MAZter wrote on 2025-02-24, 13:54:

I recommend to reflash bios first: […]
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I recommend to reflash bios first:

https://web.archive.org/web/20220531051143/ht … ds/4520tv67.exe

If this not helps, you can try to cleanup password using LPT port adapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4dMmZsG0is

My opinion if laptop boot slow and tsetup.exe does not do anything, something wrong with bios or you got bad memory chip (needs to test with MemTest86). 98048KB is weird amount of memory.

I have 510CDT with secondary HDD adapter and it boot pretty fast even without main HDD installed.

USB flash drive works acceptable in MS-DOS using drivers.

The memory is a pretty normal figure for one of these - that's the total for 32mb onboard plus a 64mb expansion.

A bios flash is definitely worth a try though.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-02-24, 20:15:

I have no idea how similar these are .. I still have a: Toshiba Tecra A3 […]
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Maz Hoot wrote on 2025-02-23, 17:57:

I recently get a Toshiba Tecra 530CDT. ... I tried to enter the bios for remove this strange password but it don’t work. I tried […]
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I recently get a Toshiba Tecra 530CDT.
...
I tried to enter the bios for remove this strange password but it don’t work. I tried keep esc, press esc+f2, keep shift left, even beethoven symfonies on F keys at startup but if I do that I get infinite beeps…
...

I have no idea how similar these are .. I still have a: Toshiba Tecra A3

To enter BIOS, you press F2 (repeatedly) at power-on (No Esc, other Fkey, Shift etc... just F2)

The BIOS is a Phoenix, IIRC it's v1.9

Btw, again I have no idea how similar these are or if it would be at all compatible, but I do have the
"factory restore" DVD for the A3 -- WinXP -- if you have an XP license sticker on the bottom of the
machine (meaning it shipped from Toshiba with XP).. you *might* be able to use this to put XP back
it!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Pressing F2 do nothing in my case, it just make beeps. I think the toshiba 530CDT wasn't delivered with XP, it's more win95 or win98. I am not very interested in installing win98 because this computer is just for using adlibtracker 2 which is a DOS program. At the begining I wanted to install win98 but just for use usb sticks more easy for transfer files. But now usb sticks works good (good enough, a reboot for use a usb stick but it's ok). So I don't need to install something else than Freedos (which I have actually). And win98 is the last operating system to allow to reboot on MS-DOS so for XP it's a no 😀 And I don't have cd rom drive and no floppy disk drive, that's why it's complicated to reflash the bios.

I just want to make the boot faster and erase the bios / motherboard password but it's complicated...

MAZter wrote on 2025-02-24, 13:54:

I recommend to reflash bios first: […]
Show full quote

I recommend to reflash bios first:

https://web.archive.org/web/20220531051143/ht … ds/4520tv67.exe

If this not helps, you can try to cleanup password using LPT port adapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4dMmZsG0is

My opinion if laptop boot slow and tsetup.exe does not do anything, something wrong with bios or you got bad memory chip (needs to test with MemTest86). 98048KB is weird amount of memory.

I have 510CDT with secondary HDD adapter and it boot pretty fast even without main HDD installed.

USB flash drive works acceptable in MS-DOS using drivers.

I tried the solution with LPT port adapter, and it works ! The password is bypassed. And so it makes the boot a little bit faster. Not so much but a little is good to take. But now, if I remove these wires, the password will probably come back right ? And I still can't go in the bios so I can't disable it

If I can't succeed to refresh the bios I will may try to find an adaptor for have the password always bypassed or make one myself by soldering wires in an empty one.

It sounds like so of the other participants in the thread have the same (or at least similar) laptops?
Perhaps one of them knows the right BIOS entry key?

You're really going to want to have access to BIOS -- setups change etc.

Btw - did you have the LPT bypass connected when trying to enter the BIOS - BIOS entry is
likely blocked otherwise (although it should still have asked for the password)

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Wow !! After removing the bypass wires, I had access to bios ! I changed the boot priority from FDD-->hdd->CD-ROM to HDD-->cd-rom-->fdd, and the most important : I changed primary hdd-->secondary hdd to primary hdd --> secondary hdd

But you know what? ... the boot is still very long -_- but maybe a little faster. A little more than when there was a password, and I don't know if t's faster after changing disk priority. That's weird I had a lot of hope on changing boot hdd priority on boot...

Maz Hoot wrote on 2025-02-25, 16:43:

Wow !! After removing the bypass wires, I had access to bios ! I changed the boot priority from FDD-->hdd->CD-ROM to HDD-->cd-rom-->fdd, and the most important : I changed primary hdd-->secondary hdd to primary hdd --> secondary hdd

But you know what? ... the boot is still very long -_- but maybe a little faster. A little more than when there was a password, and I don't know if t's faster after changing disk priority. That's weird I had a lot of hope on changing boot hdd priority on boot...

Sorry I mean I changed primary hdd-->secondary hdd to secondary hdd --> primary hdd (I don't see an option to edit forum messages ?)

Maz Hoot wrote on 2025-02-25, 16:43:

But you know what? ... the boot is still very long -_- but maybe a little faster. A little more than when there was a password, and I don't know if t's faster after changing disk priority. That's weird I had a lot of hope on changing boot hdd priority on boot...

Congrats!

You did chance some other things at the same time?
My first test would be changing them back - I can't see why requiring a password would make a BIOS
boot faster..

For example, if you add CD into boot priority before HD - perhaps it takes BIOS a
little while to make sure there's no disk/drive available ... Change back, then try
one by one till you determine what's slowing it down!

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Ok so I could go again in the bios, the deletion of the password seems to now let me access to in (I press all the F keys at startup, only F2 don't work, I didn't identify which one is the good one yet).

--> the bios seems to don't register my change because when I came back to it it was the old options and wrong disk order again. Is it because I removed CMOS battery and the 6 batteries green pack ?

If it's that I may have to buy a new CMOS battery ?

There was corrosion (green thing) on the connectors on these 2 batteries

Yes, you need to fit a replacement CMOS battery - that's the smaller of the two you removed. Without it the machine will reset to bios defaults after power off.

Also, check and clean the headers on the motherboard where you removed the batteries... I'm willing to bet they have started to corrode - both of mine were. Neutralise the corrosion with white vinegar, then scrub and clean with 99% alcohol. You will probably have to use cotton buds / qtips.

What exactly is the second battery - is this the 6-pack green you mentioned earlier?
Are these bigger (ie: the battery that runs the laptop) or is it some other internal battery.

Basically, whatever it is you want to figure out the type - if it's the off-line power,
it's probably NiCD, NmiH or Lithium (unlikely in a laptop this old)
You would want to figure out if it's holding a change.
If not, you probably want to remove it - it shouldn't be needed for the system
to run.

If it's not the off-line battery (smaller) you should check that it's not a "dry cell"
(typical AA / AAA) - these will rot/leak which causes corrosion or much worse
damage - they should be replaced)

The CMOS battery is probably a little flat/round CR2032 or something like
that ... but ... if it was dead, I would have expected the BIOS to clear to defaults
without a password (unless there is a default password on this BIOS)

Do you have a multimeter? Can you tell if it's actually dead? Worth knowing where
the "password" was coming from (some vendors store it in a different backed up place
so undesirables can't just pop the battery to disable it - but in the days before logins for
everything and encrypted hard drives ... you could almost as easily have pulled any
files you wanted from the drive - so not very common)

If there's no physical damage other than a little green corrosion just clean it away,
make sure the battery contacts will work, and you should be good to go.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-02-25, 20:30:

Yes, you need to fit a replacement CMOS battery - that's the smaller of the two you removed. Without it the machine will reset to bios defaults after power off.

Also, check and clean the headers on the motherboard where you removed the batteries... I'm willing to bet they have started to corrode - both of mine were. Neutralise the corrosion with white vinegar, then scrub and clean with 99% alcohol. You will probably have to use cotton buds / qtips.

I am afraid of damage something during the cleaning... the corrosion is on the batteries connector which are fixed on the motherboard. I didn't opened it again yet so I am talking just by remembering but I didn't cleaned it the first time because I was feared of destroy everything...

Here extracted files, to flash bios you run in MS-DOS command line: chgbiosa BIOFCEDT.COM

520CDT and 530CDT use same bios

I do not recommend to touch connector on the motherboard, try to just cut wire closer to the battery and connect new battery to wires. In the past when I tried to clean/fix connector on the Vaio laptop, connector just fall off.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-02-25, 20:57:

What exactly is the second battery - is this the 6-pack green you mentioned earlier? Are these bigger (ie: the battery that runs […]
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What exactly is the second battery - is this the 6-pack green you mentioned earlier?
Are these bigger (ie: the battery that runs the laptop) or is it some other internal battery.

Basically, whatever it is you want to figure out the type - if it's the off-line power,
it's probably NiCD, NmiH or Lithium (unlikely in a laptop this old)
You would want to figure out if it's holding a change.
If not, you probably want to remove it - it shouldn't be needed for the system
to run.

If it's not the off-line battery (smaller) you should check that it's not a "dry cell"
(typical AA / AAA) - these will rot/leak which causes corrosion or much worse
damage - they should be replaced)

The CMOS battery is probably a little flat/round CR2032 or something like
that ... but ... if it was dead, I would have expected the BIOS to clear to defaults
without a password (unless there is a default password on this BIOS)

Do you have a multimeter? Can you tell if it's actually dead? Worth knowing where
the "password" was coming from (some vendors store it in a different backed up place
so undesirables can't just pop the battery to disable it - but in the days before logins for
everything and encrypted hard drives ... you could almost as easily have pulled any
files you wanted from the drive - so not very common)

If there's no physical damage other than a little green corrosion just clean it away,
make sure the battery contacts will work, and you should be good to go.

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Yes I have a multimeter but I don't know if I have something small enough to fit in the connector. Maybe with 2 needles, I will try with it. But there was already problem with CMOS because the computer gived sometimes an error message about CMOS battery when the old one was in place. So, this + corrosion maybe mean it's the time for a new one ?

About you question regardless the password, it was set in bios, maybe it's the last person who own this computer which did this, who knows, when I bought it, there was a hand written sticker with the password. But even with the right password I couldn't enter to bios because it seemed that I had to press keys before the prompt password was here and so it was not unlocked yet and didn't let me in... (yea, if it's that it's really dumb 🤣).

MAZter wrote on 2025-02-25, 23:27:

Here extracted files, to flash bios you run in MS-DOS command line: chgbiosa BIOFCEDT.COM […]
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Here extracted files, to flash bios you run in MS-DOS command line: chgbiosa BIOFCEDT.COM

The attachment extracted.zip is no longer available

520CDT and 530CDT use same bios

I do not recommend to touch connector on the motherboard, try to just cut wire closer to the battery and connect new battery to wires. In the past when I tried to clean/fix connector on the Vaio laptop, connector just fall off.

Ok so it seems that I have a good reason to be afraid of cleaning it !

About the files for flash bios, thank you very much ! But since this time, things changed and I have now access to bios and password is gone. I think I just need to change the CMOS battery now, for save the bios parameter with the hope that booting in hdd2 (where my files are, for reminder there is no hdd1) first instead of hdd1 first will make the boot faster

@MAZter, In any case I downloaded your files and I will keep it preciously in case the boot order doesn't change anything

After some research, finding this CMOS battery looks complicated. There is one here but it's out of stock https://parts-hq.com/shop/p000230840-ni-mh-ba … n-870477?page=9

Does flashing the bios can change default parameters ? If yes it's interesting... if not and if I can't find a new battery I will probably just put the old one in place and hope it will have enough power to save bios changed settings

I'm not sure we are taking about the same thing.... In my experience most systems (incl. laptops)
have a single 3V lithium battery for CMOS retention, and this is often in a board mounter clip, you
just "pop" out the old and insert the new. See attached CR2032.JPG for a photo of what this would
look like. (the actual battery is the silver disk you can see in the center, and you can also see the
edge to get an idea of how think is is.

Sometimes a similar battery is not in a clip, but soldered onto the board which short leads. This is
harder to chance - I usually cut the leads and make a little holder to hang the battery off flexible
wires and just position it nearby. (I can tell you how to do that and show an example if you like)

What you are showing is a separate 3-cell battery pack with flying leads which would just plug
into a connector on the mainboard. Assuming it's CR2032 equivalent cells (looks like it might be),
this would be 9v.

Can you describe exactly what the batteries you are trying to replace look like, how it connects and
what the corroded "clips" look like - maybe a pic?

Dave ::: https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ::: "Daves Old Computers"->Personal

Maz Hoot wrote on 2025-02-26, 00:02:

After some research, finding this CMOS battery looks complicated. There is one here but it's out of stock https://parts-hq.com/shop/p000230840-ni-mh-ba … n-870477?page=9

Does flashing the bios can change default parameters ? If yes it's interesting... if not and if I can't find a new battery I will probably just put the old one in place and hope it will have enough power to save bios changed settings

Any original nimh RTC battery would have leaked by now and the 'refurbished' ones have probably leaked too. My solution is 2x 1n4148 diodes and a CR2032 coin cell - I figured out recently that with the Tecra 520 to 550 chassis laptops, the coin cell holder could be run all the way into the modem bay since most of mine don't have the modem. Then it only requires removing the primary hard drive cover to replace the battery and there are less space constraints than trying to put a coin cell holder in the space that the 2x nimh batteries sat in.

If you just need to save settings, keeping the main battery connected should keep the RTC / CMOS alive if it's able to charge. But I bet you that the long wait on boot is not going to be solved by changing the CMOS settings, the laptop really doesn't know what to do if it can't detect a primary hard drive.