How to reset or restore HP Onboard Administrator Password

Have you ever lost, misplaced or forgotten the HP C-Class Onboard Administrator credentials? It happened once with me and I was able to recover it. So, I thought of writing about it. In this article, I will try to explain the procedure you need to follow to reset the administrator password of the HP C-Class Onboard Administrator module to the factory default.If you lost administrator credential of HP Onboard Administrator, then first you need look for the tag attached to the Onboard Administrator module. This tag/sticker contains factory default User name and Password of your OA module. Usually the user name will be Administrator but there is no common password for Onboard Administrator; each OA has unique password.

To restore/retrieve the lost password of HP Onboard Administrator, you need to have physical access to the C7000 or C3000 enclosure. You also need to have a serial cable. If you would like to see the serial cable I have used to restore the OA password, please check the following Snap. Sorry for bad quality of Snap, I have taken it using my age old iPhone

HP Onboard Administrator has a male DB9 serial port connector. If you are using C3000 enclosure, Onboard Administrator serial port is located at the front of enclosure. So when you buy serial cable, you need to ensure that one end of serial cable has DB9 female connector. As my laptop/PC also shipped with a male serial port, I ended up buying DB9 Female to DB9 Female serial cable (Null Modem cable). Have a look the pins of my serial cable here.

Recovering Administrator Password of Onboard Administrator:

To restore password of HP Onboard Administrator, you need to connect your laptop/PC to the Onboard Administrator  using a serial cable. To communicate using serial interface, you can use programs like Microsoft HyperTerminal or Putty. Putty is a simple, standalone application which can be used for Telnet, SSH or Serial connection to OA. So here, I am using putty to connect to the OA serial port.

Once you are connected through serial interface, you need to press and hold the reset button of OA for 5 seconds. When you release the reset button of Onboard Administrator, OA will enter Lost Password/Flash Disaster Recovery (LP/FDR) mode. Now you can restore factory default password. The complete procedure to restore/retrieve lost password is provided below.

1. Connect PC/Laptop to the serial port of the Active Onboard Administrator using a Serial cable.
2. Download and launch Putty on your PC/Laptop (You can download Putty from here).
3. In the Putty window, select Serial; the speed will default to 9600.

4. Click on Open button in Putty window.
5. Now you will see blank serial console screen.

6. Press and hold the Reset button of the Active Onboard Administrator for 5 seconds.

Note: For your better understanding, please check the picture of Onboard administrator. Try to locate the Reset button and Serial port of the OA module. You may need to use a “Safety Pin” to press and hold the Reset button of Onboard Administrator. When you press and hold the Reset button of OA, the health LED of the OA will turn Red color.

7. When you release the Reset button, you will see following screen on serial console window.

8. Press L to enter Lost Password Recovery mode. OA will boot to Lost Password Mode.

9. Within seconds, lost OA password will be visible on screen.

10. Write down the password somewhere before you forget it again
11. Now login to OA using the factory password, the user name always will be: Administrator

If you are using Microsoft HyperTerminal to connect the OA using Serial Interface, please use the the speed 9600 N, 8, 1, VT100. Using incorrect speed in HyperTerminal may lead in showing garbled characters appear on screen.

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