A Reddit enthusiast was able to completely unlock a “passworded” HP 15-dw1036ne laptop using Claude Code’s artificial intelligence. The AI not only bypassed the system’s protections, but also revealed 55 hidden BIOS settings.
This case shows that thanks to AI, blocked equipment that would previously have simply been thrown in the trash can now get a "second life."
A Reddit enthusiast was able to completely unlock a “passworded” HP 15-dw1036ne laptop using Claude Code’s artificial intelligence. The AI not only bypassed the system’s protections, but also revealed 55 hidden BIOS settings.
This case shows that thanks to AI, blocked equipment that would previously have simply been thrown in the trash can now get a "second life."
Laptops with a locked BIOS often sell very cheaply on the secondary market, as the user cannot change settings or even simply boot the system through a password.
Previously, to reset, you usually removed the CMOS battery from the motherboard, but this "trick" no longer works on modern laptops.
According to a user under the nickname Reddit_2049, an attempt to manually rewrite the BIOS code on this model ended with the error "BIOS corruption detected" (the system had a strict security check).
The HP 15-dw1036ne is a 10th-generation Intel processor-based device released at the turn of the decade, writes Tom's Hardware. It's a regular consumer laptop, so it's likely that the previous owner simply set a power-on password, which for some reason wasn't passed on to Reddit_2049 through the electronics resale or recycling chain. However, the post doesn't clearly state what type of BIOS lockout the author encountered, so it could have been an administrative BIOS password. Such locks aren't as strict or complex as on HP's corporate laptops, where BIOS protection can even be tied to the system TPM.
There were no ready-made instructions for this particular model on the Internet. So the owner downloaded the BIOS memory dumps and asked Claude Code to find vulnerabilities in the code.
The AI independently sorted out the bits and bytes and made three levels of edits:
Cracked signature verification (RSA-2048): bypassed the protection that signaled BIOS "damage" during modifications.
Unlocked 55 hidden items: opened access to deep system settings.
Opened the "Advanced" tab: provided full access to advanced configuration.
As a result, the enthusiast received a fully unlocked laptop and even posted a Python script to automate this process.
But it is worth keeping in mind that the script was created for a specific model and revision of the board, so it may not work on other devices or break them.
