Forgotten Bios Password

My friend just bought a toshiba 490 XCDT laptop at a garage sale for $10.00. The original owner password protected the machine and forgot the password, so when you turn the laptop on it comes up with "password=" and won't allow any other action. I can't Boot from Floppy or CD and I can't enter the BIOS to change the password. I even removed the hard drive with no avail. The only thing I can do so far is update the BIOS by pressing F12 on startup. All other F keys are disabled, Esc and DEL are also disabled. I called toshiba and for $60.00 I can take the laptop to the closest authorized dealer (30 miles away) and they'll remove the password protection. The laptop is a Pentium 2, my friend doesn't mind paying the $60.00 but I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions before I make the trip across town.

See if you can clear the BIOS or remove the CMOS battery to clear the BIOS. That should clear the PW.

cmos battery

This laptop has 2 CMOS batteries and I did remove them, but I might not have left them disconnected long enough for the capacitor to discharge, I'll try that again
thanks