"Errol Smith" bravely wrote to "All" (26 Dec 05  12:38:09)
 --- on the heady topic of "Re: Old Sony VIAO question"

 ES> From: Errol Smith 
 ES> Reply-To: Fidonet Classic_Computer Echo 

 ES>  Also some (generally
 ES> older) systems lose all bios setup information if the backup battery
 ES> is removed (or flat). You could try that also.

It could take weeks though before the cmos bios loses the information.
There is typically a shorting jumper which clears it immediately.

If the system allows booting to floppy disk then the cmos bios can be
altered using software. Often when the cmos bios checksum is bad this
causes the post to ignore passwords. So use debug to write a corrupted
string of data to the cmos bios and the post should reset the
passwords at the next reboot.

 A*s*i*m*o*v

... "42? 7 and a half million years and all you can come up with is 42?!"
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30