10 Nov
2004
10 Nov
'04
1:56 p.m.
At 19:13 10/11/2004 -0400, you wrote:
At "Au Vieux PC" (where shopping is always an
Adventure) I spotted a T4400
with docking station and parallele port to SCSI addapter and other bits.
All for 15 CAD.
However, the T4400 has a BIOS password.
http://www.bitlink.ca/Library/toshiba.shtml Says that it's impossible to
remove the password. Anyone here have any other ideas?
Also, anyone want this beast?
-Philip
Philip,
If you have a parallel port, you should be able to do it. I have never done
this myself, however it is reported by many to work on Toshiba laptops:
----------------------- Begin Quote ----------------------
This method works on all older (ancient) models.
This is what you need:
1. Your notebook
2. An empty formatted diskette (720 kb or 1,44 mb)
3. A second computer (e.g. a DOS desktop PC)
4. A hex-editor (e.g. Norton DiskEdit or HexWorks)
This is what you have to do:
1. Start the desktop PC and start the hex-editor
2. Put the disk in drive A:
3. Change the first five bytes of sector 2 (boot sector is sector 1)
to: 4B 45 59 00 00
4. Save it! Now you have a KEYDISK
5. Remove the disk from drive A:
6. Put the disk in the notebook drive
7. Start the notebook in Boot Mode (push the reset button)
8. Press Enter when asked for Password:
9. You will be asked to Set Password again. Press Y and Enter.
10. You now see the BIOS configuration where you can set a new password.
Of course this will only work if you can still boot the machine.
Newer models try:
Toshiba notebook BIOS password removal via Parallel Port
If you make a simple device that you connect to your parallel port, a
lot of Toshiba computers remove the password when you boot it up. The
device, named "loopback" by some, could be made out of any parallel
wire with 25pins connectors. You should connect these pins:
1-5-10,
2-11,
3-17,
4-12,
6-16,
7-13,
8-14,
9-15
For those who care, what is connect to what
1-5-10, 1=Strob, 5 =data bit 3, 10 = ack
2-11, 2=data bit 0, 11=Busy
3-17, 3=data bit 1, 17=SLCT IN
4-12, 4=data bit 2, 12=Paper End
6-16, 6=data bit 4, 16=reset
7-13, 7=data bit 5, 13=SLCT (out)
8-14, 8=data bit 6, 14=Auto feed
9-15 9=data bit 7, n/c sometimes +5v
If you have a newer laptop again, one without a parallel port you will
need a special USB password removal tool, and they cost much more.
---------------- End Quote ----------------
If you give up on it or otherwise decide to unload it, I have some interest
(located in Ottawa).
Regards,
Dave
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
11 Nov
11 Nov
7:05 a.m.
On 11-Nov-2004 Dave Dunfield wrote:
Philip,
If you have a parallel port, you should be able to do it. I have never
done this myself, however it is reported by many to work on Toshiba
laptops:
Aha, so there's hope.
Of course this will only work if you can still boot
the machine.
Machine boots, but asks for a password.
If you give up on it or otherwise decide to unload it,
I have some
interest
I'm trying to convince myself that I don't want it. Because while it's a
plasma screen, and could probably run linux or bsd, and the docking
station has an ISA slot for a NIC, I DON'T NEED ANOTHER COMPUTER.
Ideally, I'd pick it up, play around a bit, then get it to you.
-Philip
7:09 a.m.
If you have a parallel port, you should be able to do
it. I
have never done
this myself, however it is reported by many to work on
Toshiba laptops:
[snip methods]
I got my 300MHz Tecra for nothing because it had a password.
I can attest that the parallel port method works for
that model at least!
Antonio
--
---------------
Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org
8:44 a.m.
In message <008501c4c819$a31338a0$5b01a8c0@flexpc>
"Antonio Carlini" <a.carlini(a)ntlworld.com> wrote:
I got my 300MHz Tecra for nothing because it had a
password.
I can attest that the parallel port method works for
that model at least!
Lucky dog!
I've got a Toshiba T2130CS (yes, the loopback adapter will kill the password
on '2130s) and a Panasonic CF-25. The CF-25 is the more powerful of the two,
and the more rugged. Magnesium alloy casing and internal framework,
impact-protected TFT LCD, synthetic gel HDD shock-absorber, shock-proof
floppy drive, shock-resistant CD drive. P133 CPU, 32MB RAM, 3.2GB HDD, 3x
PCMCIA slots (one taken up by a Xircom IIps CreditCard Ethernet adapter). And
it's yellow. And it's well outside of the 10-year rule (1998 manufacture
date), but it's a neat little machine, even though it's a PC.
Only thing I don't like is the fact that you can't hot swap the CD and floppy
drives. It is, however, water resistant - spill a drink on the keyboard and
you'll probably end up pulling it to bits to remove the gunk, but the
keyboard switches will likely be fully operational.
At the moment, I'm using mine for electronics CAD and software development.
EAGLE 4.13 and Slackware Linux work great on it, as does Win98 <spit>.
Cost me ?124 for the machine and about ?25 for the floppy drive.
Later.
--
Phil. | Acorn Risc PC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6GB,
philpem(a)philpem.me.uk | ViewFinder, 10BaseT Ethernet, 2-slice,
http://www.philpem.me.uk/ | 48xCD, ARCINv6c IDE, SCSI
... 1024x768x256 - sounds like one *mean* woman!
12 Nov
12 Nov
3:41 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 18:09:48 -0000, you wrote:
I got a SparcStation 10 at an IUPUI auction with a full, new install
of Solaris on it, and no root password. Thanks, Indiana University!
I suspect it was a spare that just never got 'deployed' after a clean
install. There's a trick for defeating the NVRAM password on Sparc
hardware of that vintage that consists of partially booting up the
machine, pulling the NVRAM out, getting past the password section,
then plugging it back in hot. (I have had to verify that said method
works on a few occasions)
Stripping out hardware passwords is a tricky business sometimes. My
HP Omnibook 300 had a password on it that I forgot at one point, and I
had to not just call HP Tech support, but prove to them that it was
mine by faxing a bunch of 'proof of ownership' stuff, to get them to
help me unlock it.
That kind of thing makes me shiver/tremble, because it means there's
stuff out there that over time will definitely become landfill
material and/or physical-display-only collectable, when the vendor
goes out of business and/or refuses to cooperate.
If you have a
parallel port, you should be able to do it. I
have never done
this myself, however it is reported by many to work on
Toshiba laptops:
[snip methods]
I got my 300MHz Tecra for nothing because it had a password.
I can attest that the parallel port method works for
that model at least!
Antonio
7192
days inactive
7194
days old
4 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
a.carlini＠ntlworld.com -
chenmel＠earthlink.net -
dave04a＠dunfield.com -
liste＠artware.qc.ca -
philpem＠dsl.pipex.com