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How do I reset the BIOS password of an Advent 4211 netbook?

I'm hoping for a software solution to remove the password or find out what it is or even change it.

It's my laptop but I can't remember what I set the BIOS password too. I know on a PC to take out the battery and clear it with the jumpers but on a laptop I'm slightly scared of breaking something.

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its in no-way really needed a BIOS password; don't do it if you don't need it. I wonder why you did that in the first place. Do you have multiple users or so? what i know from PC's is that you'll need to push some kind of thing on the motherboard to reset the BIOS, but i don't know what's the safest way on a notebook. – TutorialPoint Feb 7 '10 at 12:26
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@TutorialPoint - I beg to differ, the fact that I set a BIOS password got me back a stolen laptop once, eejits walked into a computer shop and wanted the password removed, clerk contacted the police with make and model and the rest is history :) – Molly7244 Feb 7 '10 at 13:08
@Molly: Could it be that the OP has a stolen laptop and wants the password removed? Curious. When I want to protect my laptop, I use whole-disk encryption rather than BIOS. You can't circumvent encryption by pulling a battery out. – OwenP Feb 7 '10 at 15:51
@OwenP - no, i'm not saying that. but i'm rather wary to give advice on how reset a BIOS password with a laptop, and i certainly wouldn't do that for someone unbeknown to me without proof of ownership. hence my answer would be: contact Acer technical suppoort. and as for disconnecting the CMOS battery, this doesn't work for modern laptops. – Molly7244 Feb 7 '10 at 17:22
@Molly, although I agree with the sentiment, I think security through obscurity is bad thing. My answer is pretty vague; so perhaps I can get away without feeling too guilty :P – RJFalconer Feb 7 '10 at 19:38
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1 Answer

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Usually there's a dip-switch underneath the keyboard.

This it what it looks like on an Acer laptop:

dip

One of the settings will be to clear the BIOS password. It may be labelled as such. Simply flick the white switch to toggle it on and off. (Refer to your manual for further details)

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I did take the back off the laptop and could get at the battery, HDD etc but didnt see any switches, is it always under the keyboard? I'll try and take it to pieces again, thanks for your help – SocialAddict Feb 8 '10 at 10:30
I've only done this on Acer laptops, and (despite searching) I couldn't find any images for your model. It's literally under the keyboard; you shouldn't need to take the back of the laptop off. Should be a way to remove front faschia then lift up keyboard. – RJFalconer Feb 8 '10 at 13:39
managed to retrieve the old password in the end but i did find a couple of software tools for editing bios info which looked pretty interesting I'll post links later – SocialAddict Feb 8 '10 at 14:11
On my asus laptop, it's two little pads under the hdd. you have to short them with something metal. – Fake Name Apr 23 '10 at 4:29
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