Toshiba laptop
 

Hi all,

got given a used Tosh Satellite Pro, model No PS210E. Hdd is formated but when I try to get into the bios to change the boot order, it asks for a password, any help out there?

Desperate,

Bill.

Many of the old Toshibas can be reset with a dongle that you insert in the parallel port. Others can be reset with cgsecurity's keydisk.exe. Google will point the way to both.

The easiest way would be to open it up & remove the battery powering the cmos/bios thus forcing it back to defaults on restart i.e. no password. Alternatively, you can look here: How do I reset a BIOS password?

I'm not sure whether something like that would have a jumper setting on the motherboard to reset the cmos as you often see on desktops mobos. Worth a look around google I would think.

Well, not on Toshiba notebooks it won't.

A thread with pages and pages on frustrated users who want their Toshiba BIOS reset http://tinyurl.com/668t72

Picking up on the USB method already mentioned above, from a quick scan of this thread it mentiones how to make a USB device that loops certain pins together, and also where to buy a USB device that will do it for you (www.pwcrack.com)

It also links to http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/biospw.html, although the info on this page is probably too technically advanced if you are asking here in the first page (meant nicely, not pointedly :-) It may be of use to someone technically savvy whose time you have access too, though.

Parallel port.

Zat so Bush? Another nail in the coffin of laptops for me then!:ok:

There is a readily available freeware utility called 'KILLCMOS' on the net which claims to be able to reset the CMOS back to factory/default settings. You need to be able to boot the system up into a DOS environment though.

WARNING - This prog is only recommended for experienced users; it may void the warranty on your motherboard and may cause adverse affects. This is only to be used if all other options of fixing a system have been explored.

and
Sorry; I wrote what I did from memory when I had read your post some hours earlier, the connection in my head being you had mentioned an external attachment so USB rang true when I read the linked page I then posted.