Beware of the Acer BIOS lock bug!

For the attention of all Acer laptop users

NB Other makes of laptops are featured at BiosBug:
https://www.biosbug.com/

I am writing this as a result of recent personal experience with an Acer laptop on which I had installed MX Linux.

The laptop was donated to a local charity who then sold it. A few weeks later I was contacted by the charity and told that the laptop had a fault and that the buyer had returned it for a refund.

Upon inspection I discovered an “Enter Current Password” message, even though I had definitely not installed a Supervisor/BIOS password.

This is how to remove the Acer laptop BIOS password:

• Boot whilst whilst tapping F2 to get into the BIOS / UEFI.

• When the Enter Current Password window appears, press Enter 3 times, slowly.

A new window opens displaying a choice of Enter Unlock Password or System shut down. Choose the first option by moving an arrow key.

• The Enter Unlock Password (Key:59283066) window will appear, with a key/number such as 59283066.

Make a note of this number and next visit:
https://www.biosbug.com/acer-all/

• Enter this code (59283066) into the Form Field to the left of the blue Send Request button.
Then press "Send Request".

• A second number (8 or 10 digit) will be generated (e.g. 44181066).

Then, in BIOS, go to the Security tab and enter this second number (44181066) into Set Supervisor Password.

Press Enter.

At Enter New Password, leave it blank and press Enter.

At Confirm New Password, leave it blank and press Enter.

Press Enter again and you will see the message, Changes have been saved.

Then Save and Exit.

This will cure the Acer BIOS lock bug.