I have an old Acer laptop (Z5WAH LA-B162P, i5, NVIDIA 840M) running Windows 10 Home, and I'm hitting a wall at boot. It prompts me with 'Enter Unlock Password (Key: 60302434)'. Frustratingly, the key doesn't change even after failing to enter it three times—I never see a 'System Disabled' message.
Here's what I've tried:
- Checked master passwords from services like bios-pw.org—no luck.
- Removed the CMOS battery and power—no effect.
- Tried overriding battery pads—still locked.
- I never set a password myself.
I really want to avoid replacing the HDD or using an EEPROM flasher. Is there some trick or work-around like a jumper or a backdoor code? I'm a beginner with BIOS stuff, so please keep it simple!
2 Answers
I’m not absolutely sure, but I wouldn’t expect an older Acer laptop to come with advanced tamper protection. After removing the CMOS battery, did you let it sit for a while? Sometimes they take longer to reset back to defaults. Also, double-check that the internal battery is disconnected just in case. Are you trying to get the laptop functional, or do you just want access to the files on the HDD/SSD?
Have you tried using the unlock key from this site? https://www.biosbug.com/acer/
Thanks for the tip! I tried some other sites for unlock keys before, but they didn't work. BiosBug actually did the trick—huge thanks!