Can't enter UEFI Boot Manager on Dell R610

This system seems to have a hybrid BIOS / UEFI setup.

Before doing anything, I reset the NVRAM of the machine using the Clear NVRAM jumper on the motherboard..

I can get into the BIOS, and I have set a BIOS password.

When I try to enter the UEFI boot manager, it asks for my 'Setup Password'.

But the password I set for the BIOS doesn't work, and neither does a blank password. Any ideas?

Solution 1:

Figured it out:

First, I thought maybe my use of symbols (non-alphanumeric characters) was screwing up the password somehow. I removed these from the BIOS password but I still wasn't getting into the UEFI successfully.

Decided to re-read the user manual again (which does not mention UEFI setup password specifically, only "Setup Password"), but more carefully this time.

Ran across this line:

You can use up to 32 characters in your password.
As you type, placeholders appear in the field.
The password assignment is not case-sensitive. To erase a character, press Backspace or the left-arrow key.

[Italics Mine]

Well this got me thinking. I configured a multi-case password like aBcD1234 in the BIOS, and I was attempting to enter the exact password to enter the UEFI, but it was being rejected.

Here's what was happening: because the BIOS was case-insensitive, it was recording my original password of aBcD1234 as the all-lowercase abcd1234 and passing that on to the access control of the UEFI boot manager. Apparently the UEFI boot manager password prompt is case-sensitive and so it was not accepting my entry of aBcD1234. When I tried abcd1234, I was able to enter the UEFI boot manager.