Hi, I was hoping someone may be able to advise me. I have an old Acer laptop that's a bit delapidated but I thought this would be an ideal chance to try out Linux as the laptop is basically of little value anyway so if I mess something up, nothing will be lost.

I've backed up everything I want to keep and I've written the Linux Mint image to a USB stick. I can get into the BIOS screen by pressing F2 but I'll be dammed if I know what my password is. I'm not sure if I ever did.

I read that updating the BIOS driver should allow me to remove the BIOS password but after a somewhat risky decision to run a driver I found on the internet (Acer refuses to recognise my old laptop so won't provide me any driver files), the BIOS still requires a password to open. Is there anything I can do with this old laptop? Is there any way to remove the BIOS password?

Edit: should have pointed out that the laptop uses UEFI rather than BIOS.

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[–] 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Users in several sites report success with the bios-pw.org site. Example: https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/110108/How+can+I+reset+bios+password

They say you try 3+ times, until a code is shown. Plug the code into that site for a reset code.

I have no idea if this is reliable or safe. Proceed at your own risk!

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Thanks, I have tried this but unfortunately it doesn't give you a code, instead saying that the "system will halt" after I've tried the password 3 times and becomes unresponsive. I think this is because it's a UEFI - probably should have included that in my original post.

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