I'm trying to boot up a Dell Latitude CP M233XT without a password?  I
bought it from a pawn shop, and it has an admin. password that I can't
get pass to boot the laptop up

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 18 Nov 2003 14:59 PST

Hi,

Is this an operating system password or the BIOS password before it
even reaches the "load operating system" stage?

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by keith2004-ga on 19 Nov 2003 14:29 PST

Yes, it is in fact the BIOS password... so I will try the steps
mentioned...Thank you for the assistance.  If anyone has anything else
to add, please do so.  I can use as much help as I can get.

You may want to include more information, such as the operating
system. Without this, there is no real way to help you...

I suspect you are talking about the bios level password

http://www.labmice.net/articles/BIOS_hack.htm

from that site:


Before attempting to bypass the BIOS password on a computer, please
take a minute to contact the hardware manufacturer support staff
directly and ask for their recommended methods of bypassing the BIOS
security. In the event the manufacturer cannot (or will not) help you,
there are a number of methods that can be used to bypass or reset the
BIOS password yourself. They include:

Using a manufacturers backdoor password to access the BIOS

Use password cracking software

Reset the CMOS using the jumpers or solder beads.

Removing the CMOS battery for at least 10 minutes 

Overloading the keyboard buffer 

Using a professional service 



If you have access to a floppy drive, 4 utilities
are mentioned there for help in determining or resetting the bios password.

http://www.utilitygeek.com/details.php?fileid=82

has KILLCMOS which can run from floppy (DOS)and will remove
the bios password (supposedly)

Removing the CMOS battery for at least 10 minutes will do it, but it
may be a pain to do this as it's a laptop. :)

Another good site with default backdoor passwords is found at 

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

Hope this helps.

Matt