Hello: Someone gave me a old laptop, but they forgot the password to get on it! Its from back (I believe) 1996. systems unit 500CDT/1.3 Model # PA1221U----XCD Then it says > Part # PA 1221U-T2A Serial # 11686724 Its a Toshiba-Tecra Some one mention I could take the battery out for awhile and put it back in and it would not need a password after that, is this true? But I dont know how to get the battery out, I think it is a nickel lithium battery I am a senior citizen on a fixed income and can not afford a computer, so I would really appreciate any help you can give me to get this Laptop going! Please let me know and Thank you, Regards, Jim

Jim, Is the laptop running XP (this is XP forum)? I ask as if its really from 1996, no way could it run XP reasonably well. If its that old, its probably got 95 or 98 (or possibly NT) on. And when you say password - is this before it loads windows (ie, set in the bios)?

That is an old unit. It probably only has the 48mgs of RAM that the factory put in it. Most operating systems today need more RAM than that. There are two main passwords and the password that you need is not erasable by removing the battery. The BIOS Password can be deleted by unplugging the battery, but you are not trying to access the BIOS, you are just trying to start the unit up and that password is harder to break. The unit probably has Windows 95 as an Operating System so you may be able to erase the entire hard drive and start from scratch. The problem is, that unit did not come with a floppy drive, and you will need a floppy to load the tools to erase and reinstall an Operating System. Did you get a Windows 9x CD or a set of Windows 9x Floppy disks with the unit? Do you have a CD Drive? Do you have a Floppy Drive? Tomorrow the Stars!

The person who gave it, forgot to mention it and he moved out of town. I do think as you mentioned it is probably 95 or 98. As soon as the screen come on it says "please enter your MHA Boot Password now", this is before windows, it has a drawer on it that says Compact disk! I was given a recovery cd rom disk for 98 Dont know if that means anything or if it fits. Are you guys sure the battery trick wont work, I am willing to try anything. thanks PS: Can I not get into Safe Mode some how and do something from there also?

SOME COMPUTERS WITH TOSHIBA BIOS Hold down the Shift key as the computer is booting http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000451.htm

After a few minutes of searching I found this amazing tidbit. "Re: How to remove BIOS password from Toshiba Tecra M1? Hello, type following keys: ctrl, tab, ctrl, enter. you will get code on the screen that needs to be sent to toshiba service and they will give you contra key to unlock your notebook. of course if they want to do that. keep in mind that notebook must stay turned on, because on the next boot you will get new code." That means: CTRL+TAB [together; then release] CTRL+ENTER ["] I have no idea if it will work on yours. But it shouldn't hurt to try. UNLIKE trying "master passwords" which can be a crapshoot becuase the BIOS is reported to go permanently locked with 3 wrong tries. HTH If at first you don't succeed, you're about average. M2

Rather than list the whole range of Tweaks/hacks/fudges etc. .." on the www - and I haven't tried any of them, so can't say which will/won't work for you, run a search in google using: bios passwords as the search term/string. You will get a wide range of how to responses...; some are apparetnly freebie, some commercial... The Techtarget.com site requires a logon etc. to get the full how to. It doesn't cost anything to register there, and the site is just one of many excellent resources for all manner of help.