[NW8000]

Hi CherlyG,

We started the process from inside the Windows operating system via a CD, but when the machine started up this is when we ran into trouble and discovered that the boot sequence was wrong.

Cheers, Fab

[NW8000]

Thanks Paul_Tikkanen,

The motherboard did not have the same P/W jumper like the TC4400, but I did manage to find the motherboard details.

Does anyone know where I can get the wiring diagram or schematics for the following mother board details;

                    PP2190
                    PCB-PC8166-MB-41A-VER10
                    6050A0032201-MB-A04

PP2190 PCB-PC8166-MB-41A-VER10 6050A0032201-MB-A04