[rod79]

I have an HP pavilion N5340. My son changed the power on password. Then forgot it. Is there any way to remove what's there or bypass it? I have tried all the backdoor passwords. It is a Phoenix 4.0 rel. 6.0 help asap.
Thanks

[jstrike]

This is pretty easy to resolve, assuming you have a manual to your motherboard are willing to take the cover off your PC.

There's a jumper on the motherboard (basically 2 pins right next to each other) that, when jumpered, will reset the bios. The location of this jumper obviously varies from motherboard to motherboard but once you find it:
1. Place a jumper over the 2 pins
2. Wait a few seconds
3. Un-jumper it
4. Boot up the computer.

If you don't have a manual for the motherboard you can check the HP web site or call their tech support.

[ScottGem]

First it is NOT a good idea to piggyback your question on someone else's thread. This tends to cause confusion. So I moved your question to its own thread.

Before you try jumpering, try removing the CMOS battery for 24 hours.

[rod79]

This is pretty easy to resolve, assuming you have a manual to your motherboard are willing to take the cover off of your PC.

There's a jumper on the motherboard (basically 2 pins right next to each other) that, when jumpered, will reset the bios. The location of this jumper obviously varies from motherboard to motherboard but once you find it:
1. Place a jumper over the 2 pins
2. Wait a few seconds
3. Un-jumper it
4. Boot up the computer.

If you don't have a manual for the motherboard you can check the HP web site or call their tech support.

I am a retired IBM Senior mainframe design engineer with a double major BSCS/EE. This is a laptop. If it were a desk top it would be a no brainer. I have replaced the hdd 2x without help. HP had refused to help with the problem due to the age of the computer(or about $200.00). I was looking for a competent reply. What I got from you was the ubiquitous egotistical reply, that is a paragon of why you should go back to school. I didn't put your name on this question, you chose to try and answer it, but the answers were lame. I was looking for an intelligent reply or NO reply. I came to the conclusion yesterday, no rational help was forth coming from here, so I bought software for < $50.00 that by-passed the power on password, then I reset it and am now using the machine. It is my opinion that this web site is full of egotistical goofs who publish specious answers. This is my first and last visit to a "help" website. This is a 5 yo. Laptop given to my son. I have a new HP laptop. Thanks for putting online how easy it is, when you don't have a clue. To prove a point after reading through this site, and looking for a reason for a sluggish computer, I never saw an entry that mentioned that when you take a number of temporary reads your machine goes automatically from dma5 or 6 mode to pio mode. Where do you check that dummy? Maybe you can help the new computer users, but even that might be problamatic, for when you try to answer a question, beginning with "this is easy to solve" speaks volumes about your experience and education. To prove that, answer my question of PIO off the top of your flat head.

[ScottGem]

First, may I call your attention to the guidelines for using the comments feature found here:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/feedba...ure-24951.html

Second, may I point out that the Pavilion name is usually on desktops and you did NOT mention if this was a laptop or desktop. Yes you are correct that its different for a laptop, but had you told us it was one our answers would have been different. Also we have no idea of what you background is. If you had, our answers might have also been different.

We give of our time and experience to help. And your thank you is to give a negative comment? And then insult those who at least tried to help. I suspect this was a put up question that deliberately left out important info so you could try to show up up.

[ScottGem]

Excuse me, but this site is a free site. We all volunteer our time and expertise to help others. Your expectations that we should go research the exact model to determine whether it's a laptop or desktop when that is a key piece of info, is unrealistic.

It seems your expectation of this site are unrealistic. This site has earned a very good reputation for the quality of the advice given out. That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, but on a whole we do a very good job.

You don't like the site, you don't have to stay. Just don't come back, you will not be missed.

[Stratmando]

Can you tell us the backdoor passwords you tried? you may need the Updated List.

[Curlyben]

Scott's idea was spot on.
Removing the CMOS battery DOES work a treat if you cannot bypass the power on password.
Admittedly this does mean you'll have to take the laptop apart, but it's quite straightforward, if a little fiddly.