[sf-lug] Laptop computer(s) and its/their so-called 'root' password(s)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bobbie Sellers (bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com):

> The last we page I saw with skeleton key passwords was a trial and
> error matter and the number of passwords was very high, the testing
> procedure was time-consuming and in the meantime the hard-used laptop
> Dell E6420 failed and I moved on to my present notebooks Dell E6520
> and Dell E6540.

Well, no surprise there, right?  You look for such things because you've
somehow gotten into an untenable position you should carefully avoid
getting into, and are trying desperation fallback measures.

I had thought all of what you say above ought to have been obvious and 
predictable from the situation described.  You try it because you have
no better options.

FWIW, I certainly hope you also tried the fallback-fallback measure that
was bog-standard all the way back to the 1980s, of disconnecting power,
disconnecting the PSU, then removing the CMOS battery and shorting the
terminals that lead to the CMOS battery.  You might find the password
zeroed out along with the rest of the BIOS Setup information.  OTOH, if
the BIOS Setup password was stored in _non-_volatile memory, then that
won't work, but you won't be any worse off.