I have an old Tecra S1 that was given to me and after doing general cleaning up, adding more RAM, and diagnostic work it is very stable and does what I need it to do.

I need to change the boot sequence where the CD/DVD ROM drive is first bootable. The only option I have been given is to press F12 before Windows loads.

Listed first is this drive but I am not sure if it is actually first bootable. I can't access the BIOS as it is password protected and I know of no way to do this. When I go to hit Enter concerning the drive a quick screen pops up saying there is no CD/DVD drive, Windows loads, but all icons, task bar etc. fail to load. My desktop screen comes up and so does my cursor but that is it.

This haoppened twice and niether Ctrl-Alt-Del nor trying to shut it down via power button would reboot it. It remained frozen (except the cursor). I had to unplug the power cord for a hard shut-down.

This is a long way of asking: How does one change the Boot sequence for a Tecra S1? Or, how can I tell what the sequence is at this moment? Thanks for reading this.

On most toshiba use ESC to enter bios setup

Thanks! I'll try this. Never had a Toshiba before and the manual doesn't state how to access nor in my searching did I find out how.

Well the ESC button did the trick but when I go into the boot sequence it won't allow me to change the boot order. If I go further it asks for the Old Password which I don't have a clue, but it does allow me to create a New Password.

Should I do this and will this allow me to access the boot sequence?

humm i don't now if tosh use same as IBM or dell separated password but you can try put new pw then test

Since the laptop is useless as is, you can try;

http://www.laptop-repair.info/toshib..._password.html

Hey CCT, thanks for the link. The laptop works well (though I'll need to change the harddrive soon) but in a sense it is useless if I can't work with the BIOS. Thanks again.

WIth some laptops the bios may have a backdoor...
(I cannot post URLs yet, else I would supply an example)

If yours is a model that requires mechanically shorting two spots on the mb,
then i would suggest don't try it...
Some have used the method successfully,
while others report having created worse problems...
ymmv (as they say)

Some models of Toshiba, you can use a key disk (3.5 floppy),
and there are instructions out there for hex-editing to create one.
(I cannot post URLs yet, else I would supply an example)
I will email you with an example since...
... this seems to apply to _your_ laptop!

With other models of Toshiba
you can clear the existing bios password using a LPT (DB25) or USB dongle
Your model will determine the type of dongle that is needed.

Plans are readily available on line for making the LPT dongle.
The description was listed on the page already linked.
There are other pages out there with illustrations.

I have made one and used it successfully
on a Satellite for which I had forgotten my own password.
It happens when you don't use the machine for 4 years,
just leaving it in storage!