You ordered a CMOS..?

Does the password prevent booting or only the access to the BIOS setup?

Usually you need to remove the battery for some days and its gone. Maybe you also have a CMOS-reset jumper on the board?

Picture of the mainboard is missing...

Predator99 wrote on 2021-05-21, 21:11:

You ordered a CMOS..? […]
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You ordered a CMOS..?

Does the password prevent booting or only the access to the BIOS setup?

Usually you need to remove the battery for some days and its gone. Maybe you also have a CMOS-reset jumper on the board?

Picture of the mainboard is missing...

Sorry I meant that I ordered a CMOS battery for replacement.

When booting it requires CMOS options to be set which is blocked by a factory password.

I've gotten this pc earlier today so for now I shall wait it out and see if it solves itself like you said.
It has a hard reset jumper which boots but seems to do nothing for the required password, even after 30-45 min of leaving it on with the jumper.

Sorry if I sound uninformed because I am kinda new to all of this.

Here's some pictures from the inside if that helps:

Hard reset is for restarting the PC. Nothing to do with CMOS.

Yes, leave the battery disconnected and try after 1 hour. If it the password is still there wait loger...up to a week.

If you can still boot from floppy you can also try to modify the CMOS with a DOS program...there are plenty.

I shall try tomorrow instead of an hour since it's late, if that doesn't work I'll otherwise look into trying with some floppy's.
If that doesn't work I'll leave it off the power for a week and try again.

Thanks for the help!

My brain is having an issue with the pictures. In top pics the case looks 3" tall but in lower pics there are 3 ISA slots on an expansion card but 4 back plates (bottom picture). How can motherboard with riser and possible 4 ISA slots fit in a computer so short ?
Googled around but found only some references to a Unosys 386 computer....

Horun wrote on 2021-05-22, 02:42:

My brain is having an issue with the pictures. In top pics the case looks 3" tall but in lower pics there are 3 ISA slots on an expansion card but 4 back plates (bottom picture). How can motherboard with riser and possible 4 ISA slots fit in a computer so short ?

By the looks of it, the front of the case is curved, or tapered towards the front. I.e. from the front with the angle the photo is taken from, the case looks as flat as a pancake but in reality it isn't.

Ahh ! So is some what wedge shaped with the back much taller than the front. thanks !

Looks like the manufacturer deliberately set a default password. You will need to guess it (did you try IPC or Intelligent Personal Computer?), or dump the BIOS and try to find what it expects using a disassembler, or try a different BIOS from another 286 board. Try to boot it from floppy, if that works you have a mostly functional PC.

The HDD is probably broken, those WD drives were known to be unreliable.
Can you please make a photo of the mainboard where the Essex logo and top of the jumper table are clearly visible?

Schule04 wrote on 2021-05-22, 04:18:

Looks like the manufacturer deliberately set a default password. You will need to guess it (did you try IPC or Intelligent Personal Computer?), or dump the BIOS and try to find what it expects using a disassembler, or try a different BIOS from another 286 board. Try to boot it from floppy, if that works you have a mostly functional PC.

The HDD is probably broken, those WD drives were known to be unreliable.
Can you please make a photo of the mainboard where the Essex logo and top of the jumper table are clearly visible?

Yes maybe you are right and the CMOS is already empty. The message in the 1st picture indicates this. We will see...boot from floppy will help in any case.

Looks like the password is set by the manufacturer (dick move). Since your BIOS is AMI, with a quick Google search these results came up. Worth giving them a try I guess:

AMI BIOS [1]

• A.M.I.
  AMI
  AMI_SW
  AMI?SW
  BIOS
  HEWLITT RAND
  LKWPETER
  PASSWORD
  Oder

AMI Master passwords [2]

• ami
  amiami
  CMOSPWD
  amidecod
  AMI.KEY
  KILLCMOS
  amipswd
  AMISETUP
  589589
  AMIPSWD
  AMI?SW
  ami.kez
  AMI
  AMI!SW
  A.M.I.
  AMI_SW
  helgasss
  aammii
  bios310
  HEWITT RAND
  AMI~
  BIOSPASS

[1] https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000451.htm
[2] https://www.biosflash.com/e/bios-passwords.htm