Laptops are made so that if a BIOS password is set, and you don't know it, it just plain won't boot. There are ways around this sometimes, including unsoldering the BIOS chip and replacing it with a new one, but that can cost much more than the device is worth, and the firms that do it need you to prove you are the owner. If there were easier ways to do it, you wouldn't see them on Computer Hope anyway. About 20 years ago, a neighbour told me his kids (aged 2 and 4) had managed to alter the BIOS password in his Sony laptop, and did I know any way to reset it? He was a big guy, so I didn't say that his kids must be pretty smart because you need to know the password to change it, and I just gave him the "show proof of ownership to a Sony dealer" method. 6 months later his picture was in the local newspaper when he got 10 years in jail for running a scheme where he paid drug addicts in hard drugs to break into house and cars, or mug people, and bring him mobile phones, tech hardware, etc. The police said his house (near mine) was an "Aladdin's cave" full of plasma TV, PCs, VCRs, DVD players, laptops, etc.
