The first and foremost thing to do in this situation is do not panic. There is a very high chance that you will be able to reset the BIOS password of your system. Please proceed one step at a time and stop when you reset your password. These instructions are arranged from easiest to hardest.

Step 1
The first thing to try is using a generic password. Below is a list of known generic passwords for several different motherboard manufacturers.

AMI BIOS

A.M.I.
AMI
AMI_SW
AMI?SW
BIOS
HEWLITT RAND
LKWPETER
PASSWORD
Oder

AWARD BIOS

01322222
589589
589721
595595
598598
aLLy
aLLY
ALLY
ALFAROME
aPAf
_award
AWARD SW
AWARD PW
AWARD_SW
AWARD?SW
AWKWARD
BIOSTAR
CONCAT
Condo
d8on
djonet
HLT
J64
J256
J262
j332
j322
KDD
LKWPETER
lkwpeter
PINT
pint
SER
SKY_FOX
SYXZ
TTPTHA
ZAAADA
ZBAAACA
ZJAAADC

Russian Award Passwords:

%????? ?p??????%
%?????? ?p??????%

IBM APTIVA BIOS

Press both mouse buttons repeatedly during the boot

PHOENIX BIOS

phoenix

OTHER BIOS

ALFAROME
BIOSTAR
biostar
biosstar
CMOS
cmos
LKWPETER
lkwpeter
setup
SETUP
Syxz
Wodj

SOME COMPUTERS WITH TOSHIBA BIOS

Hold down the Shift key as the computer is booting

Step 2
Didn't work? Next, try this utility to recover your lost BIOS password.

Step 3
Warning: The following instructions involve opening the case of your computer. While inside of your computer, you must at all times be conscious of the risk of ElectroStatic Discharge. If you do not feel comfortable doing this, please take your computer to a professional. PCHelpForum cannot be responsible for any damage done to your computer through the use of these instructions.

If the previous two steps did not work, turn off and unplug the computer, open the case, and look for a jumper or dipswitch. It will often times be labeled with one of the following labels: CLEAR - CLEAR CMOS - CLR - CLRPWD - PASSWD - PASSWORD - PWD, however, they can be named anything. Reset the jumper or dipswitch, and power up the computer. Wait a few seconds for the computer to boot, turn it off, and reset the jumper or dipswitch back to its normal position. Below is a list of the common locations for a password reset jumper or dipswitch.

1. On the edge of the motherboard - Most jumpers are located on the side of the motherboard for easy accessibility, verify by looking at all visible edges of the motherboard.
2. By the CMOS battery - Some manufactures will place the jumper to clear the CMOS / BIOS password by the actual CMOS battery.
3. By the processor - Some manufactures will place the jumpers by the processor of the computer. However, note that in some cases these jumpers will be to change the processor and not the password.
4. Under the keyboard or bottom of laptop - If you are working on a laptop computer the location of the dipswitch (almost never a jumper) can be under the keyboard or on the bottom of the laptop in a compartment such as the memory compartment.
5. Other visible location - While it is possible that the jumpers / dipswitches may not be in a visible location, most manufactures try to make things easier by placing the jumpers / dipswitches in another visible location.

Step 4
The next step is to find and remove the CMOS battery for at least 10 minutes. This will cause the BIOS to lose its saved information, including the BIOS password.

Step 5
The motherboard or BIOS manufacturer (often one and the same) may have a bypass password for your particular model. Because this is a high security risk generally only older computers have a bypass password. You will probably have to call your motherboard or BIOS manufacturer to find this password.

Step 6
This step is by far the hardest and I do not personally recommend it. On the motherboard, find the CMOS soldier beads and jump them. This will reset the password. The CMOS soldier beads are in different places depending on the motherboard, and you will probably have to call the motherboard manufacturer to find the location.

I hope that this tutorial helped you. If you are still unable to reset your password, contact your motherboard manufacturer.

Thank you very much to Computer Hope for providing the information for this article.

Nice one Space

Very nice indeed! Gonna use this :-)

ahihihi.... i cant remember my password , so i just remove the "battery" on the board and put it back in

No, there is probably a "jumper" (ask for description if you don't understand the term) on your motherboard that will reset the password. Consult your manual for details.

i got a dell inspirion 8500 does anybody know the master code for this plzz help u can write me to my email thanks


EDIT: Removed email address due to spam reasons - GaRHaR

Hi mazdarx - please don't double post, and please create your own thread if the steps above have not helped you.