Gaming [H]elp! Removing BIOS Password!

[[M]artin]

So, my friend's friend gave him a laptop to fix up. And by fix up, I mean get past the startup BIOS of the lappy to actually use the damn thing. Apparently they were going to give the laptop to one of their son's and when their other asshole son found out, he put a password on the BIOS and said "If I don't get the laptop, no one does.". So the parents can't get the password out of him and want to unlock the thing so they can give it to their son who's starting school soon.

My friend tried a variety of things, he mentioned scouring various forums and last night I believe he was soldering some pins together from some sort of male or female connector to try and get it working past the BIOS password. Today I checked in and it's still at that password screen.

The laptop is a Toshiba Portégé 2000http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/ultraportables/2002/04/23/toshiba-portg-2000-10000319/http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/ultraportables/2002/04/23/toshiba-portg-2000-10000319/, if that helps. Once powered on, Toshiba's logo is flashed and then it goes straight to a black screen with only the text "Password = _" being visible. You can then try to type in a password and hit enter about 2 or 3 times, if they're all wrong, the laptop shuts itself down.

Spoiler

The laptop has no CD/DVD-Drive or floppy drive so there's no way to load anything like that. It does have USB ports, however.

Is there anyway to uncover the password other than beating the living shit out of their son (which is what I keep suggesting), get past the BIOS, or reset everything? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Danny600kill]

You could remove the Cmos Batterey for an hour, this would remove the Bios Password, thus letting you set it to run from USB and then using an OS such as Linux. Then reformat it and install Windows or keep Linux?

I was given a laptop to fix which had a BIOS password and that worked for me. Just remove it for about an hour to be safe to makes sure all of its memory is removed, then put it back it in and the BIOS settings should be default ( including the pass meaning no password )

Alternatively look which BIOS it is using ( Phoenix for example ) then look for the Master passwords, some have them that can be used for all of that specific BIOS

 

[Thoob]

Yeah, keep the CMOS battery out for a while. That should reset the BIOS to factory settings.

 

[Tanas]

Try here

 

[FAST6191]

For most PCs absolutely but know that it might not work on a laptop as it seems to be something of an anti theft measure to block such a simple route. If memory serves Toshiba do play this game as well.

 

[tk_saturn]

What I used to do was take apart a cheapy lighter apart that has an electronic ignition. Take the ignition out with the wire still attached, if you press the button down with the wire near your hand you shoud get a small electric shock. Do that on a metal part of the computer's casing and it will normally forget it's CMOS settings and clear the password.

 

[Crass]

Lol @ waiting after removing the battery for the memory to "drain", once the battery is removed all the battery-backed data will be lost instantly.

 

[Dimensional]

You would have to wait just a little bit. Also make sure you remove the normal battery, as an extra measure just to ensure that the cmos doesn't get any power.

 

[Danny600kill]

Lol @ waiting after removing the battery for the memory to "drain", once the battery is removed all the battery-backed data will be lost instantly.

Yes drain was the wrong word to use, but it does not always do it instantly if you were to go read up on it

 

[[M]artin]

Yea, had both the power battery and CMOS battery disconnected for about 5 hours and after plugging both back up, still met with the same screen... ehh...?

Bud also says: "I had read and knew that the password was saved on a partition in the ram."

Any further possible workarounds...?

 

[fgghjjkll]

Swap the ram?

 

[Crass]

RAM does not have partitions, nor will it store data after being powered off. More than likely it is some special built in protection, stored on a nand on the motherboard (which does not require a battery to keep). Have you tried looking up any documentation for that particular motherboard, or contacting the manufacturer? If you could provide us with more info about the particular brand/model of the hardware, then some of us with l33t google-fu skills may be able to help. Right now its just shots in the dark.

 

[MelodieOctavia]

All you really need to do is remove the CMOS battery. Instructions on how to do that are usually found online. I even found instructions for my old Compaq laptop.

 

[Crass]

artin]
Yea, had both the power battery and CMOS battery disconnected for about 5 hours and after plugging both back up, still met with the same screen... ehh...?

QUOTE(TwinRetro @ Sep 22 2010, 03:49 PM) All you really need to do is remove the CMOS battery. Instructions on how to do that are usually found online. I even found instructions for my old Compaq laptop.

Derp derp?

 

[MelodieOctavia]

artin]
Yea, had both the power battery and CMOS battery disconnected for about 5 hours and after plugging both back up, still met with the same screen... ehh...?

All you really need to do is remove the CMOS battery. Instructions on how to do that are usually found online. I even found instructions for my old Compaq laptop.


Derp derp?

Yeah, sorry, my reading comprehension skills are sub-par today. Anyway, you might want to give this a shot

http://www.stratumtechnology.co.uk/support.htm

EDIT: I also found this:

QUOTE

Model Password Removal Method

* Satellite 1100, 1110, 1130, 1200, 1710, 1730, 1900, 1950, 3000, A30, A60, A70, M40, P10, P20, P30
* Tecra A3, A4, S1, S2

Short Jumper pad.

* Satellite A10, A50, 5000, 5100, 5200
* Portege 2000, 2010, 3500

Printer Port loop back plug with Printer PC Card

* Portege 4000, 4010, M100

Printer Port loop back plug with port replicator

* Satellite M30, R10
* Satellite Pro M10
* Portege M200, M300, R100, S100
* Tecra M1, M2, M3
* Qosmio F10, G10

Challenge/Response Code

* All other models not listed above.

Printer Port loop back plug

-----

I got it from here:

http://www.elitesecurity.org/t123968-0

 

[tk_saturn]

Before posting that link, did you actually read it?

A: It's to address the issue with IDE drives.

B: It only applies to ancient laptops which have floppy drives.

C: How are you going to boot that if you can't get past the BIOS screen?

 

[Crass]

Before posting that link, did you actually read it?

A: It's to address the issue with IDE drives.

B: It only applies to ancient laptops which have floppy drives.

C: How are you going to boot that if you can't get past the BIOS screen?

Not only that, but before telling people they should run software or do anything physical to the mobo (like ripping batterys off it), you should confirm what type of hardware they are using and try to narrow down the exact problem. This shot-gun approach, shots in the dark, is a waste of time and energy and potentially risky. Instead of running around willy-nilly, just tell us the damn model of the mobo and I will personally do some scrounging for the answer.

 

[Minox]

Something I found through a couple of searches which might be helpful since it appears that the BIOS password is stored on a special chip:
http://www.whatsmypass.com/toshiba-laptop-bios-recovery


Obviously I have not tried the above myself and can not guarantee for it to work.