Toshiba Laptop BIOS Reset Dongle

So you've got an old Toshiba Satellite (full list of compatible models at the bottom), turned it on and to your aggravation you are greeted with a Password prompt. While there are several ways to go about removing the password, I chose to build a very simple dongle device which connects to the parallel port - known in the trade as the Loopback Plug. When connected to the computer and the machine is started up, the BIOS will not prompt you to enter the password, allowing startup of the computer and removal of said password.
List of compatible models:
100 (1xx)
200 (2xx)
300 (3xx)
400 (4xx)
500 (5xx)
600 (6xx)
700 (7xx)
1000 (1xxx)
2000 (2xxx)
3000 (3xxx)
4000 (4xxx)
7000 (7xxx)
8000 (8xxx)
A15-S127
1415-S173

Step 1 Assembly

You will need the following:
1. A male D-sub 25 connector (or alternatively you could just stick the wires into the parallel port directly)
2. Assorted wire

And that's it! You can get both of these things by taking apart an old LPT printer cable which can probably be got for nothing.

The wiring diagram is shown in picture 2, it is as follows :
1-5-10, 2-11, 3-17, 4-12, 6-16, 7-13, 8-14, 9-15 (and 18-25 optional)

You might like to attach a plastic case to the plug to prevent accidental damage in case you intend on doing a lot of password forgetting.

Comments

[talmeida1]

Thanks :)

It did work! The computer gives a checksum error right after booting and then goes to a screen where you can reset the password.
I just used some wires and didnot bother with the 18-25 connection.

Good stuff !

Best regards,

[javyg]

Nice to know.

[dhlm83]

Hello.

It really works!!!

I had a Toshiba tecra 500cdt, someone gave me. This was a bios password.
I experienced the Loopback Plug and it work.

If found the Windows 98 inside...

Thanks...

[Kasm279]

I have a Portege 610CT, nice little machine. Too bad I don't have the cable for the floppy drive though...

[artcfartc]

I had a Toshiba Satellite that I bought used way back when. I was about to call the original owner to get the password, but decided to type "satellite" just for the heck of it, and that worked. Could be the factory default, but probably just a very uncreative former owner.

Great instructable by the way, sorry for my almost unrelated rambling.

[wperry1]

I have one of the plugs issued by Toshiba to certified techs back in the day. I didn't realize it was just a loop-back plug (it's molded), I though there was some custom wiring/intelligence in there. I was really bummed when they stopped working (later models)

BTW it doesn't actually erase the password, it just disables it while the plug is in place which was nice for doing tech work because you could work on the laptop without a PW then give it back to the user with the original password in tact.

[sahmeepee]

There was a version of the BIOS on the Toshiba Satellite Pro 2100 which would turn on the boot up password and reset it to something random. I was presented with one of these bricks to fix in my old job so after some googling found the wiring details you've got in your instructable.

I made mine by just twisting together the relevant wires from a cannibalised parallel port cable and then wrapping the twisted sections with insulating tape. It was way less fiddly than trying to solder loads of connections. Anyway, to the surprise of the whole office it worked and the museum piece was restored to its former, uhm, glory.

[contactjeremy]

I had no idea this was even possible! Really cool.
I have an old Toshiba Satellite at home. I kind of want to set a password just to see if this works.

[frenzy]

Great instructable now we just have to figure out how to do this over USB :-D

[Bongmaster]

may come in handy for my work :) thnx :)