I'm in a bind!

[unknownman_007]

I've got two perfectly good old laptops.

One is a compaq,

The other is a Dell Latitude LM.

Now

Both are set to boot to floppy!

The compaq, when I start it up asks, insert system disc, then hit enter.

Well, I have Linux that I want to put on both machines on a CD.

So, the Dell boots up perfectly to windows 95, except I don't know the BIOS password to tell the computer to look at the CD.

Is it possible to put a floppy in a computer to tell it to look in the CD drive?

These laptops are perfect for DSL or puppy linux!

Thanks in advance.

[dylunio]

you may want to look into something like: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/topic-14601.html

[unknownman_007]

That fixed it for the compaq, except for the dell I get

Disc Error! 0xAA

What does that mean?

I've tried multiple discs, and i'm still getting the same issue.

Any suggestions?

[fingal]

Any suggestions?

I would use Google to search for software to rip the BIOS password. If a secure password was used this might be very difficult .... Or it might take a good few hours.

Be careful that you don't download some evil malware from a dodgy Warez site. Try the bottom of this page. I haven't checked out the links as I'm at work and they might not like my journey into the land of password cracking.

Off-topic: I once forgot my Windows BIOS password, but remembered that I used to base my passwords on parts of the body So I spent an interesting evening working my way up from toenails to hair.

[deltaflyer]

if you still can't get the password, try this link, makes a bootable floppy to boot from a cd

http://btmgr.webframe.org/index.php3?body=download.html

andy

[truoc444]

i always just pull the cmos battery. especially for older machines 10 minutes with no juice and it usually goes back to its original settings.

[unknownman_007]

Okay, now i've got it to work, that isn't the problem.

The problem is the:

Disc error! 0xAA

I get when using the floppy that allows me to boot of a CD, does the computer need the CD drivers?

[deltaflyer]

shouldn't need the cd drivers if it's a boot cd. the error code ,0xAA, that means the drive cannot read the boot files or the cd.could be a problem with cd/drive ??

andy

[unknownman_007]

Well, i've used the cd's in multiple machines, so i'm stumped. Could the drive be broken? I'm about to give up I think, let me know if there are any last minite suggestions.

[fingal]

Read this if you have time. Same problem, different forum. It might give you an idea. It's a long discussion, so you might abandon the will to live halfway through.