My friend gave me their old laptop before they left town. I was going to install linux on it and use it for a server.

I have basically given up doing anything because the BIOS is locked with a Secure Boot supervisor password which I guess they forgot about being there.

I've sent a message asking if they happen to remember it and would feel comfortable sharing it if it is not one they use for anything else. But the odds of both those things being the case are slim and I don't feel good about trying to get someone to share any password. Especially since it was so kind to just give me the machine in the first place. It's not practical to physically get the device and the person together in the near future.

It's impossible (or past my skill level) to install linux on this thing without the freaking password. I did manage to install windows. Last time I did that it was win2k. It will boot OK but I can't use that to circumvent the lock. But Ubuntu and a couple other distros are no gos.

It is so fucked that computers can be rendered bricks like this. Obviously yet another way to design in obsolescence disguised as a security feature. Encryption is one thing; this is independent of any data.

Gaaaaaah I spent most of the weekend trying to install linux on this otherwise perfectly functional machine. I think it's toast though.

  • blobjim [he/him]
    ·
    8 months ago

    A lot of the time motherboards have a two pins you can short to reset the BIOS to the factory install. Not sure if older laptops or laptops in general have them or not though.

    Dell has an info page that shows reseating a motherboard CMOS battery to reset the bios https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124377/how-to-perform-a-bios-or-cmos-reset-and-clear-the-nvram-on-dell-systems

    • glans [it/its]
      ·
      8 months ago

      Oh actually I came across something like this for my device except it seemed like it had a high chance of error and really frying the machine so I skipped it. Maybe I will return to it assuming the password doesn't magically appear in the near future.

      I did try removing both batteries and the RAM and letting it sit for a few hours in hopes it would reset because I read something on a forum about that. I wasn't too hopefully it would work and it sure didn't.

      • buckykat [none/use name]
        ·
        8 months ago

        It's not really likely to fry anything. The CMOS battery is separate from the device's regular batteries, it's usually a little watch battery, there to keep bios settings and run the clock.

        • Zvyozdochka [she/her, comrade/them]
          ·
          8 months ago

          glans is probably talking about jumper pins located on the board to reset the password, which could cause some troubles if you jump the wrong pins, though probably not complete machine death.

          • buckykat [none/use name]
            ·
            8 months ago

            Those are also unlikely to fry things. Online tutorials, especially ones from software guys, are really overscared of physical damage from opening machines and poking the insides.

              • buckykat [none/use name]
                ·
                8 months ago

                It's actually pretty hard to physically ruin computer hardware if you're not actively trying to

                • isame [he/him]
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  I know, I know. But I can't revert inserting my CPU backwards.

                  For the record I've never done that. I just forgot the collar so was just rawdogging my CPU onto the board. Fortunately I didn't ruin anything somehow.

                  • buckykat [none/use name]
                    ·
                    8 months ago

                    Worst thing that'll happen from running a CPU with no cooler is it'll detect that it's getting too hot and shut down before it can damage itself, CPUs have had temperature sensors built in for a long time now.

          • glans [it/its]
            ·
            8 months ago

            it was something to do with a paperclip

          • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
            ·
            8 months ago

            Usually these things are stored on an EEPROM chip on the motherboard. You can absolutely burn out the eeprom, bricking the machine until you can find someone who can do surface mount rework.

        • glans [it/its]
          ·
          8 months ago

          Ya sorry by both batteries I mean the main battery and the CMOS battery

    • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
      ·
      8 months ago

      Modern dell machines will require you to call in to support, where you give part of the serial and they give you a master unlock.

      Gone are the days of the cmos reset. The sysadmin at work was fired for being racist, then asked for a consultants fee to unlock the machines he didn't write down the passwords for.

        • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
          ·
          8 months ago

          yeah but in this case, it was like 50 mini workstations so it'd basically be replacing all 50 machines.

      • glans [it/its]
        ·
        8 months ago

        My machine is Acer and apparently you can bring it to an "acer service centre" (whatever that is) and they will fix for a fee rumored to be about $100.