Solved How to reset BIOS for HP Pavilion N5425

sluc August 9, 2018 at 12:45:09

The battery is likely soldered to the MB. I can look similar to a condensator, encapsulated in plastic. You will need to solder off one leg of the battery assembly to reset the BIOS.

riider August 9, 2018 at 13:54:43

That's an old timer. A laptop BIOS is different than a desktop BIOS because it's another layer of security. Generally, you need to know the password to clear the password. I have the following site bookmarked but I'm not sure if it will help: http://dogber1.blogspot.com/2009/05... There's also an old program called KillCMOS that may work but it has to be run from DOS: https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/de...

How would I tell which one is the cmos battery since the board has multiple ones that look like a condensator? I was able to find a ceramic type battery on the other board but it is inaccessible on the computer in question without having to take the entire board apart. There is also a small 4 switch box that I have no idea what the switches do or could do... Would pictures of the board help? message edited by Austin2

trvlr August 9, 2018 at 14:34:19

This link shows what they say is the genuine battery (replacement). See if you can find anything similar or identical on your hp motherboard? http://www.genuine-cmos-battery.com... The user manual is about on the web (google); but an actual service manual seems not.. The latter would indicate (or ought to) where the cmos battery is and possibly what it looks like...

I found that page as well but there is no such battery or adapter, I'll take a picture of the boards and do a link to them, my phone is charging right now.

The first link is to the picture of the laptop in question, second, the top of the board to a similar laptop, third is the bottom of that board with a strange battery at the top right. https://photos.app.goo.gl/sBkw6y1Ez... https://photos.app.goo.gl/KEEJGZ62i... https://photos.app.goo.gl/mABi5XTmZ...

riider August 9, 2018 at 15:51:12

✔ Best Answer

OK, I've gotta ask - what do you intend to do with this old timer? It has an Athlon4 900MHz & only accepts up to 512MB PC133 RAM. The CPU is based on the Palomino core (same as the early desktop AthlonXP), it's only 32-bit & it doesn't support SSE2 which is needed to run modern versions of Windows, so XP is as good as it gets. As for resetting the BIOS password, you're barking up the wrong tree. The password is stored on a separate security chip that is unaffected by the CMOS battery or lack thereof. https://www.experts-exchange.com/qu... http://www.fixya.com/support/t26298... https://forums.anandtech.com/thread... https://support.hp.com/us-en/docume... message edited by riider

I want to put puppy linux on it and use it for either a proxy server or NAS. So is there no good way to reset the BIOS password then?

riider August 10, 2018 at 15:59:18

You either need to know the password to clear it, or contact HP. You will need proof of legal ownership to get assistance but being that it's so old & waaaaay out of warranty, they will charge a fee.

I did find a button on the other board and a hole in the case to that button, I just need to put it back together and push it to see what it does. I have been working a lot so I will get to it tomorrow.

riider, Your links worked! There is a button on the left under the floppy drive that resets the BIOS!!!! Now I have to enable the bios to boot from usb with Plops and put puppy linux, and maybe put an mSATA drive in it with max RAM. Thank You all for the help, it is greatly appreciated!