Ok...so I got a power adapter for the laptop I bought from the surplus sale and I'm ready to install an OS...but it apparently isn't set to boot from the CD-ROM, the BIOS is locked, and there's no indication on any of the stickers that came on it of what the BIOS password might be. What are my options here? I'm afraid the few things I've found on google that seemed relevant were beyond me.

1/17/2006 6:45:27 PM

On a desktop you can remove the motherboard battery, then reinsert it and the bios, including any passwords, is cleared. Not sure if laptops have a similar setup - haven't bothered to take one apart that completely lately.

1/17/2006 6:55:02 PM

.Usually the cmos battery in laptops is going to be under the battery (or more often than not at least). Usually in a yellow cover. You could try with that.

http://www.elfqrin.com/docs/biospw.html

that may help as well. good luck

[Edited on January 17, 2006 at 6:57 PM. Reason : link]

1/17/2006 6:56:51 PM

sometimes there is a pair of pins on the mobo that you can short and then boot up to clear CMOS.

look for a manual for the exact laptop you got and it should have this info. or just look inside the laptop for a cmos battery as mentioned.

1/17/2006 7:40:04 PM

great...

So far most of the information I've found is of the nature of "the Solo series laptops are a pain and a half to get into..."

1/17/2006 8:12:28 PM

I got to the motherboard...or part of it. Unfortunately I got to the point where I was afraid I'd break something if I kept taking it apart before I found the CMOS battery. I'm going to have to try again with more working space or find another solution.

1/17/2006 9:32:27 PM

did you try removing the cmos battery?

[Edited on January 17, 2006 at 9:57 PM. Reason : as mentioned above?]

1/17/2006 9:57:29 PM

Sell it.

1/17/2006 10:24:46 PM

Like I said, I couldn't get it far enough open to FIND the CMOS battery yet.

Unfortunately selling it isn't an option unless I could get at least $100 for the laptop and charger because I am not in a position where I can afford to take a loss on this. I realize not being able to get it to work sounds worse, but bear in mind that so far I'm still convinced I can eventually find and remove the CMOS battery temporarily.

Unless the wires are sautered to the board...images I've found seem to suggest it isn't a button cell.

1/18/2006 7:36:22 AM

did you take ALL the screws out of hte bottom? should be able to pull the plastic apart, exposing more of the mobo. in addition to the batt, also be on the lookout for a possible jumper to reset the bios

1/18/2006 8:06:19 AM

Ok, let me explain this all at once. I was unable to take it all the way apart on my first attempt because I was not in a location where I had enough space to do so without difficulties. I'm going to try again, probably this afternoon.

If I can identify the right jumper, I may try that first, but I'm not counting on it since I have been able to find no reference diagrams whatsoever online thus far.

Thanks for all your suggestions, though. When I run out I'll come back for more. :-)

1/18/2006 8:48:27 AM

You haven't provided us with ANY information about your laptop ... therefore, we can't provide any information to you as what you should or shouldn't do. Give us the company and model number ... both should be on the bottom of the computer. Or take a picture with a webcam/camera phone/something and post it here.

Another option to to try a floppy disk (if it has a floppy drive).

[Edited on January 18, 2006 at 6:23 PM. Reason : .]

1/18/2006 6:23:06 PM

Good point, if exaggerated. I'd been thinking I mentioned it was the 2500 model when I made reference to how hard it was to crack a Solo laptop before.

(That's a Gateway series, incidentally.)

At any rate, I think I found the bios battery...it was on the opposite side from where I expected...so with any luck, if I leave it disconnected from the motherboard pins for a while, i'll achieve the desired result.

1/18/2006 7:47:49 PM

Found http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic17576.html

which says this works on gateway solo

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=239 ?

1/18/2006 10:39:07 PM

The description of that program doesn't sound to me as if it can be used without booting into SOMETHING.

I may see if I can get hold of an old DOS boot floppy, since I don't have any bootable floppies at hand...

The new confusion is, I've gotten to what I'm pretty certain is the CMOS battery, I've disconnected it overnight, and it still asks for that password when I try to go into setup. What surprised me more it that it will actually boot with what I think is the CMOS battery disconnected. Should that be possible?

1/19/2006 8:09:22 AM

Never mind, I apparently just found the reset jumper. All is, presumably, well.

1/19/2006 8:19:39 AM