Hey you all, I guess it's been a while since I logged in last. Happy New Year to you all.

I may be in a peck of trouble and need some ideas. I last logged onto my office desktop Friday Jan. 6 and everything was fine then. I have a user-account password on one of three Win7 installs, and a base-level password (same password as the OS) at the BIOS level. It's so low-level that the initial bootup doesn't even complete before one receives the password prompt. Boot order is DVD drive, then FDD (yes, I still have one) then the first of four hard drives. One doesn't even get to the boot menu until entering the password. Even trying to access the BIOS after the POST, the password prompt appears over the BIOS menu and one can not proceed without it. Motherboard is an Abit KN9-S; BIOS is Phoenix Award, rev. B-01.

Today I attempted to log on, and received the response Invalid Password, press any key to continue. I did not change the password. No one else knows the proper password besides me, and as it's needed to get into the BIOS no one else could have gained access to change the password - and I certainly didn't do so.

I tried using my GRUB and GAG boot floppies on the off chance that one of the Linux installs I have (RedHat and Debian) might somehow bypass the BIOS password, but no go.

Could this merely be a matter of the CMOS battery crapping out on me? If so, what are my chances of having the computer usable again after replacing it? Ideas, anyone?