Dell Bios access 1

[pintail]

I have an older Dell machine (Optiplex GXM 5166) that has no drives installed so no OS is installed. The machine boots up withoug any error codes but I can not access the Bios to find out anything about the machine. I have tried pressing every key and combo I can think of on startup but can not get into the Bios. Any suggestions? The machine has a CPU and RAM installed but I have no idea what.(I have tried, Escape, Delete, F1, F2, F10, Control/escape, Alt/escape, A/C/E, all without success.)
I am presently at work and the machine is home so I can not try and respond to any questions immediately. Thanks for any help!

 

[ski]

Try F12, and Ctrl+Alt+Enter

If no luck, then the BIOS may be password protected.

 

[garebo]

How about re-setting the bios via the bios motherboard jumpers, sometimes that will do the job of clearing the password.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

If re-setting the bios doesnt work, i found this info:
Standard BIOS backdoor passwords

The first, less invasive, attempt to bypass a BIOS password is to try on of these standard manufacturer's backdoor passwords:

AWARD BIOS
AWARD SW, AWARD_SW, Award SW, AWARD PW, _award, awkward, J64, j256, j262, j332, j322, 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598, HLT, SER, SKY_FOX, aLLy, aLLY, Condo, CONCAT, TTPTHA, aPAf, HLT, KDD, ZBAAACA, ZAAADA, ZJAAADC, djonet

AMI BIOS
AMI, A.M.I., AMI SW, AMI_SW, BIOS, PASSWORD, HEWITT RAND, Oder

Other passwords you may try (for AMI/AWARD or other BIOSes)
LKWPETER, lkwpeter, BIOSTAR, biostar, BIOSSTAR, biosstar, ALFAROME, Syxz, Wodj

Also remember that passwords are Case Sensitive.
If i remember correctly, Dell uses Phoenix bios and Award bought out Phoenix.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

I forgot to give you the web page and there is more info there.

http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/biospw.html

However, using the cmos reset has always done the job for me so i would try that first. You want to consult your manual for that as the way to do it properly will vary, most will have you remove the battery and set the jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3 for a few minutes, then put jumper back to pins 1 and 2, put battery back in and go.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[wolluf]

There's always the attempt to overload the keyboard (by pressing as many keys all the time as it boots). This sometimes causes an error resulting in an offer to enter the bios settings (ie, it prompts you which key to do this). This has worked for me on occasion.

 

[garebo]

Wolluf, you know, i heard of that. But i was afraid to mention it here as i thought i would be laughed at! Now i'm not laughing at you as i honestly have heard of that, just never had the experience.
The only times i have ever run into a password protected bios i have used the bios re-set, last time it was on an old Packard Bell P2 something.

Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[micker377]

AS for finding out what's in the system, Google for a free program called "SIW.exe" by Gabrial Topala. It's small enough to fit on a floppy. It is just like "Everest Home", but smaller.

 

[ImpetusEra]

Did you check dell.com? Under support they have HTML versions of service manuals and user guides. Usually it's delete, F1 or F2. I boot and cycle through the three until something comes up.

 

[pintail]

Hi all, sorry it took a while to respond. I managed to get into the Bios. After checking the MB, I found a series of jumpers for CPU speed but also had a Bios and password jumpers all in a row. First I tried the various key strokes on startup including F12 without any results.

I removed the Bios jumper, started the machine and shut down. I reinstalled the Bios jumper and restarted. The machine run through the normal diagnostics and came up with a Plug and Play conflict message. I shut down after a few seconds and rebooted again several times with the same result. Finally I started up and let it run after the conflict message appeared. After a few minutes, it instructed me to hit F1 to reboot or F2 to enter setup. When I hit F2, Bingo! Bios opened! Bios is A 15 by the way.

Thanks to all who responded and all the good info!