Need help with password protected 286 \ VOGONS

Need help with password protected 286

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First post, by Unite

Posted on 2019-06-06, 20:39

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I recently picked up an old 286 workstation cheap but its locked out by a password. I can't find much information about it online so I was hoping one of you kind folk may be able to help me get the password cleared. Its an 8 character password and yes I've tried password and other 8 character words written on the machine itself but no luck.

The system is an HM Systems Minstrel Workstation. Its based around a chips and technology chipset and uses a harris 286 processor. The bios is by Quadtel.

There are various jumpers / pin heaters around the board and a dip switch near the bios chips (sort of) but I'm reluctant to go messing as I don't have a manual and don't want to fry anything. Surely there must be a way to remove the password...

Few pictures

Reply 1 of 6, by Predator99

Posted on 2019-06-06, 20:43

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On the top right of your photo is a battery. Remove it and try again. If it does not work at once wait one day...

Reply 2 of 6, by keropi

Posted on 2019-06-06, 20:44

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did you try disconnecting the battery for a few hours?

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Reply 3 of 6, by Unite

Posted on 2019-06-06, 21:16

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The battery is dead, well, only holding 0.2volts and at the time of the photo it is disconnected. I'll leave it for a few hours and see. If I disconnect the floppy ribbon it throws an error and lets me into the bios but there is nothing about passwords in there unfortunately.

Reply 4 of 6, by konc

Posted on 2019-06-07, 07:12

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Since the battery is disconnected and it still asks for a password, have you tried to just hit enter at the prompt?

Reply 5 of 6, by Jo22

Posted on 2019-06-07, 14:21

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Hi, does the mainboard use a Dallas clock by any chance (maybe it's that black block in the lower right corner with the white dot onto it) ?
If so, the battery you removed might be an auxilary battery only and the RTC module is still powere by its internal main battery.

If that's not the case, you might be able to examine the BIOS with an hex editor on your PC.
Just dump the EPROMs and combine them (copy /b rom1.bin+rom2.bin merged.bin ?)..-

If that doesn't work, you may get a replacement from the web..
Gratefuly, both CHIPS and Quadtel were popular once. - Maybe a Phoenix BIOS also exists for you PC, too. 😀

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 6 of 6, by Predator99

Posted on 2019-06-07, 16:53

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No the ROMs A+B are split up in the pattern ABABABA...you cannot combine them with copy.

Think the CMOS is not empty yet. When its empty you will get a CMOS error on startup. Maybe really a Dallas in addition?

Btw, never seen a password protected 286 BIOS. What happens if you disconnect the hard disk?

Or maybe an option ROM?

Send a better pciture of your mainboard...

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