4X4BOB

Been having a clearout and the wife has found an old works laptop that she had been given FOC by her former employer.
Its old, realy old!
Markings on it say its a Toshiba Satellite Pro 410 CDT / 810 PA1215 YX and has a label next to the keyboard for Windows 95

When its turned on it briefly flashes "Toshiba Corporation Copyright blah blah blah" then after a few seconds it goes to a page where it asks for a password. We don't know the password!
Tried hitting DEL / F1 etc etc but can't enter BIOS first, so could this be a BIOS based password?

Still have old win95 and win98se discs and was hoping I could load this onto the laptop so that my daughter can use it for school.
Took a panel off the back and found its got a massive 32mb Ram so no way XP will work.

Will I have to open the case up and remove the battery on the main board to clear BIOS?
Can you do this on a laptop?

Any ideas how to get this thing to boot up would be greatly appreciated.
Or should I just ebay it?

Thanks

Bob

CJAF7R

you can get software on ebay i believe to remove this, or try a search for the laptop type and password removal in google matey!

some are easier than others, the older types tend to be easier!

4X4BOB

Cant run any software as the laptop wont boot up!

Tried google again, and the usual backdoor passwords don't work.
Looks like I might have to try making a loopback plug and see if that works.

From what I found via google, Tosh laptop passwords are not cleared when the cmos battery is removed as its stored on a seperate chip on the motherboard.

Don't want to spend any real money on this, its just that it would have come in handy for my daughter to use.

Might see if anyone on ebay wants to buy it.

Bob

darlodge

I never knew Tosh laptops stored the password on a different chip, they must be the only people who do that.

Most, like you say, just remove the CMOS battery for a short time and then plug it back in again.

See here for a suggestion from labmice

They have a few optiosn you could try, including removing the CMOS battery for 10 minutes. (It should look like a large watch battery)

Darren

lightning101

You just need to power on while shorting the two pins next to the CMOS battery, next time you boot CMOS will be wiped.

Google for motherboard layout, should help you locate it.

4X4BOB

Not been able to full strip this down to locate the jumpers. Don't want to snap something in my attempts. Did find 2 battery packs though!
Under the keyboard are 2 packs, first contains 3 cells shrink wrapped in green plastic, is rated 3.7volts and has wires dissappearing under the m/board. The second has more cells and is rated 7.2volts, this has wires going to the m/board that I can unplug, but removing this doesn't clear anything.
Don't feel I could strip this down further without causing damage so have put it all back together.
Still doing as before, get the screen:
Toshiba Video Bios V1.30
Copyright c 1995 Chips and Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved

Its a shame 'cos its in really good condition, looks almost new, and the battery holds a good charge (plugged into mains for an hour and has been running on battery since) and its got a nice Toshiba laptop carrycase with it.

Will see if I can sell it as it is on ebay.
Surely it must be worth 25 quid?

Bob

Chip Sengravy

has it got a printer port?

You can create a password reset "dongle" for certain tosh lappies..I did it for a neighbour using bits of wire stuck in the relevant holes on the parralel port, he was when it worked

When I get home I'll try and find the link

Chip Sengravy

bugger, I cant find the link . Its called a Parallel port loopback apparently,you should be able to find the wiring for it on the net. I used 1.0mm twin and earth cable cores. You just strip some insulation back, and poke em' in joining the various points out on the parallel port. Piece of ****, as they are all numbered - if you have the info

Chip Sengravy

Version 2
Parallel port loopback
It's a simple device that you connect to your parallell port. A lot of Toshiba computers remove the password when you boot it up. The device could be made out of any parallell wire with 25pins connectors (db25).

You should connect these pins:
1-5-10 1= STROB, 5=DATA BIT, 10=ACK
2-11 2=DATA BIT0, 11=BUSY
3-17 3=DATA BIT1, 17=SCT IN
4-12 4=DATA BIT2, 12=PAPER END
6-16 6=DATA BIT4, 16=RESET
7-13 7=DATA BIT5, 13=SLCT OUT
8-14 8=DATA BIT6, 14=AUTO FEED
9-15 9=DATA BIT7, 15=NOT CONNECTED (sometimes +5.0V)
18-25 GROUND



so its a wire in 1,5,10, twist them all together.
link 2-11
link 3-17
link 4-12..
etc...




from http://www.plasma-online.de/index.html


Disclaimer.

4X4BOB

Thanx Chips 'n' Gravy, I found out about that earlier today (I mention the loopback plug in post #3) but didn't have the nerve to try it.

Anyway, would you believe it, I've Found the Password!

Was going through the laptop bag removing old papers etc and had a flick through a 3 page letter from the former company, and on page 2 it gives the password!
Didn't bother before as surely the purpose of having a password would be useless if you kept it with the laptop, but they did!

Laptop now working great

Thanks for the help and advice guys

Bob