How can I get past password in the bios when booting up?

I have a thift store Dell Dimension XP Home Edition that worked excellent for six months but for some reason now is asking for a password during the boot up. This is before it gets to the windows stage. I asked about the previous owner at the thrift store but they have no idea who donated the computer so I have no way of asking the previous owner.|||You'll have to reset the BIOS.





Do you have your motherboard manual? If not try and find out the model (it may say it at the very start of boot up at the bottom of the screen, or it may have it written on the board itself) Then try and look up the motherboard manual on the net. There are websites that help you do this.





To reset the bios you have to take the motherboard battery out and move the CMOS jumper to the reset position. Then put it back as it was and replace the battery.





Hope this helps.





R|||the only way to bypass the password is to reformat the hard drive and reinstalling Windows|||Since it was working for 6 months without this password, I really doubt that the previous owner can help. Don't format your hard disk if the password comes up before Windows "phase".





Turn off your system, unplug it from power outlet. Open your system's case and remove the battery from the motherboard (a coin battery mounted on the M/B) for more than 5 seconds. Put it back and turn on your system. Definitly works!|||Open ur system





take the bios battery away,





put it back





its reset...





Njoy|||Two ways to achieve the same thing: You need to reset the CMOS. Sometimes there is a jumper on the motherboard. You set it for clear, turn the machne on, make your changes, then set it to normal. You should be able to get a MB schematic from the Dell site.





Second method is to remove and replace the CMOS battery. This wipes it out also.





-Dio|||Its difficult to find up the password of the bios in your computer.





However, you can break the bios configurations by fusing the two ends of the bios battery surfaces.





All the configuration thats instored in your bios including the password for protecting the bios will get lost and you have to reconfigure the bios before using the computer again..





Best of Luck|||THERE IS ONE WAY, BIOS IS POWERED BY A LITHIUM BATTERY ON THE MOTHER BOARD, TAKE THIS BATTERY OUT AND ALL PASS WORDS ARE WIPED, BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO CONFIGURE BIOS AGAIN, WHICH ISNT DIFFICULT, SOMEONE MUST HAVE GONE INTO BIOS TO PUT A PASSWORD ON IT, CAN YOU GET INTO BIOS?? IF YOU CAN THEN READ THE MAIN MENU AND YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO TURN OFF THE "PASSWORD AT BOOT UP"