password protection

Do you mean the cmos battery?

If the cmos battery went dead it might have been reset to a factory default which would be in your manual.

Some motherboards have a jumper on them to turn off the password which would also be listed in the manual.

Thanks I'll try that tonight!

What MB do you have? Which BIOS did the MB manufacturer use? The manuals can be downloaded from the manuafacturer's website.

If the battery was removed and the default BIOS settings restored, the password (default) is likely to be null. Just hit carriage return.

When does the message for password present itself? Hit delete before the BIOS runs to get to the setup menu. Then go to the password screen and reset it.

Try leaving it blank and then the enter key.

Found this:

At times, and without any obvious reason, static discharges as well as other electrical problems can cause the PROM on the motherboard to reset the Bios (CMOS) to its default values and even cause the default Bios password to be set. These are some of the default Bios passwords used with different Bios's, give them a try first.