Flash BIOS on Asus All-in-One Or remove BIOS Password

Hey guys,



First time I make a thread on, so please go easy on me?



For full disclosure, I run a computer repair shop and this is a customers computer, the guy is a regular customer of mine and I have fixed this computer in the past.



So here's the deal, I have an Asus All-in-one ET2012AUKB Link to product page - http://www.asus.com/au/AllinOne_PCs/ET2012AUKB/ Link to downloads - http://www.asus.com/AllinOne_PCs/ET2012AUKB/HelpDesk_Download/



There was a BIOS password when the computer first started, which was set as "brandy", so I typed this in the computer booted as normal. I wanted to remove this BIOS password, so I pressed F2, went into BIOS, went to the section where it says password, I entered the current password "brandy" and followed up by pressing enter twice (leaving it blank) on the new password/confirm password screen, as I understand that's how you get rid of the actual password, so I went to save changes and reboot.



It rebooted with the same password screen which just says "enter password" I tried the same password and it won't work. After doing some digging on the Internet, I found out that the first password might've been a Admin password, so now it asks for a user password, which the customer just doesn't remember what it is, it's definitely not brandy, and I've tried leaving it blank and pressing enter but it just locks me out after 3 attempts, so the password is wrong.



So I proceeded to pull the thing apart, and look for a CMOS battery, and to my dismay there isn't a CMOS battery on this motherboard as some sort of security measure



So I then looked to see if there's a way to reset the BIOS/Flash it to a different version which might just reset the BIOS settings, the driver download page has a BIOS file which is a .CAP file type, but I can't find a tool that lets me flash the BIOS without loading Windows first.



I've got an awful sinking feeling that there's no way to fix this without sending it to ASUS (which I'd like to avoid at all costs due to time restraints for the customer). I called Asus, and they want $165, and said the password is integrated into a chip on the motherboard I'd like to avoid paying $165 to Asus for a stupid password reset at all costs.


Please kind people, help a man in need.

 

Unfortunately we can't discuss bios cracking (whatever the motivation) on the forum.

 

How does it not have a CMOS battery? How does it maintain date/time?

 

From what ASUS told me, it's integrated into a BIOS chip.

FWIW, the customer has told me he's happy to dump the computer and just get a new once since it's 4 years old now and the screen has lines across it anyway.

I'm going to make this a personal project and try to find a way around this since he's letting me keep it anyway.

 

Well that sucks, manufacturers can ask for $165 for a simple password reset, it they had reasonable prices (like $50ish) I wouldn't question it, but $165 seems excessive for what amounts to re-flashing a bios or something similar.

I've got proof of ownership from the customer too, but they still want it at the service centre for 3-5 business days and $165 + some assessment fee which is about $45 I think, pretty ridiculous.

Your dumb thief isn't going to be cracking bios passwords, and data can be encrypted anyway, so this whole BIOS thing seems silly to me.

 

There is no way of knowing, and yes a thief will usually have to ask about removing the password on a locked machine so they can sell it.

However if you want the rules changed talk to a moderator.

 

Yes, you can reset your ASUS Bios or UEFI password if you forgot it. (works on UEFI based laptops at least... don't know if it will work on everything). I lost my password too and it was a pain to find a solution.

This only works if you can boot into windows (or other OS) ! It will reset you BIOS or UEFI password if you have forgotten it.

- Boot into windows and change the date to 2002/01/02,

- Reboot while while hitting F2 to get into the BIOS / UEFI, when the enter password window appears hit "Alt + r", a "Enter rescue password" window will appear, with 2002/01/02 date showing (if not the code won't work), enter the following rescue password : ALAA4ABA

- Done ! You're in the BIOS / UEFI

- Change back the date and other settings to their correct values in the BIOS / UEFI, save settings, and you're good.

Thanks to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfFcHtYIRw for the solution !

 

Very disappointed in Asus support for pretending the only solution was for me to send it back (it's under guarantee so it would have been free, but what a hastle), when there is an easy fix !

If it is to maintain an "illusion" of better security, it's idiotic. This technique is well known (took me hours to find it because I'm not into this stuff), and if people think their BIOS or UEFi is inpenetrable because they set a password, they should know it's not the case. If you can boot into an OS, you can reset the date, and therefore rest the BIOS / UEFI, period. It's only a problem if you're not aware of it.