Look I don't mean to sound inflammatory. This is not a big financial issue for me, it's the principle of the thing. I can understand the reasoning for a policy against bypassing passwords, pin codes and swipe patterns, but in the broader context, I have to wonder about the mentality at work here. I have a Toshiba laptop that I initially purchased for my wife from Computers-By-The-Sea in NSB, Fl. (It's a small local PC repair shop. I have the receipt and they're still in business.) She got a new Dell laptop from her kids for Christmas, so I adopted this laptop to write stories, download and store camera pics and access the Internet when I'm out of town. I don't need a top-of-the-line laptop for this type of stuff. In fact, I regard this laptop as sort of disposable. I purchased a refurbished Dell online for similar purposes. They both cost me between a hundred and sixty and a hundred and eighty dollars each.
Old PC's are ubiquitous and cheap.
I encountered a problem that sounds exactly like another user described on this site. I turned on the laptop a few days ago, and suddenly it wants a password to boot up. I'd like to know why it did that. It's not hacked or stolen, it's my laptop, (I purchased it) and suddenly it needs a password to boot up into the bios, which seems to have lost an important setting. The first thing I did was call the place that I bought it from, (of course.) They said they don't know how to clear the CMOS but they can salvage my data.
Well, I can salvage my own data. I've got a universal hard drive reader. I don't need to take it to the repair shop for that, but the password is for the BIOS, not for the hard drive. I want to fix the laptop, not just salvage my data. So the laptop is essentially useless until and unless I can clear that CMOS password that neither I, nor the repair shop, they assured me, put there.
There are numerous videos on YouTube which describe how to clear the CMOS memory from various Toshiba Laptops. But when a user came to YOUR site, your friendly neighborhood moderators suggested that he might be a hacker.
Now, let's stop and think about this for a minute folks.
I have an A135-S. A computer that's over ten years old. Is it really likely that I STOLE a Toshiba A135-S? Or, having come into its possession by some mysterious or questionable way, does anyone think that this old laptop has VALUABLE information on it? Really? And even more
baffling, does any one really think I care what's on the hard drive?
You think I'm a criminal trying to hack into an eleven year old laptop for nefarious purposes? Pfff. Give me a break -- for being cheap. What do you think, you're saving the Internet from evil-doers or something? If I, or the other poor sucker were hackers, we wouldn't be on Tom's Hardware website asking anonymous yo-yo's like 'Titillating' for advice.
I have computers coming out of my ears. I can't give 'em away. People GIVE me old PC's. They're so cheap that a lot of people just put their old one in the closet, (or on the back porch) and buy a new one. They ask me if I want it, I take it home and find a loose video cable or ribbon cable and it works, or I use it for parts. But nobody WANTS it. The previous owner has already replaced it.
As for laptops, I have an old Dell Latitude that does what I need it to do. I have an old Acer that's still running Vista, I don't use it because I don't want to pay the 100 bucks to upgrade it to Windows 7. I've got an old Siemens that still has XP on it. My father gave it to me and I'm not sure it'll run Windows 7. I have four or five old desktops laying around that still work. Running everything from Windows 98 to Windows 10.
As for Toshiba's: I purchased a Toshiba brand new back in 2007 or 08. It lasted seven years and crashed. The restore disk, which was still wrapped in cellophane did not work. Toshiba wanted to charge me for a new restore disk. I balked. That's when I purchased the refurbished Dell.
My best friend gave me his Toshiba A205 because the screen stopped working. It was about six years old. Hasn't worked since. And now I have this A135 that suddenly needs a password just to boot up, and you guys think I'm a crook? That's three Toshiba's that don't work, and appear unfixable. I don't, nor do I assume, that people like me are hacking into old laptops for personal gain. I think Toshiba has built-in obsolescence. Toshiba doesn't want to help me? Okay, fine. See if I ever buy another Toshiba again, new, or used.
And I don't think that a site that purports to help its members with computer problems should assume that people are hacking stolen PC's just as a matter of course. I understand your policy, I just don't agree with it. And I don't appreciate it. It shows a complete lack of sophistication. The password is for the BIOS, folks, not the data, or the hard drive.
And yes, I will try to fix it, and then, if unsuccessful, I will save the hard drive (do you guys know what a hard drive is?) and dispose of yet another Toshiba laptop, hopefully for the last time.
Old PC's are ubiquitous and cheap.
I encountered a problem that sounds exactly like another user described on this site. I turned on the laptop a few days ago, and suddenly it wants a password to boot up. I'd like to know why it did that. It's not hacked or stolen, it's my laptop, (I purchased it) and suddenly it needs a password to boot up into the bios, which seems to have lost an important setting. The first thing I did was call the place that I bought it from, (of course.) They said they don't know how to clear the CMOS but they can salvage my data.
Well, I can salvage my own data. I've got a universal hard drive reader. I don't need to take it to the repair shop for that, but the password is for the BIOS, not for the hard drive. I want to fix the laptop, not just salvage my data. So the laptop is essentially useless until and unless I can clear that CMOS password that neither I, nor the repair shop, they assured me, put there.
There are numerous videos on YouTube which describe how to clear the CMOS memory from various Toshiba Laptops. But when a user came to YOUR site, your friendly neighborhood moderators suggested that he might be a hacker.
Now, let's stop and think about this for a minute folks.
I have an A135-S. A computer that's over ten years old. Is it really likely that I STOLE a Toshiba A135-S? Or, having come into its possession by some mysterious or questionable way, does anyone think that this old laptop has VALUABLE information on it? Really? And even more
baffling, does any one really think I care what's on the hard drive?
You think I'm a criminal trying to hack into an eleven year old laptop for nefarious purposes? Pfff. Give me a break -- for being cheap. What do you think, you're saving the Internet from evil-doers or something? If I, or the other poor sucker were hackers, we wouldn't be on Tom's Hardware website asking anonymous yo-yo's like 'Titillating' for advice.
I have computers coming out of my ears. I can't give 'em away. People GIVE me old PC's. They're so cheap that a lot of people just put their old one in the closet, (or on the back porch) and buy a new one. They ask me if I want it, I take it home and find a loose video cable or ribbon cable and it works, or I use it for parts. But nobody WANTS it. The previous owner has already replaced it.
As for laptops, I have an old Dell Latitude that does what I need it to do. I have an old Acer that's still running Vista, I don't use it because I don't want to pay the 100 bucks to upgrade it to Windows 7. I've got an old Siemens that still has XP on it. My father gave it to me and I'm not sure it'll run Windows 7. I have four or five old desktops laying around that still work. Running everything from Windows 98 to Windows 10.
As for Toshiba's: I purchased a Toshiba brand new back in 2007 or 08. It lasted seven years and crashed. The restore disk, which was still wrapped in cellophane did not work. Toshiba wanted to charge me for a new restore disk. I balked. That's when I purchased the refurbished Dell.
My best friend gave me his Toshiba A205 because the screen stopped working. It was about six years old. Hasn't worked since. And now I have this A135 that suddenly needs a password just to boot up, and you guys think I'm a crook? That's three Toshiba's that don't work, and appear unfixable. I don't, nor do I assume, that people like me are hacking into old laptops for personal gain. I think Toshiba has built-in obsolescence. Toshiba doesn't want to help me? Okay, fine. See if I ever buy another Toshiba again, new, or used.
And I don't think that a site that purports to help its members with computer problems should assume that people are hacking stolen PC's just as a matter of course. I understand your policy, I just don't agree with it. And I don't appreciate it. It shows a complete lack of sophistication. The password is for the BIOS, folks, not the data, or the hard drive.
And yes, I will try to fix it, and then, if unsuccessful, I will save the hard drive (do you guys know what a hard drive is?) and dispose of yet another Toshiba laptop, hopefully for the last time.
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