Want to format but can't get into BIOS

[Richard Laymon]

A friend of mine gave me an old laptop that has a corrupted XP on it. It boots up but just prior to the desktop appearing a warning message appears stating "Windows cannot find \OEM\bin\WatchDriversSigningPolicy.exe. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.". There is no way of clicking the message off as there is no mouse/cursor.

Because it ran so slow when XP did work he gave it to me to put another OS on it, either 98 or ME. However the disk won't autorun and I can't get into the BIOS to alter the settings because it has a password on it. The owner has no idea what the password is so I'm stuck as I told him "no problem"
Is it possible to connect the laptop hard-drive to my comp so that I can format it or is there another easier/better solution ?

 

[King X13]

depending on the laptop you can hit F12 most of the time, if that doesnt work hit the other F keys durning the POST and you can bring up a boot menu to select the device to boot from and then you would just select the cd drive.

 

[bmitchell73]

I think I remember hearing once that to reset the password you need to clear the cmos...(Take out the little watch battery on the mobo for about 2-3 minutes, put it back in and boot up). Then press the bios key to get into bios and change the boot order.

 

[Richard Laymon]

Right I had removed the battery but only for as long as it takes to take it out, have a quick look at it, and put t back. It obviously didn't work but leaving it out for a couple of hours did the trick.
Thanks folks it's formatting as I speak