Why I'm getting "Enter Administrator Password " when accessing Bios

[jeobsplyr]

Also, I read that the enter administrator password dialog cannot be removed by manual means. Since password is stored securely. Removing cmos battery or changing jumper won't clear it. Motherboard needs to be replaced. Is this true?

[NonSequitur777]

@jeobsplyr,

You have done exactly the right thing by stopping and not making any more changes.

Regarding the BIOS Administrator Password: what you have read is partly correct. On some HP systems, a BIOS password is stored in protected nonvolatile firmware/security storage, so removing the CMOS battery or resetting ordinary CMOS settings does not necessarily remove it. HP also has a BIOS-password-unlock procedure for certain specific models, but the Pavilion 590-p0054 is not included in HP's current list of systems covered by that procedure.

Therefore, I would not recommend trying Internet "password removal" tricks, shorting motherboard pins, repeatedly guessing passwords, or replacing the motherboard at this point.

The fact that your Pavilion's Windows installation is still intact is encouraging. Your earlier diskpart results show a GPT disk, a healthy Windows partition, and -most importantly- a 360-MB FAT32 partition marked System. That is your EFI System Partition. So, there is no evidence that your SSD or Windows installation has failed.

The "Invalid signature detected" / F30 problem is therefore something I want to investigate separately from the Administrator Password.

For now, please don't reinstall Windows, delete or format any partitions, run bootrec commands, or make any further changes to the BIOS/Secure Boot configuration.

If you can still get into Windows on the Pavilion, our next step will be to examine the existing UEFI Windows Boot Manager entry. Please run these two commands from Command Prompt as Administrator:

bcdedit /enum firmware

and:

bcdedit /enum {bootmgr}

Post the complete output from both commands here.

And please don't worry about having "ruined" the computer. The information you've provided so far actually gives us some very good news: the Windows installation and EFI System Partition are still present. Let's establish exactly what the firmware is rejecting before we consider anything as drastic as a system-board replacement.

We'll deal with the Pavilion and EliteBook as two completely separate cases.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jeobsplyr]

To be clear, I am unable to get into Windows on the HP Pavilion 590-0054, because of the Invalid signature detected error. And the enter administrator password request when accessing the bios on the same pc. So, there are 2 issues with the HP Pavilion 590-0054 now.

[jeobsplyr]

Good Evening, my friend.  I have good news.  I was able to delete the enter administrator password dialog that was blocking me from entering the Bios on my HP Pavillion 590-0054.  I can login to Windows, but, to do this, I had to disable secure boot and I disabled legacy support also.  There is still the issue with the "invalid signature detected" check Secure Boot Policy in Setup.  This occurs when enabling secure boot support and disabling legacy support.  I did check.  But, nonetheless...I have access to Windows now. I hope you can help me resolve my 2 issues. 

[NonSequitur777]

@jeobsplyr,

Thank you for clarifying -and that is actually very good news. You have now separated the two problems, and we can approach them much more safely.

First, regarding the BIOS Administrator Password: since you have successfully regained access to BIOS Setup, I would leave that issue alone for the moment. There is no reason to make any further changes to the password/security settings while we investigate the more important issue.

The remaining problem is much more specific:

• Secure Boot disabled: Windows starts normally.
• Legacy Support disabled: the system is configured for UEFI booting.
• Secure Boot enabled + Legacy Support disabled: you receive "Invalid signature detected. Check Secure Boot Policy in Setup."

That is useful information. It tells us that your Windows installation itself is not presently preventing the computer from booting. The firmware is objecting specifically when it attempts to enforce the Secure Boot signature policy.

So, please do not reinstall Windows, delete or recreate any partitions, run bootrec commands, or change any Secure Boot keys yet. We don't want to turn a potentially recoverable Secure Boot configuration problem into a more complicated one.

For now, leave Secure Boot disabled so that you can boot Windows.

Once in Windows, please open Command Prompt as Administrator and run these commands, one at a time:

bcdedit /enum firmware

then:

bcdedit /enum {bootmgr}

and:

powershell -command "Confirm-SecureBootUEFI"

Please post the complete output from all three commands.

I'd also like you to run:

mountvol S: /S

dir S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot

The last two commands will allow us to verify that the Microsoft EFI boot files are present on the EFI System Partition.

Finally, please enter BIOS Setup and look at the Secure Boot section. Do not change anything there yet. If you see options concerning Platform Key (PK), Key Exchange Keys (KEK), Allowed Signatures (db), Forbidden Signatures (dbx), Restore Factory Keys, or Load HP Factory Default Keys, tell me exactly what you see.

Please don't select or execute any of those key-management options yet.

At this point, I am particularly interested in determining whether the Pavilion's Secure Boot databases are intact and whether the firmware is rejecting the Windows Boot Manager because of its signature/key policy.

The fact that you can now boot into Windows with Secure Boot disabled is encouraging. We have a functioning Windows installation and a functioning UEFI boot path; we simply need to determine why HP's firmware refuses that same boot path when Secure Boot enforcement is enabled.

We'll take this one step at a time. There is no reason at this point to assume that the motherboard needs to be replaced or that Windows needs to be reinstalled.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jeobsplyr]

Hello again, my friend.  I have results from the directions you gave previously.  These results are from HP Pavillion 590-p0054.

Firmware Boot Manager
---------------------
identifier {fwbootmgr}
displayorder {bootmgr}
{719d1d78-997e-11f1-8199-806e6f6e6963}
timeout 0

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {78d2f469-97da-11f0-811f-485f993c9dc8}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Firmware Application (101fffff)
-------------------------------
identifier {719d1d78-997e-11f1-8199-806e6f6e6963}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
description UEFI OS

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {78d2f469-97da-11f0-811f-485f993c9dc8}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

C:\Windows\System32>powershell -command "Confirm-SecureBootUEFI"
False

C:\Windows\System32>dir S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot
Volume in drive S is SYSTEM
Volume Serial Number is 1E33-7CA5

Directory of S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot

09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> .
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> ..
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> bg-BG
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> cs-CZ
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> da-DK
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> de-DE
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> el-GR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> en-GB
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> en-US
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> es-ES
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> es-MX
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> et-EE
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> fi-FI
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> fr-CA
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> fr-FR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> hr-HR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> hu-HU
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> it-IT
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> ja-JP
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> ko-KR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> lt-LT
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> lv-LV
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> nb-NO
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> nl-NL
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> pl-PL
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> pt-BR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> pt-PT
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> qps-ploc
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> ro-RO
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> ru-RU
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> sk-SK
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> sl-SI
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> sr-Latn-RS
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> sv-SE
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> tr-TR
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> uk-UA
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> zh-CN
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> zh-TW
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> Fonts
09/15/2023 01:37 AM <DIR> Resources
08/17/2026 02:12 PM 49,152 BCD
09/22/2025 01:35 PM <DIR> CIPolicies
09/22/2025 01:35 PM <DIR> qps-plocm
1 File(s) 49,152 bytes
42 Dir(s) 213,020,672 bytes free

After running these commands, I retrieved these settings from BIOS.

SECURE BOOT CONFIGURATION:

LEGACY SUPPORT - DISABLE

SECURE BOOT - DISABLE

KEY MANAGEMENT.......CLEAR SECURE BOOT KEYS (DON'T CLEAR or CLEAR)

                                                 KEY OWNERSHIP (HP KEYS or CUSTOM)

I didn't attempt any changes.  Will be awaiting further instructions.  Thanks so much for your time to help.  I do feel better at least being able to use my PC again.

[NonSequitur777]

@jeobsplyr,

Excellent — these results are exactly what we needed, and they are reassuring.

Your Windows UEFI boot configuration looks normal. The firmware has a valid Windows Boot Manager entry pointing to \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi, and the EFI System Partition contains the expected Microsoft boot files and BCD. So there is no reason at this point to reinstall Windows or rebuild the boot configuration.

The fact that the PC boots normally with Secure Boot disabled, but immediately reports "Invalid signature detected. Check Secure Boot Policy in Setup" when Secure Boot is enabled, makes the Secure Boot trust configuration the primary suspect.

Please do not select "CLEAR" under Clear Secure Boot Keys yet.

Instead, go back into BIOS Setup → Secure Boot Configuration and tell me exactly which setting is currently displayed beside:

KEY OWNERSHIP

Does it say HP Keys or Custom?

Also, while you are there, please note the BIOS revision/version shown elsewhere in BIOS Setup and post that as well.

For now, leave:

• Legacy Support: Disabled
• Secure Boot: Disabled
• Clear Secure Boot Keys: do not select

We are deliberately not changing the keys yet. The Windows installation and UEFI boot path appear healthy, so the next step is to determine whether the firmware is using HP's factory Secure Boot keys or a custom key set.

Once we know that, we can decide whether restoring the HP factory Secure Boot keys is appropriate. I don't want you clearing the keys first and then having to recover from an unnecessarily complicated Secure Boot configuration.

You're absolutely right to feel better about the situation: you have a working Windows installation and a working UEFI boot path. We're now investigating a fairly well-defined firmware/Secure Boot problem rather than a general boot failure.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jeobsplyr]

Hello my friend!! Here's the information you asked for.  Key Ownership-HP KEYS

BIOS REVISION: 843B v.F .50

BIOS Date: 4/20/2023. 

Look forward to hearing from you again!! THANKS!!!

[NonSequitur777]

@jeobsplyr,

Thank you, my friend -that is exactly the information I was looking for.

And I have some good news: BIOS 843B v.F.50 is a valid BIOS version for the HP Pavilion 590-p0xxx series, so there is no reason at this point to start chasing a BIOS update. HP's own documentation lists F.50 for the 843B platform.

More importantly, you reported:

• Key Ownership: HP KEYS
• BIOS: 843B v.F.50
• BIOS Date: 04/20/2023
• Legacy Support: Disabled
• Windows boots normally when Secure Boot is disabled
• Windows Boot Manager and the EFI boot files are present and appear healthy

That combination is quite reassuring. It tells us that the computer is using HP's normal Secure Boot key hierarchy, rather than a custom set of keys.

Let's take the next step:

We are now going to reload the HP factory Secure Boot keys. This is different from Clear Secure Boot Keys.

Please leave Secure Boot disabled for the moment.

1. Restart the computer and press F10 repeatedly to enter BIOS Setup.
2. Go to Secure Boot Configuration.
3. Confirm that:
   • Legacy Support = Disabled
   • Secure Boot = Disabled
4. Look for an option named something like:
   Load HP Factory Default Keys
5. Select Load HP Factory Default Keys and choose Yes if prompted.

Do not select "Clear Secure Boot Keys." We are not trying to empty the key database. We are trying to restore the HP factory key set.

HP documents the factory-key restoration mechanism for its systems, and the purpose is to restore the factory Secure Boot database to the active Secure Boot configuration.

After loading the factory keys:

1. Do not change anything else yet.
2. Save the BIOS changes and restart.
3. Enter BIOS Setup again with F10.
4. Go back to Secure Boot Configuration.
5. Enable Secure Boot.
6. Save the changes and exit.

Then let the computer attempt to boot Windows.

What we are testing:

If Windows now starts normally with Secure Boot enabled, we have essentially confirmed that the problem was a Secure Boot key/database configuration problem, rather than a Windows bootloader problem.

If you still receive:

"Invalid signature detected. Check Secure Boot Policy in Setup" then stop there and don't make any additional changes. Tell me exactly what happened, including whether the message appeared immediately after enabling Secure Boot and whether the computer subsequently returned to BIOS.

At that point we'll investigate the actual Secure Boot certificates/databases rather than making more changes blindly.

And one final reassurance: you do not need to reinstall Windows. Your previous testing established that the Windows UEFI boot configuration is functioning correctly. We are now dealing with the firmware's decision about whether that bootloader is trusted.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777

[jeobsplyr]

My Friend, thanks for the reassuring response.  I did as you instructed and I did not find an option to" Load HP Factory Defaults", under Secure Boot Configuration.  I looked under System Security and found "Restore security settings to factory default (currently set at NO).  Then looked under File Heading where there is a choice for Default Settings.  Opening that category, there are two options: Save current settings as Default and Restore factory settings as Default.  So, I didn't make any changes.  By what is available, what can be used? Awaiting your guidance.