topic Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what? in PCs & Accessories

A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:03:05 GMT

Here's the situation:
I had a password enabled in bios, which I have had to enter when I turn my notebook on, and the password was xyz...
Some time ago I went to bios and disabled it, so I don't have to enter anything when I turn the machine on. And everything worked fine. Today, I wanted to install fresh copy of windows xp pro sp2 and I had to enable boot from cd, and what a surprise!!! I was asked to enter a password... a bit confused I was, but I entered the old one... and guess what... nothing... I tried the one I used before the old one, and still nothing.... And these two are the only passwords I ever had [in bios], I try leaving fields blank, pressing esc. even try to override it with old trick to keep pressed F12 and turn the machine on, and still nothing... Is there any solution other than opening notebook and reseting bios by taking the battery out?

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:21:42 GMT

And just to add, it's an American Megatrends bios, so I tried all generic passwords for AMI found here

and still nothing..

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:54:20 GMT

You will find a reset button on the under side of your notebook. It is a pin sized hole, so you will need to use a paper clip, or similar - do not overdo the pressure on this switch!

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 17:56:44 GMT

Btw turn off and disconnect from power supply before doing this.

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 18:24:04 GMT

hmh... it seems that there is no hole on A 317M... unless it's just under the windows sticker... are you sure that all models have that hole??

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 18:51:25 GMT

No I am not certain that all models do, but I have yet to encounter one that doesn¿t. I am wondering if they have hidden it away in one of the memory compartments ¿ either on the underside of the notebook or beneath the keypad. If you want to investigate this, your on-line manual at Vaio-Link will give details of how to access each compartment.
I have a pal with an `A¿ series but he is off line at present. I will ask him if he has any ideas when we next speak.

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 19:04:29 GMT

thanks in advance

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 19:19:04 GMT

imagine this!!! on stinky vaio-link is possible to downloaqd a manual, but, a big BUT, on bios page is this text:

If you forget the password and need assistance to cancel it, a cancellation fee will be charged

I supose you must pay to get info about hole position...

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:29:54 GMT

You have not forgotten the password, as I understand, it is just malfunctioning. Whether this makes a difference is open to debate!

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 21:06:32 GMT

... I will send them an email, to see what answer I'll get... But I doubt that vaio-link will be willing to debate... will see... at the end I hope I will have something usefull to post here... for future generations..

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 16:02:09 GMT

Ok, I have had my pal, with the A series, turn his notebook over and inside out but he cannot find a reset switch either. The only place be hasn¿t looked is under the keyboard. He sent me a rake of photos and I really can¿t see anything that resembles what we are looking for.
I guess that Sony have hidden it away as I am sure that there will be one somewhere:smileysad:

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

Eugenepang — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 16:58:43 GMT

Ok, I have had my pal, with the A series, turn his notebook over and inside out but he cannot find a reset switch either. The only place be hasn¿t looked is under the keyboard. He sent me a rake of photos and I really can¿t see anything that resembles what we are looking for.
I guess that Sony have hidden it away as I am sure that there will be one somewhere:smileysad:

I couldnt find any so-call resert button on my A317S too.. and here is the photo under the keyboard.

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:40:32 GMT

Thanks for that Eugene. I have had a good look at the photos but cannot see anything obvious. There are a few jumpers but I doubt that they are relevant. If it is on the motherboard we are looking for a dipswitch labelled - CLEAR - CLEAR CMOS - CLR - CLRPWD - PASSWD - PASSWORD ¿ PWD or something similar.
Most manufactures make the location obvious, but there again we are talking Sony here¿¿.
Btw is that a Lithium battery that I see, labelled 3R7 04499? If so it could be the CMOS battery.

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:17:31 GMT

Btw is that a Lithium battery that I see, labelled 3R7 04499? If so it could be the CMOS battery.

Looks like it. Doesn't the system reset if you remove it?

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:34:12 GMT

Looks like it. Doesn't the system reset if you remove it?

It certainly does T-R!

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

Twisted-Rizla — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 18:48:54 GMT

 It certainly does T-R!

Woo Hoo!!:smileygrin: :smileygrin:

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

rich912 — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:01:50 GMT

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

Eugenepang — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:08:04 GMT

So removing the battery should help then? :smileygrin:

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

kee-lo_ — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 20:12:52 GMT

Removing that battery should reset the CMOS

Re: A317M Bios Bug... or what?

djidji.govedina — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:52:16 GMT

hey. thanks for indepth bios-reseting research... I was in really big rush beacause of a job I had to do so find a way to install windows without booting... little bit of formatting, drive letter changing, and everything is ok now... with windows.

other thing I must mention is that I contacted vaio-support.. I was a bit sceptic, but I decidet to give it a try... and what a surprise... I got the answer right away. I am suposed to send them proof of purchase and bios lock code [number that appears when wrong password is entered 5 times, you can try, just for fun {I think}] and they will send me unlock code as fast as poss. For free, cause it is a bios bug, not my fault.

so, in the end I will do that, and leave the battery to rest in peace... for some time:smileywink:

thanks one more time for help...