ASUS X53Z HDD Password

Marmite79

Marmite79

Marmite79

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Joined
28 Dec 2017
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42
Hi All,
Someone gave me a laptop to look at as he forgotten the password, i assume windows. It not, it the HDD password
So after reasearch this is my last resort before I tell him to buy another one. This is what i done.
Taken the CMOS Battery out.. left it out for 30 min and hold power button to drain power that left in there for 1 min (Battery not connected to the back)
I can't even get in the BIOS. I'm pressing or hold F9
ASUS logo comes up, then asked for HDD password, I press ALT + R to reset, But i am not getting date up like i seen on video to start a reset.
It also Says press Esc for Master HDD password. again he Does'nt know this one.
Any last resort you guys can think off??
Thanks Lads
 
Marmite79 said:
Hi All,
Someone gave me a laptop to look at as he forgotten the password, i assume windows. It not, it the HDD password
So after reasearch this is my last resort before I tell him to buy another one. This is what i done.
Taken the CMOS Battery out.. left it out for 30 min and hold power button to drain power that left in there for 1 min (Battery not connected to the back)
I can't even get in the BIOS. I'm pressing or hold F9
ASUS logo comes up, then asked for HDD password, I press ALT + R to reset, But i am not getting date up like i seen on video to start a reset.
It also Says press Esc for Master HDD password. again he Does'nt know this one.
Any last resort you guys can think off??
Thanks Lads
Click to expand...


https://linustechtips.com/topic/744948-bypass-bios-password-on-asus-laptop-solved/


LONG STORY SHORT:

If an ASUS computer has a admin bios password at boot.

1) Open computer and remove the button battery on motherboard to reset clock

2) Check the recovery date by pressing alt+r at the ENTER PASSWORD screen.

3) Consult this list for the recovery password http://pastebin.com/L3c3rySj

4) Enter recovery password at recovery screen.

5) Eat pizza?
Click to expand...


I found that the codes listed in the paste bin above (http://pastebin.com/L3c3rySj) had a pattern. Every month/day combination shares the same last 4 characters. So it's the year that changes the first set of characters, and these characters repeat.



For example:

  • At the password prompt, press alt+r
  • Take note of the date displayed. For me it was 2017-05-11
  • Use Ctrl+F to search the paste bin for your month and date. I used "-05-11"
  • Use the codes you find until one of them works. Mine was the same code as 2007-05-11 from the paste bin.
  • It looks like the codes might repeat every 10 years. So I would suggest starting with the month and date combination from 10 years prior to whatever date is displayed after you press alt+r.
Click to expand...
 
If you disconnect the HDD, does it then let you carry on? That'd rule out whether it's a BIOS password or a HDD password.

If it's a drive password, you could then just stick a different drive in there?
 
Great stuff. Yeah, follow the advice above and get the passwords that it might be based on that date, plug the HDD back in and try them all out. If that's not working still then try sticking a new drive in (if you have one spare) or build a basic bootable drive on a pendrive and see if you can boot to it
 
Yeah, if you can get to BIOS then you should be able to boot from a USB drive. If you can do that, then you can either prepare a bootable windows pendrive using the Media Creation Tool (here) or use something like Rufus to create a bootable Ubuntu drive (here).

If you go the Ubuntu route, then you won't be making any changes to the current HDD - you'll be in a full OS with mouse and keyboard, but running from the USB drive. From there you can try to take a closer look at the HDD.

If you go Windows, then you'll basically just be formatting the old drive straight away.
 
Yeah, so use the Windows Media Creation Tool to prepare that USB drive. The USB drive will be erased entirely and the windows installer will be copied to it, with the latest version of Windows 10.

Then, plug that into the laptop and boot to it. You should then be able to follow along with the installer. Eventually it will show you the main hard drive. choose to erase it all and start again. It'll then install windows to your 'proper' hard drive...

...hopefully!
 
Ah, it might be worth going into the BIOS and setting the pen drive as the 1st boot device. If the other hdd is seen as the 1st boot device but locks things up due to the password, then the system may never get to booting the USB drive.

Only if it doesn't work first time though
 
yeah, you can certainly try. If you plug it up to your PC and can get into Windows, you may be able to format it. You're looking to get rid of what's there, banking on the fact that the drive password is trying to protect the files from being read and hoping it's not so fussed about you deleting them.

To be honest though, that laptop will be 100 times faster with an SSD. The drive you have is only worth about a tenner probably - I wouldn't spend too much time trying to salvage it
 
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