# How do you reset the BIOS password



## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

Here is the deal..  My daughter in her infinite wisdom, decided to set the supervisor password on her laptop and FORGOT the password :facepalm:.. the model is a Toshiba Satellite L305-S5955.. 

Been nice if she would of written it down somewhere

OK.. So any ideas..


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## scaminatrix (Feb 25, 2011)

How old is it?


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

scaminatrix said:


> How old is it?



Like a year or so


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

im asking her now via facebook to get a more accurate date


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## qubit (Feb 25, 2011)

1 Have a look at the manual and Toshiba website in their support section for help.
2 BIOSes are cleared of passwords by removing the CMOS battery for a bit and usually moving a link to the "clear" position. It's not always easy to do this on a laptop of course, as you may have to take it apart, hence step 1 above.

EDIT: crikey, that was fast! I started writing when there were no answers and by the time I clicked the post button there were several! I think this must be quick even for TPU.


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## JrRacinFan (Feb 25, 2011)

Try left shift key at power on before attempting a cmos clear.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1385089


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

Yea..  so i figured.. GOD,i hate laptops.. PC's are no problem...


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## scaminatrix (Feb 25, 2011)

Ask her if it's got a parallel port, if so you're in luck. Link her to a pic of a parallel port.

If there's no parallel port, I noticed Hirens BootCD has a tool that might be useful (cmospwd).


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

OK  she told me its like 2 to 3 years old..  thought it was only 1 for some reason


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## scaminatrix (Feb 25, 2011)

Looks like it has got a parallel port. Not to judge your daughter, but I don't think she'll be able to do this. I've done this before. Can't remember where I got this from, so I can't give credit to the source (been archived for years); but here:

ONLY WORKS ON TOSHIBA'S I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY BLA BLA But I've tested it, it works fine.



> *Toshiba Parallel Loopback.*
> 
> To make 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, named "loopback" by some, could be made out of any parallell wire with 25pins connectors (db25).
> ...


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## Jack Doph (Feb 25, 2011)

What I found:
"
To reset the password on this model, you need to:

    * Power off the computer, flip it over, and open the ram door
    * Find a small jumper to the left of memory module 0 (the one closest to the board).
    * Use a screwdriver to jump this pad while you turn the computer on
    * Continue jumping the pad until after the splash screen dissappears
    * If successfull the password prompt will go away. If not, try try again.
"

See if that helps?


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

scaminatrix said:


> Ask her if it's got a parallel port, if so you're in luck. Link her to a pic of a parallel port.
> 
> If there's no parallel port, I noticed Hirens BootCD has a tool that might be useful (cmospwd).




The laptop is at my house.. no parallel port to speak of..  just a vga port

I do however have a Hirens Boot CD...


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

Jack Doph said:


> What I found:
> "
> To reset the password on this model, you need to:
> 
> ...



Ill try it out in like 20 minutes.. Thanks..  Dinner just got done.. lol


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## scaminatrix (Feb 25, 2011)

Brandenburg said:


> The laptop is at my house.. no parallel port to speak of..  just a vga port
> 
> I do however have a Hirens Boot CD...



See if the app "cmospwd" can help. It's in the "BIOS/CMOS Tools" section of the CD.


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

scaminatrix said:


> See if the app "cmospwd" can help. It's in the "BIOS/CMOS Tools" section of the CD.



nope..  wont boot from CD w/o the password.. Kinda figured but I tried it and no luck


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 25, 2011)

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

Does that help you in any way?


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## JrRacinFan (Feb 25, 2011)

One other thing you could try...

Force yourself in with Windows remote desktop connection. Name of the computer would be Toshiba, make sure you have wifi enabled. While attempting to connect push "alt+F4" on both desktop and laptop at the same time.  

LOL JK
Just reporting back that my previous mention will not work and YOU MUST reset cmos.


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## AsRock (Feb 25, 2011)

WOW had same kinda issue with my DELL were resetting the cmos the usual way was not possible.

DELL laptops have gotten crazy now i think no jumper short will work only a password which is only given out by DELL :|.  How ever i did find that you can actually pay for a password to get it sorted although that would not work as i got the password of DELL and it failed so they swapped out the mobo to solve it.

Anyways a tech told me what i could do is to remove the battery and cmos battery for over 24 hours  but not sure if it works though.  

Maybe it work with other brands ?..


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

opened up the ram compartment..  I see nothing that looks like a jumper though


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## Aceman.au (Feb 25, 2011)

Does your daughter even know what the BIOS does? And why would she set a PW?


Have you tried brute forcing the PW? As in guessing till you get it?


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> http://dogber1.blogspot.com/2009/05/table-of-reverse-engineered-bios.html
> 
> Does that help you in any way?



I dont see the vendor (toshiba) in the list


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

l33tGaMeR said:


> Does your daughter even know what the BIOS does? And why would she set a PW?
> 
> 
> Have you tried brute forcing the PW? As in guessing till you get it?



well.. She does now... LOL.. She has alot of cousins that got on it without her permission.. so she set this PW I guess


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## Aceman.au (Feb 25, 2011)

Brandenburg said:


> well.. She does now... LOL.. She has alot of cousins that got on it without her permission.. so she set this PW I guess



Ah, I guess you don't want them in the BIOS mashing keys and ending up smashing the CPU clock up by 2 GHZ and making the main boot priority different ETC


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 25, 2011)

Well you could take the laptop apart and take out the cmos battery for about 2 minutes and reassemble.


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## Aceman.au (Feb 25, 2011)

CrAsHnBuRnXp said:


> Well you could take the laptop apart and take out the cmos battery for about 2 minutes and reassemble.



If warranty is no longer an issue


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

l33tGaMeR said:


> Ah, I guess you don't want them in the BIOS mashing keys and ending up smashing the CPU clock up by 2 GHZ and making the main boot priority different ETC



I think she didnt fully understand what she was doing..Well.. messing with computers is a learning experience.. She was taught a painful lesson I think

Still looking for a solution.. The jumper solution seems to be the best but i'm unable to find said jumper


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## Aceman.au (Feb 25, 2011)

Brandenburg said:


> I think she didnt fully understand what she was doing..Well.. messing with computers is a learning experience.. She was taught a painful lesson I think
> 
> Still looking for a solution.. The jumper solution seems to be the best but i'm unable to find said jumper



Yeah I guess, but I always mess around with PCs that I don't/won't use anymore or are broken. But this was an accident ofc


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

i think I found the jumper and tried... No luck


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## Jack Doph (Feb 25, 2011)

You may need to contact Toshiba then mate :/


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## Maelstrom (Feb 25, 2011)

Haven't tried this myself so I don't know if it will work for you, or even work at all, but I bookmarked this page on how to get through bios pws.

Edit: Here's the link that the article links to: http://dogber1.blogspot.com/2009/05/table-of-reverse-engineered-bios.html


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## AsRock (Feb 25, 2011)

Brandenburg said:


> i think I found the jumper and tried... No luck



disconnect the battery and the cmos battery as well then short it and put it back after then connect the batterys.  

IF that fails try leaving it longer like i said if any thing this one and the tech is right in what he said over 24 hours.  Worth a try anyways.


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## Laurijan (Feb 25, 2011)

1) Locate the Bios-battery (Removing some panels or chassis-parts)
2) If it´s not welded on the mobo disconnect the connector and wait 
3) Reconnect after several seconds
4) Boot up


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## Batou1986 (Feb 25, 2011)

Ive done the jumper thing a few times take a picture if you can of the back of the motherboard i might be able to help you locate it, usually they are two triangle shaped contacts pointing away from each other.

Sometimes the black plastic tape they use to protect the IC's around the ram is covering it.
Also the trick is to jump the circuit then press the power on and keep it jumped till the bios comes up and says something about a reset or clear and makes you press a key to continue booting


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

AsRock said:


> disconnect the battery and the cmos battery as well then short it and put it back after then connect the batterys.
> 
> IF that fails try leaving it longer like i said if any thing this one and the tech is right in what he said over 24 hours.  Worth a try anyways.



k.. ill try that tomorrow morning


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## Brandenburg (Feb 25, 2011)

here is a pic of the ram compartment with the suspected jumper circled in red.....


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