Toshiba A200 Bios Password

[B-MASTER]

After a bit of assistance please guys, i have a Toshiba A200 on the desk with a bios lock password and i cant bypass it.

I have tried (without success)

1) Enter pass wrong 3 times (to get the code) laptop restarts after 3 failed attempts, unable to obtain the code hash.

2) bridge the Jumper B500 (XXX) .. no luck her either

now 99% of the time these work with out issues but this laptop has me scratching my head in confusion. any advice would be appreciated

 

[CTech]

On the A200 are the jumpers near RAM?

I had a tosh in a few days ago and the pads for shorting were JC something near the CMOS batt...

I'm assuming you can't boot from Hirens and use one of the CMOS reset tools in there?

 

[B-MASTER]

Hay CTech, the B500 (XXX) (bios jumper) is near the ram, i am also unable to use a "branded" live CD CMOS Tools due to the bios boot permissions.

i am stumped

 

[Markverhyden]

from a recent thread about resetting a Dell 1501 BIOS password.

Have you tried doing some searches on TN?

Not sure if applicable to this model, but I remembered I had a couple of bookmarks.

http://bios-pw.org/

http://bios-pw.blogspot.com/ (may be same thing)

http://dogber1.blogspot.com/2009/05/table-of-reverse-engineered-bios.html

 

[B-MASTER]

Thanks for the reply markverhyden, i do have stand alone bios tools i use as well as the links you have provided. But as i am unable to get the "Code Hash" by putting in the pass wrong 3 times, these websites and tools are essentially ineffective

 

[Markverhyden]

Just threw that out since there were not many details. Not sure if you saw the thread below. Did you try shorting while turning the machine on?

Had read that it needed to be shorted whilst turning it on which seemed a bit wrong to me. Can confirm it just needs that wee gap shorted and hey presto bios password gone

From this thread

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17971625&highlight=bios+password

But if you are not getting the hash on BIOS password failure it sounds like there may be something else. I do have the US service manual and test and diagnostics iso if you need them.

 

[mr m]

Try the backdoor password Toshiba

http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-bios-password.html

 

[bertie40]

I had a similar Toshiba a few years ago. It defeated me. The password is stored in some special chip ineffective to boot tricks and battery removal etc.

I do remember trying a special dongle I soldered together, which sat in a parallel port ( or some such).
That didnt work either, but that may have been down to my dodgy soldering.
(nowts changed )

You could investigate this ....

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.html?_kw=Toshiba+BIOS+Password+Removal+LPT+Dongle+Tool+NEW+USA

Warning, some of the ads look like scams, but there may be something of help.

 

[bertie40]

I just ran a technibble search for toshiba bios , there are some other ideas kicking around here.

 

[B-MASTER]

Thanks for all the assistance guys, it is greatly appreciated

This morning i gave it one last ditch effort and decided to solder a bridge across the B500 (XXX) jumper, and voila the bios is reset. on closer inspection it looks like this had previously been attempted and the solder tag was damaged. The soldering of the B500 jumper bridge must have been enough to allow the bios pass

The only issue i have now is the bios is in Japanese ... i don't read japanese lol so this could be intresting

 

[Larry Sabo]

The only issue i have now is the bios is in Japanese ... i don't read japanese lol so this could be intresting

Easy, if you have an EEPROM programmer. They are less than $50 and make updates on dead (or Japanese) BIOSes a breeze. If you also get a SOIC8 clip and lead, you don't even have to unsolder the BIOS to do it.

Just download the latest BIOS update from the manufacturer's site, extract the BIOS file using Universal Extractor, load it into the programmer, write it to the BIOS and you're done. It would be prudent to read and save the original BIOS as a precaution.