Recycle your Computers & Technology with us.

Reentering user preferences by clearing CMOS.

Posted By : Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 8, 2004

Follow us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   Follow us on LinkedIn

Let Data Doctors be your personal IT department today

I ws given a laptop with a password protected HD. No one knows the password so I want to reformat the HD and start from scratch. How do you do that.

This question was answered on February 8, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.


If you don't know the password clear the CMOS, which restores CMOS to the default values.

Most of the system boards have two jumper pins that, when closed, clear CMOS See the system board documentation to locate to the pins They are sometimes called Clear Real Time Clock(CLRTC) Close the pins by placing a jumper cover over them Remoce the jumper cover and reeboot An error message appears on the screen and default settings are restored.

When you reboot, enter CMOS setup and reenter user preferences.

About the author

Posted by Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 8, 2004

Need Help with this Issue?

We help people with technology! It's what we do.
Contact or Schedule an Appointment with a location for help!