On Tue, 2009-01-20 at 10:34 +0000, Srdjan Todorovic wrote:
Hi
But be advised, that it is possible to erase the passwords (and other settings) within Linux, by calling a certain ioctl() on /dev/nvram ;)
Which would require root access, which means you have enough access to the box to not bother with booting it from something else :)
Other tricks exist...I have a magic floppy somewhere that causes a cmos checksum error and therefore generally gives you access past the bios setup password. Toshiba's up to about '98 needed just a loopback plug on the parallel port at POST (thanks to the Toshiba engineer who left his toolkit near me once, long enough for me to meter out the pins and see what the dongle with "password reset" actually did)
Thinkpads and some server kit can be *fun* most Compaqs just need the usual bios reset.
Encrypted volumes and Hard drive passwords aside the only system I am aware of that makes it even sightly difficult if you have physical access is AS/400's and even then it is possible.