My partner at work gave me an old Sony Vaio laptop. Windows won't boot, recovery disks aren't helping. I've been trying to get the thing going but am stuck.

i don't care about the Windows install. My plan was to blow off the whole thing and run a decent Linux distro on it. But to do that I need to get into bios and set it to boot off USB, and the bios is password-protected. Partner doesn't remember even setting a bios password.

Sony will help, but they want a letter from the original owner to prove that I didn't steal the thing. Partner at work isn't the original owner, and has no idea how to track them down.

I've tried various scripts that are supposed to provide a one-time password, usually off the serial number or the key provided after three failed attempts. Nothing seems to be working. The net so far hasn't yielded anything more useful than the scripts mentioned.

Any ideas?

Might be tricky/impossible on a laptop, but desktop motherboards often have a jumper that can be set to override the BIOS password.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of instructions for desktops. Still no joy for laptops though.

It's an old Pentium 2 Vaio, so it's really not worth a lot. But it's still in great shape (besides the borked Windows install), and I hate to just toss it.

http://www.haxaday.com/projects/t30-bios-password-reset-buspirate
I have a few bus pirates and can help you find the device but no time to decode it all
myusername aT conSpiRacy d0t nEt

You should be able to pull the CMOS battery and reset it completely, including the password. Leave it out for 5-10 minutes, then put it back in

Whoa. You have exceeded my Nerd vocabulary by a couple of orders of magnitude.

How exactly would your proposal work?

In most laptops the password and things that need to survive battery failure (Mac address, service code) are stored in a small (8 pin) serial eeprom chip. Bus Pirate is a hacker/programmer tool that speaks i2c which these eeprom's use. You end up disassembling the laptop and connecting/soldering test leads to the chip and reading the contents with the bus pirate. Its usually clear not encrypted. Is it worth spending the time to do all this for a P2, probably not for me but if you want to tinker its not a bad learning event. Laptops like this are typically worth much more as repair parts for people on ebay than as complete units. Part it out and buy a working P3.

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Part it out and buy a working P3.

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I hadn't considered that. It'd be fun to figure it out with the buspirate, but your idea makes more sense.

Is it really a P2 (slot processor) or Core 2(solo|duo)? Lots of difference in performance. Core2 probably would run a lightweight linux fine for browsing etc (coffee table machine)

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Is it really a P2 (slot processor) or Core 2(solo|duo)?

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P2 laptop CPUs were not slot form-factor, but were instead traditional flip-chip packaging typically soldered to the motherboard.