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hardest pc problem ever! bios/booting/os's/hardware Alright, this is officially the first forum that i've ever used to solve a problem, usually i'm cool enough to figure things out. Now, this problem is fixable, i'm sure of it, however i've tried many things that i thought would've worked, that havent, and i'm gettin desperate. Let me explain you the problem in detail :sconfused: My friend had a lot of spyware on his computer, so me and another friend decided to use some programs to help fix it up. During our extensive fixing, We ran a registry cleaning program and installed a new version of internet explorer, somehow, one of the registry files (shlwapi.dll) was replaced with an older version and windows had to be reinstalled, this didn't seem too hard to fix, simply reinstall windows right? WRONG! When we inserted the windows disk, we found that it didn't boot up when we started the computer! Neither did floppy disks! ahh... but hey no Biggie... -I wasn't entirely sure why it didn't boot, so i took out the hard drive, I found that the computer booted when the hard drive wasn't connected to the motherboard. I realized that the boot settings must have been set to a different order, ( to: hard drive, cd drive, floppy ) ... -so change the settings right? well, there's a password on the bios and i've tried many things but i can't manage to crack it :(, my friend recently bought the pc from someone who sells old pc's and found that he was provided with the user password but not the administrator password that let's you access bios, and ms-dos, and boot selection screens. - I installed a newer version of the bios from the toshiba website, however, the passwords remained in the bios chip. Also, it's a laptop, and i tried opening it up, but there was a nonfactory screw in it? wierd....:sconfused: - I tried putting the hard drive in another laptop and re-installing windows to the hard drive using the other laptop, only to realize that that really doesn't work when you put the hard drive back into the other computer. - Then i formatted the hard drive and tried to install again. Only resulting in failure... :darn: So now i have this formatted hard drive, I have the ability to add files onto it using the other computer, but i really need to be able to install windows onto it from it's original computer that doesn't boot, i tried installing Ms-dos 7.1 onto the hard-drive, making it the primary os, but somehow it didn't work idk why (maybe i need a different installation software, i also tried linux, but the cd was malfunctioning... so if you have any advice i'd take it happily, it's a toshiba sattellite pro 4260dvd with a phoenix bios, thanks a lot! |
If the computer will not boot it does not sound like an error caused by the drive. And no, Windows must be installed by the computer using it. You can read my tutorial on installing xp without a floppy and cd drive... thus why it takes so many steps. Try this: use a partitioning program and format the drive to a single partition and a primary drive. (if no partitioning prog, place in the other computer as the ONLY drive and format with the XP cd) then place it back into the other computer, this should solve the problem if it is the drive that is causing the error. You may also wish to try another hdd in the comp to verify this. To reset a bios password simply remove and then return the battery on the bios, this erases any data saved in the bios chip. To install using another laptop, simply wait while the files are copied, and the first restart occurs, shut off the comp before it starts again and place into the proper computer, and boot to install properly. |
BIOS passwords Manufacturers build "safety backdoor passwords" into the chips. Reported Phoenix BIOS backdoor passwords include BIOS, CMOS, phoenix, and PHOENIX. Toshiba's known backdoor password is toshiba. Not sure, however, if these are case sensitive. This may save you from having to pull the battery, which should also work to reset the password. |
how about this is there any way i can install dos as the primary operating system on that hard drive? and have dos boot from the hard drive when i turn the computer on? or is there any other basic operating system that i could use? if i did this, i could simply access the windows cd using dos when the computer turns on, i wouldn't need the cd to boot... please help, time is running out. and my friend wants his pc back, his parents are gettin po'd |
DOS as primary Sure if you have as et of DOS discs; or you can use a recovery disc made from Windows. The recovery disc includes CD drivers and enough basic stuff to boot up and allow the installation of a fresh Windows system. Good luck! |
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