A neighbor was given a Gateway desktop computer. On booting,
apparently the bios is asking for a password that she doesn't know.
Windows hasn't even started booting yet so I'm sure it's the bios
doing it. What to do?
Two possibilites, and both require opening up the chassis:
1. If you can find the motherboard specs and schematic, you will find the CMOS
clear jumper. Follow instructions to clear CMOS, including BIOS password.
2. Remove the battery for a few minutes. It is probably a nickel-sized C2032
battery held in a socket by some spring loaded mechanism. Carefully remove the
battery, wait a bit, put it back, and power up the system. Enter the BIOS setup
and and reset everything back to the default settings and set the date and time.
The default BIOS settings will generally be OK for a modern computer.
> A neighbor was given a Gateway desktop computer. On booting,
>apparently the bios is asking for a password that she doesn't know.
>Windows hasn't even started booting yet so I'm sure it's the bios
>doing it. What to do?
Forgotten password in biow 
Linear Mode
