Personally I hope that whoever locked up the BIOS was smart enough (or lucky enough) to have set the boot order so that the hard drive boots first. It doesn't make any sense to password protect a BIOS if you don't do this.
hi;
I'm pretty new here and new to linux in general (specifically only used/trying knoppix so far) - but in thinking about your comment - I think I beg to differ. Allow me - yes, the method of bypassing a BIOS passwd has been mentioned already, but for most in an office env., it suffices - since short of breaking open the case, no matter what the Boot order is set to - most BIOS psswd systems I've seen won't allow anything to occur POST wise (not even a memory check, let alone device detection) unless the correct passwd is entered.

*edit
just recalled, that there are diff ways to allot protection - like one way is USER (so BIOS setting can't be altered ONLY) - and then there's SUPERVISOR (in which nothing can happen Boot-wise, short of the workarounds described above)...so there you have it - I cleared up my confusion
/*edit

But - perhaps I'm thinking of the certain BIOSes that also contain a Keyboard lock/Boot up passwd

just wanted to express what my experience has been

BTW - I've got many n00b questions and I'm lurking/reading/searching the boards and will likley be posting a ? or 2 very soon -- so far I posted over in the Tips aand Tricks forum, Screen Resolution thread. I was definitely a bit long-winded and maybe some unnecessary complications I promoted, but I hope it'll help someone, as it's just my very n00b exp, since Booting into the Knoppix 3.6 (from 8/2004) LiveCD, using Kernel 2.6 approx 10-15 times and exploring. I'm a very accomplished 98 user (and a bit more) and will NOT ever give MS another dime -- besides I like the idea of controlling MY OSes and MY Computers.