Reinstall of XP

randombar

HI Lads I'm trying to do an install of a computer that I've put an old hdd into.

I don't have the password for the BIOS. I have reset the BIOS both ways (Disconnecting the battery and also shorting the two pins).

I can get into the BIOS to have a look at it by just pressing return when prompted for a password but this method won't let me change any of the settings. i.e. I would like it to boot from CD!

Is there any method of removing the BIOS password altogether? The motherboard has IBM 1.5 written on it and that's basically all the info I have on it!

Hope ye can help
Gary

MarkR

You could try reflashing the bios. Write down the current bios version and look for an update, stick it on a bootable disk and try that.

kmb

if the old hard disk is blank then it should go thru the boot process till it comes to cd and then u press enter to boot from cd.

Regds

kieran

niallb

I've seen a motherboard before that had a secured password - a seperate
battery built into its clock. Only once though, check you're shorting the right pins on the board and make sure the power supply is disconnected from the motherboard while you do it.

An alternative if you can boot from floppy is the Smart Boot Manager.
Make a copy of the floppy and it will give you a list of options to
boot from everything else including your cdrom.
It even works for old machines that can't normally boot from CD.
(You don't have to use linux to create the floppy, instructions are linked on the page.)

What model is the PC?

Good luck,
NiallB

randombar

When I look at the boot sequence that's in it already, it appears to want to boot from the network before anywhere else. It then seems to hang there without trying to boot from anywhere else!

randombar

Thanks lads, I'll try those ones today when i get home. I'm definitely flashing the bios as the clock resets and everything.

randombar

Right lads, sorry I'm getting a bit annoyin now! But it won't boot from floppy at all for some reason? I had a look at the BIOS (annoying the way I can look but not touch, bit like the love life) and the start up sequence is HDD1 HDD2 HDD3 Network and the DVD ROM!

Any suggestions?

niallb

Hi Gary,
what model is the PC?
Need more details than IBM 1.5 to advise on removing password.

Can you wipe the harddrive before putting it in?
It should then fall through to the DVD as kmb already said.

Try pressing all the function keys when it boots,
sometimes one will give you a list of boot options, often F8 or F12.

Do you have another PC?
Try starting to install XP on that and swap it out after the first boot.

Last option - are you sure you shorted the right two pins on the motherboard? There may be quite a few.

NiallB

randombar

Hi Niall,

I'll check the model number of the PC when i get home (important bits I forget!)

Was thinking about wiping the hard drive all right, have another comp but never sure how to connect up the second hdd right, which one is the master and which one is the slave and so on!

Will try the function keys again too, pressed all of them I'm sure but you never know!

Not sure what you meant by this on "Do you have another PC? Try starting to install XP on that and swap it out after the first boot." Swap what out exactly?

Ya shorted out the right two pins with the battery disconnected all right, checked a couple of site for pics of it and all that!

Thanks for your help
Gary

niallb

By swap it out, I meant replace that PC's hard drive with the
one you want for the troubled machine.

Start to install XP on that hard drive while it's in the other PC,
and at the first reboot, turn the machine off and put both
drives back in their rightful places.

If you got pics of your motherboard, point us towards them,
they'll identify it clearly.

NiallB

randombar

Genius idea! I'll give that a whirl tonight and see how I get on! I'll take a few pics too! It's a shame work gets in the way of what you really like doin! By de way if ye get a chance ye should log onto www.ratemypub.ie and let me know what ye think!

randombar

Right lads still stuck on this one

1st I set up the two spare HD's I have as slave's just to see if they were working and they were. then I formatted one and installed up to a point on another computer windows xp as niall described. tried it again and it still didnt work.

2nd Checked the bios and it's a phoenix bios, tried the default passwords i found online and they didnt work.

3rd went back to look at the start up sequence again and it says that the first thing it starts up is a removable device and maybe there's some kinda conflict here?

niallb

GaryCocs wrote:

Ya shorted out the right two pins with the battery disconnected all right, checked a couple of site for pics of it and all that!

Point us at those pictures. If they're not of your exact motherboard,
then they have no bearing on what pins you should short out.
The model number would be the simplest!

NiallB

Capt'n Midnight

Disconnect the battery,
Unplug the power cable (standby power)
leave off overnight (capacitors can hold power for hours on some M/B's)

on a separate issue
Most laptops allow you to password the hard drive. This functionality is built into the ATA standard. IIRC the password is stored on the platter, and the drive asks for it when powered up, so swapping the PCB on the drive won't bypass it - the password moves with the drive. Not sure if you can also do this with 3.5" drives. Maybe the drive manufasutesrs have a way around the password or you could get a data recovery company to read the data directly off the platters.

kmb

What model is the motherboard,may be written between pci slots.Is it a p1,p2,p3 or a modern p4 intel/amd?Cpu?RAM?

Forget about starting the xp process on another comp just format again and boot again and xp should start unless:

1.Faulty ide cable(If using ata 133 cable are youon the right color connector?Think black is master,grey slave.)
2.bad disc
3.Dodgy dvd rom

If you cant get the floppy to work check the cable also,does it light up on detection?Is it in the same section as the hard drives and enabled in bios?

If it still doesnt work you may have to streamline your xp disc if it need the F6 Pressed for detection.


Regards,

Kieran

randombar

Here's a pic of my mobo with the pins that i worked with there's a label for the pins labelled CMOS. I already disconnected the battery for about 3 days!

As for the other solutions, will try formatting the HD so and working with that, I have it plugged into another comp as a slave drive and it seems to be working fine? they were definitely not passworded!

The floppy drive lights up ok without any problems so I reckon the cable is ok.

I will swap the IDE cable for another this evening and see does that do the trick?

The Comp is an IBM netvista p.4 2.3 GigHz