"mitnik" wrote in message
...

I have 2 same Compaq Armada E500 laptops.
In one of them i lost the power-on password and i can't turn it on.
What can i do?

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/su...170045-002.pdf

page 126
If You Forget Your Power-On Password

IMPORTANT: You cannot use the computer if you forget your power-on
password. Therefore, Compaq recommends that you record your password and
put it in a safe place. If you forget your power-on password, the
computer must be disassembled and the memory cleared. Contact your
Compaq authorized dealer, reseller, or service provider for assistance.

BEFORE YOU DO send it in , ASK this question - " will I get MY disk
drive back ? with the data on it ? " It USED to be that you needed to be
the registered owner to even have them do it. SO that I couldn't steal
yours/send it in and get back a "good pc". I used to work in the field
and had a customer send in it once. (someone was fired and when they
went to wipe the PC discovered a power-on pwd.) As I'm typing , I think
I remember that he got back a blank drive (not even an OS on it) I
did ask the factory how/if I could do it - their answer = " No, send it
in". Maybe they removed the drive and raw formatted it elsewhere and
reinserted ?

Did you swap drives between the laptops ? - problem follow the drive ?