Uncreative Labs

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:52 pm

I have a Packard Bell PB286LP laptop that my son was playing with and somehow he set a password on it. Of course he immediately forgot it so now I can't use the laptop. It doesn't have a battery so don't bother telling me to pull the battery. It does have a NiCad CMOS battery soldered to the board but because of the size and location I hesitate to try removing it until I'm reasonably sure it's what needs to be done. Has anyone here had experience or have any other suggestions as to how I can clear that password? It does have an Award 286 BIOS with high and low chips.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

I did some looking around the newsgroups, and I found this:

"I found a place on the back of the computer under a COM1/COM2 label where
the BIOS reset was. I pushed it with a toothpick and the old password was
gone! "

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:44 am

Thank you so much for that info!!

I tried it powered up and it just acted like a reset button, still password protected.

Then I tried it powered down and when I powered it back up all the CMOS info was cleared. After re-entering the info and hitting F10 to save it went to the POST screen and when done asked me if I wanted to change the password. I hit y then enter and no more password!

I haven't seen that Quikmenu III screen in a year.
Now I just have to reassemble this darn thing. Right now it's literally a pile of components on my desktop. I pretty sure I still have all the parts.

Joined: 20 Nov 2004 Posts: 589 Location: Shandong, China

Ah that's just great! Another 286 saved from the trash heap.