Old HP EliteBooks - Unable to Reset BIOS Passwords

[CHiLL]

We have some old HP EliteBook 2570p laptops where BIOS passwords have been set, but we don't know what they are. It's likely we never set a password and a student has done it in the past, or as they were pre-owned, it was set by the previous owner. I have discovered that these are almost impossible to reset the BIOS password of, as removing the CMOS battery doesn't clear it (which I've tried). It used to be possible to contact HP, obtain a file that you loaded onto a USB, inserted into the laptop and you could then use a key combination at boot to clear the password...but HP stopped supplying those files years ago for security reasons. The only other method I've seen is to remove the BIOS chip that stores the password from the board, reprogramme it and solder it back on - this is not a task I am going to undertake for an 11 year old laptop.

 

Does anyone know another way I can reset the BIOS password on these laptops, or am I just out of luck now?

[enbiggen]

Hi,

This works for newer HP laptops where it locks you out after 3(?) attempts and gives you a code - it's been useful where the settings have gotten corrupted for us:https://www.pythonanywhere.com/gists/72a0f8949c47630fad5e6355f42fb672/pwgen-bios-with-i.py/python/

I don't know if it will be any use to you if the laptop is too old? The author's description of their script is: "generate result for HP serial with "i" error code"

Thanks.

Edited January 19, 2024 by enbiggen

[CHiLL]

Hi,

This works for newer HP laptops where it locks you out after 3(?) attempts and gives you a code - it's been useful where the settings have gotten corrupted for us:https://www.pythonanywhere.com/gists/72a0f8949c47630fad5e6355f42fb672/pwgen-bios-with-i.py/python/

I don't know if it will be any use to you if the laptop is too old? The author's description of their script is: "generate result for HP serial with "i" error code"

Thanks.

Sadly I think these laptops are too old, as I don't get any codes. Three attempts, then an onscreen keyboard attempt, then a message "System locked. Press the power button to restart the system".

[Frodo_Baggins]

Tried https://www.biosbug.com/hp-8-digit-new/ ? This site gave me codes that BiosPW generator didn't and helped save a few of our older HP laptops - remember seeing refence to a tool called HPBR when I was looking for a solution Edited January 19, 2024 by Frodo_Baggins

[chazzy2501]

you have to de-solder the BIOS and replace it. They sell them on ebay pre-programmed.

 

if you just need to reimage them the only way around it is to image the drive on another device, sysprep and transfer.

[CHiLL]

Tried https://www.biosbug.com/hp-8-digit-new/ ? This site gave me codes that BiosPW generator didn't and helped save a few of our older HP laptops - remember seeing refence to a tool called HPBR when I was looking for a solution

These laptops don't provide codes.

 

you have to de-solder the BIOS and replace it. They sell them on ebay pre-programmed.

 

if you just need to reimage them the only way around it is to image the drive on another device, sysprep and transfer.

Well that's silly. I need to change the boot settings from legacy to EUFI & Secure Boot, but can't without the password that's been set.

[mavhc]

https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/hp-probook-elitebook-bios-password-reset-utility.49497/