I have a Gateway Laptop that has been at a tech store for a month. They found the video chip was gone and I needed to replace the motherboard. I located one much lower priced than the tech store wanted and ordered it, drove it to the tech store and after a couple of days received a phonecall that the new (refurbished) board has a BIOS Password on it. The tech tried everything to get the system to boot: removed CMOS battery, unplugged AC cord and laptop battery, searched the internet for a "fix" and with the "clock ticking" on my labor charges I was told he could not get into the board.
I called the place I bought the board from and was told they buy in bulk, have no idea what the password is and sent me a return label to obtain a refund for the board (last one they had of this model board). I told the tech store to order a board - the more expensive one - and am now into the store for over $550 repairs with a laptop that's not fixed yet. They are waiting for the board to come in they ordered and I need to go pick up the one I bought and return it to the place I bought it from.
I have found many password unlock tips online but not having the system here I cannot try them and the tech doesn't want to try anything else because of so many hours already spent on the system.
Anyone know how to get into a Gateway laptop with locked BIOS? I was told to bring the two hard drives to the tech store so I could boot into Windows 7. This is not possible as the system was always set up for RAID Stripped 0 Array. Any board he puts in it is not going to be set to RAID and the system will not boot the two hard drives. In order to get the important data off the HDs I need this laptop repaired and set to RAID which seems to be causing massive problems.
Any takers on how to get into BIOS locked with a password? The board is: 55.4V601.031. If I can unlock the board myself I'll keep it for a spare as the system is dated and should the mainboard need replacing again I will, at least, have a backup. If not I'll ship it back to where I bought it from.
As a note: this all started after a Windows update that caused my screen to go scrolling grey. Could not get into the system at all and brought it to the repair place I always use for laptops. After the tech playing with it for a few days he got a black screen and said the video chip had gone which, to me, he caused. I at least had a grey screen when the system left here.
Thanks!
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