Built in hdd bios password on toshiba laptop

[jamesd1981]

I have just been given a toshiba nb200 laptop to look at, upon startup one day the owner got the message built in hdd/ssd password.

She has never put in a password to this machine, after a bit of research i have found this is a very common fault with toshiba laptops, I have downloaded the latest bios but it is updated within windows so i need to access the machine first.

I have tried resetting the bios using the jw1 jumper, the bios did successfully reset and that should have been it, however to my suprise this built in hdd password message is still preventing the machine from loading.

Any ideas ? should i try removing the hdd and then doing the reset ?

 

[jamesd1981]

(update)

I have used a spare ssd i have to get into the machine and updated the bios, however this has not helped.

I also tried removing the hard drive and hooking it up to my system to format, the drivers for the hard drive installed but the drive was not visible in any drive partioning software.

The hard drive is a hitachi which i have read is a nightmare for this problem.

 

[jamesd1981]

(Solved)

It turned out there was no password on the drive, It was just a failed drive but with some of these hitachi drives with in built password feature, instead of just failing and not working it can display this password notice to which there is no correct password.

Installed a new drive to the machine and is fully working.

 

[larsch]

The hard drive is a hitachi which i have read is a nightmare for this problem.

That goes for all drives that have been password protected. The password is stored on the drive. So moving it to another computer will not help. Updating the bios/resetting cmos will not help either.

You have to deal with the harddisk

 

[jamesd1981]

Yes larsch I read that on some drives the password is stored in the firmware of the drive and so there is really nothing you can to remove it, but i also read that a failing/faulty drive can throw up this false hdd password message.

I found it was a bad drive when i used the mini tool partion wizard boot cd, it picked up the drive and displayed it as a bad drive.

 

[larsch]

I don't know the program, but a locked harddrive will not respond to normal commands before the password has been given. If the software doesn't know about this, it might report it as being faulty...

 

[jamesd1981]

Yes possibly, if the hard drive or bios had been passworded it wouldn`t have been a problem but if the password has been stored on the drives firmware it would be more hassle than it`s worth to remove it, possibly only by changing the control board on the drive itself for an identical one which would cost as much as a new drive, would only have been worth that hassle if drive had valuable date on it which this one did not.

The laptop is back with a now happy owner and the original hitachi drive smashed to bits just incase there was any forgotten sensitive data on it.