Get answers from your peers along with millions of IT pros who visit Spiceworks. Join Now Howdy All, I have to Probook 4440s machines, one of which has been designated as a source of parts and the other has a password locked BIOS. Since HP in their wisdom to no longer assist with removing BIOS passwords, I have been wondering if the BIOS chip from the source of parts could be used to replace the locked BIOS on the other machine? Popular Topics in HP Hardware
 Spiceworks Help Desk The help desk software for IT. Free. Track users' IT needs, easily, and with only the features you need. Learn More » 11 Replies · · ·Cayenne OP C.J.R. This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional. Sep 23, 2020 at 14:20 UTC Not an answer to your question but,..... Could you not try to rebuild your spare-parts-computer (wich has the good BIOS) with parts form the BIOS locked computer? 0 · · · Jalapeno OP Datsys Sep 23, 2020 at 14:37 UTC charlesroecoert wrote: Not an answer to your question but,..... Could you not try to rebuild your spare-parts-computer (wich has the good BIOS) with parts form the BIOS locked computer? The problem would be the same as the real problem with the spare parts computer seems to be the board itself. The CAPS light continuously blinks which according to HP error information is related to power. So far tried replacing the RTC battery, re-seated the processor & re-flowed the board all without success. As such, I figured it would still have value as a source of parts. Personally, I just need to get 1 working for this client as school starts next week for their child. Anaheim OP charlesodom This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional. Sep 23, 2020 at 14:45 UTC I have found that BIOS password sites generally offer the solution you need, if you have a socketed BIOS then it may work, but most likely you have a special security chip that stores the password. This is what I use https://bios-pw.org/ Poblano OP vincenot This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional. Sep 23, 2020 at 14:59 UTC I have a couple locked HP 4440s too. I will try to remember that easy url and this post and test. Low priority though as those are really old laptops so dont hold your breath. They make great Neverware Chromebooks though so I do have a reason to unlock their bioses. Hoping to see OP share if/how they succeed. 0 · · · Cayenne OP C.J.R. This person is a verified professional. Verify your account to enable IT peers to see that you are a professional. Sep 23, 2020 at 15:06 UTC The BIOS chip is probably soldered in place. It will be tricky to swap these over, to much heat will damage things. Habanero OP 2300peterw Sep 23, 2020 at 17:32 UTC The BIOS stores the battery charging control and items such as MAC address settings. I think that because you are changing like for like it will work. I think that it is an 8 pin chip, usually near the CMOS battery, which should not be too difficult to remove and replace. As an alternative strategy you could read the BIOS from the spare and programme that into the BIOS on the working motherboard. Sometimes you need to lift a lead on the chip to do that. As another alternative you can try googling "davidzou bios" for tricks to bypass the password. 0 · · · Jalapeno OP Datsys Sep 26, 2020 at 00:32 UTC Based on the information provided here and in other places that I have looked, I am going to put this idea in the category of "not worth the effort or risk". So I am considering the purchase of a new BIOS chip. Interestingly, the supplier that I am talking to is claiming some things that I am hoping one of you can help me understand. They claim that their chip would not need the DMI tool to write the machine specific information to it. Just remove the old and out on the new and the machine will work as normal. Is this even possible? Habanero OP 2300peterw Sep 26, 2020 at 06:36 UTC You will still need soldering skills to get the old BIOS chip out and solder the new one in, although it might be slightly easier in that you might be able to cut the old ones leads to remove the IC and then clean up the pads before soldering in the new. The DMI tool is herehttps://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/How-to-downlode-HPBQ138-EXE/td-...I think. And the details you can put in are listed in this post.https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/HP-DMI-TOOL/td-p/6934805This is if you need it.EDIT To add correct second reference Edited Sep 27, 2020 at 07:28 UTC 0 · · · Jalapeno OP Datsys Sep 27, 2020 at 01:12 UTC 2300peterw wrote: Thanks for the information and the links. I am curious to know all of what this tool can do? Could it also be used to write machine information to replacement boards? In fact, please tell me as much as you can about what can or can't be done with this. Your student awaits. Habanero OP 2300peterw Sep 27, 2020 at 08:19 UTC Looking back at my post I see that I had duplicated a reference URL and not entered this.https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/HP-DMI-TOOL/td-p/6934805I have corrected the above. I am not really an expert on this topic and the old saying comes to mind, "In the land of the blind the one eyed man is King". In other words, I know a little more than many and out of curiosity have read and written a few EPROMs and during that have picked up a little knowledge. These days manufactures don't release EPROM data in a way that you can just download it and use a PROM programmer to "blow" them. Extracting that data from manufactures updates is not simple (if doable at all). You can get web sites where people have read and uploaded PROM data for their chip and some people use these sites. The BIOS chip that you thought of buying is most likely based on one of these and will contain the data such as Serial Number, MAC address, etc, as the one it was copied from. Some of the data is and should be unique to a board and not just copied, but in practice as long as two or more are not on the same LAN then it should work. Manufactures also need a way of allowing authorised Companies with trained technicians to replace motherboards when they fail and to do that the technician will need a way of setting the new motherboard up by writing to the BIOS the unique features it needs. Thus, they need a HP HDMI Tool and that is what I referenced. It is unusual for them to be available for unauthorised people. Different makes and models of motherboards will need different HDMI Tools to suit the way the motherboard BIOS is designed. If you want to learn more about reading and writing BIOSs then watch Youtube Videos, etc, to see what equipment and programmes you need. Get some old boards and have a go yourself. If you want to learn how to solder items such as BIOS chips then again you will need to learn as much as you can and then have a go. With surface mount chips it is an art which needs the right equipment and plenty of practice. Don't think that it is as easy as the people on the Youtube Videos make it look - they have been doing it awhile and only post a successful video. If you want to solve your problem of a locked BIOS yourself then it will take a serious effort of time and effort with an expense for equipment. It would be easiest for you to identify the EPROM chip by reading the numbers on them and then finding a local technician who has the equipment and skill to swap them over. 0 · · · Jalapeno OP Datsys Sep 27, 2020 at 13:57 UTC 2300peterw , the one eyed king has lead well. This is very valuable information and I am going to make the purchase of the chip as the first step to following your advice - read, test & learn. The fact is that HP (and I suppose other manufacturers have done the same) has a policy of not assisting with locked BIOS. The challenge is that while the make more money from forcing the change of the board, there is still the need to write the information from the old board to the new BIOS. As I had anticipated, there is a significant increase in demand for older (refurbished) machines due to the pandemic and not all vendors are playing fair by telling the purchasers that the BIOS is locked and the complications of that. In some cases the locked BIOS is as bad as a dead board as there is no control over the boot options. While others may think it a waste of time to pay so much attention to these old machines, it means something to me when a parent puts their pennies together to buy a machine so that their child can continue their education online. I will be sure to post the results of this journey here so that it can be of help to others. 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