Supermicro AMI Bios Password

[CJ145]

I have now two... Supermicro X8DTH-iF that arrived from ebay with a BIOS password preventing me from getting to the bios config.

When entering the bios I see "Enter CURRENT password:". It allows up to 6 characters and 3 attempts before requiring a reset.

I have tried the following:
Reset the CMOS
Removed Battery and power cord for 5 hours
Flashed a new BIOS via serial recovery (which said it erased the NVRAM... apparently not?)
Tried all of the known AMI master passwords (three at a time, this took a long time...)

Anyone know what I can do to reset this password or bypass it somehow? Supermicro support won't return my emails (lets see if I ever purchase another product from them again...), the seller is clueless and didn't even use ESD safe packaging on the first board, so no help there either.

 

[Biren78]

Did you boot to SUPER.ROM and flash? BIOS recovery procedure for failed flash

 

[CJ145]

I flashed the bios through the serial port following supermicros instructions. I'm sure the bios flashed too because the coraid branding is gone, normal SM flash screen now.

 

[CJ145]

Ah, I figured this out after a lot of work.

I wasn't able to get it to boot off USB without going into the bios, but it boot off hdd ok. So, stick a HDD with Linux in it, and nvram module. Load module, dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvram bs=1

Say bye bye to any AMIBIOS 8 password (and all your other NVRAM settings... but who cares).

 

[Timbiotic]

Ah, I figured this out after a lot of work.

I wasn't able to get it to boot off USB without going into the bios, but it boot off hdd ok. So, stick a HDD with Linux in it, and nvram module. Load module, dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvram bs=1

Say bye bye to any AMIBIOS 8 password (and all your other NVRAM settings... but who cares).

I have same issue but after clearing cmos with screwdriver or battery method I can get into bios on first boot and every one after I cannot. There is an option to clear nvram on boot. Should I enable? Somehow the password keeps coming back. I don't understand what you are saying to do. I can set it to most of the settings I need (although haven't figured out why it's only recognizing 10 of my 12 ram chips). But I'd like to be able to get back into bios. Will that setting do the same thing your hard drive trick did? Also if I do what you did is that permanent allowing you in and able to save settings going forward?

 

[CJ145]

It sounds like you have a different board running a slightly different setup. The bios option to clear the nvram is not the same as actually wiping the nvram. To truly wipe the nvram, you have to do it outside of the bios. If you can get into the bios at all, set it to boot from CD or USB, and use a linux live cd to wipe it.

 

[Timbiotic]

It is the X8DTE. When you wipe it with what you described does that mean it just wipes current settings leaving BIOS settings at factory default? Or no longer able to access bios settings, or bios settings will no longer be retained after next boot? My hope would be just wiping current settings and new ones would stick

 

[CJ145]

There are three common ways motherboards store things:
NVRAM (used for settings that last though dead battery / power loss)
Flash (used to store the actual bios)
CMOS (used to store settings that requires power to maintain and the RTC).

Resetting the bios as you are use to is wiping the CMOS.
Resetting the NVRAM wipes any long term settings.

I don't have a X8DTE and your bios behavior is certainly different. Wiping the NVRAM shouldn't cause an issue, especially since you can use serial to flash the bios on these boards.

 

[Timbiotic]

Ok I will try that, I already have used YUMI multiboot to successfully boot so i can add a Linux distro. What is the NVRAM module you refer to? Is that native? Or do i need to add it? Or does this command load and execute "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvram bs=1"

 

[Timbiotic]

There are three common ways motherboards store things:
NVRAM (used for settings that last though dead battery / power loss)
Flash (used to store the actual bios)
CMOS (used to store settings that requires power to maintain and the RTC).

Resetting the bios as you are use to is wiping the CMOS.
Resetting the NVRAM wipes any long term settings.

I don't have a X8DTE and your bios behavior is certainly different. Wiping the NVRAM shouldn't cause an issue, especially since you can use serial to flash the bios on these boards.

Ok booted to Ubuntu and ran the command in terminal using sudo in front since it said permission denied first time. Does it take awhile? It just has blinking cursor and I see dd running in active tasks staying at 6% cpu

 

[Timbiotic]

All set . I ctrl-c 'Ed out and it said it wrote out so many bytes.. I then booted to freedos and flashed with bios from their site. So far no more password . Thanks!!!

 

[CJ145]

Glad it worked!

 

[Owl789]

Got a X8DTH-6F which is locked. The dd command results in an IO error. Tried to read the /dev/nvram, same error. Changing permissions to 777 does not help. Any idea if the SAS controller on board changes the game?

Regards, Owl

 

[CJ145]

Do you have the nvram module loaded? The /dev/nvram point should exist as well.

lsmod | grep nvram

 

[Owl789]

Sure. lsmod tells me:
nvram 12997 0

ls -la /dev/nvram tells me crwxrwxrwx now.

 

[CJ145]

https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/marcelo/linux-2.4/drivers/char/nvram.c

It looks like the io error is caused by a checksum failure. I'm not sure how to fix this but I hope this helps.

 

[cw823]

I know this is an old thread, but I was in the same position with an X8DTH with a coraid bios. Thankfully, I found the password on their website:


Reboot the box, and hit the Del key to get to the BIOS setup. If the BIOS requests a password, the old Coraid BIOS password is pwzm.

posting this here for others that may find themselves in the same boat.

 

[Quiks]

Ah, I figured this out after a lot of work.

I wasn't able to get it to boot off USB without going into the bios, but it boot off hdd ok. So, stick a HDD with Linux in it, and nvram module. Load module, dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/nvram bs=1

Say bye bye to any AMIBIOS 8 password (and all your other NVRAM settings... but who cares).

How do you load the nvram module?

 

[BeTeP]

How do you load the nvram module?

Like any other kernel module - with insmod or modprobe:

modprobe nvram