Question Toshiba Laptops Don't See Hard Drives..

[AlienSciences]

Toshiba Laptops Don't See Hard Drives..

A skilled computer tech somehow disabled a bunch of notebooks for an institution to make the motherboards not register a hard drive.. I have messed with all the suggested bios settings, but to no avail..
What is the sneakiest thing a computer expert can do to totally disable a Toshiba laptop to not see any hard drives?..

Is there an ISO download of a Toshiba diagnostics program that I can make a CD ISO of to have it search out, report, and maybe even auto-fix problems?..
I really don't want to have to give these NB's to my relative gold recycler yet.. I need these Toshiba NB's to setup with LinuxMint 19,3, Gimp, Audacity, Cheese, FocusWriter, Brasero, Brave, and Opera, and a Protonmail email account.. to donate them to disabled and MS kids, and to poor elderlies..
Please advise..

I find it weird that people would destroy usable electronics so no one else can use it.. It's the same as when I saw a perfectly good fibreglass canoe in the spring cleanup.. It was sawed in half so no one could use it.. That's just mean and silly...

 

[COLGeek]

What is (are) the specific model (s) of the laptops in question?

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

A skilled computer tech somehow disabled a bunch of notebooks for an institution to make the motherboards not register a hard drive.. I have messed with all the suggested bios settings, but to no avail..

What model of laptop? and are the hard drives present within the computers? Have you changed the boot order and installed an OS?

It's the same as when I saw a perfectly good fibreglass canoe in the spring cleanup.. It was sawed in half so no one could use it.. That's just mean and silly...

Yeah, people are weird a-holes. One of the reasons this planet is doomed.

I find it weird that people would destroy usable electronics so no one else can use it..

Lots of big companies that deal with sensitive data completely destroy thousands of dollars worth of electronics including CPUs and RAM because they're too stupid to realize you can't get data off a CPU or RAM stick (unless you bring it to subzero temps).

 

[AlienSciences]

They are Toshiba: Z50-A, and A50-A, and R950.. All skillfully disabled...
I tried all the changing settings in Bios as instructed in several YouTube videos..
I tried several notebook hard drives, blanks and DVD, and some with LinuxMint 19, or Scientific Linux pre-installed.. I have a stack of notebooks from floor to ceiling, plus, and a box of 100 spare pre-installed Linux hard drives.. None worked in these troubled notebooks, but the notebooks seem to be in good shape.. I checked the motherboards for vandalism, missing parts, loose connectors, cut wires.. Everything seems to be ok...
It's probably some sort of administration factory Bios reset that doesn't show in the user's Bios settings.. I hope you have the solution.. I have a lot of terminally ill kids and honorable poor old folks patiently waiting for their free notebooks...

I love Toshiba.. Toshiba is built right and tough, especially Toshiba external hard drives.. They can take a beating, and go on working when the same abuse kills other brand external hard drives in a second... I strongly recommend everyone using an external hd to tape it to the desk... doodoo happens...

The world is in some sort of suicidal turmoil mode.. Everything is falling apart in our world, including the planet... Nasty things could happen, like big solar flares and EMP nukes.. It's time everyone get an ext hd, and make your quality backup.. Flash drives and CD's aren't reliable as long term backups.. If the infamous "Storm Virus" ever hits the Internet, all the Windows computers net-connected then will suddenly go dead OS blue screen.. That monster hacker hit my computers three times with his Storm pet back in Windows 98 days.. I saw it evolving.. It kills the hard drive instantly.. There is no recovery from a Storm Virus hit, is why everyone should have a secondary computer with a Linux OS in it, a one terra hd, and all their valued files in it., and never net-connect it.. You can acquire old usable towers and monitors from garage sales for about five bucks.. Be prepared, not sorry... Storm can't hurt a Linux OS yet, but he's trying.. Storm could crash the whole global economy by erasing most of the world's business files, is why I stress that everyone should have an ext hd backup ASAP... Hateful hackers slam my crapper internet notebooks every week or two, and I never ever lose anything, not even a pixel of my treasures, because it's all stored in the external hd's.. and it only takes 100-minutes to reinstall Linux Mint 19.3 all customized and accessory files uploaded... I 100% boycott the updates, and add Brave and Opera...

Yes, I know how industry destroys obsolete machinery to force new sales.. At one place I worked at only a year, every two weeks my delegated task was to take a sledge hammer to 10's of thousands of dollars worth of trade-in postal scales, copiers, and mailing equipment... I destroyed one new sledge hammer ever two months.. It's absurd how much our culture Wastes...

Give a poor person a free computer.. It makes you feel real good inside..
In a grocery store I saw a poor elder shopping at the 50-cent noodles shelf.. I dropped a ten dollar bill at her feet, and said to her 'you dropped something'.. I had a grin that just couldn't quit when I saw her at the meat coolers... I see poor elders paying for their groceries, and I say 'I'll pay that bill'... Lets make this a good world... Be kind to the family of mankind, it's your family...

A couple days ago someone evil hit my computer with something that made the hd go to zero bytes.. Now I have ten high capacity hd's that are force set at zero bytes... Maybe I can format them if I acquire a HD to USB connector..?

Tom.. You're amazing.. You sure are the expert... Nice forum...

 

[COLGeek]

Do these devices have any sort of admin/supervisor password required to make changes to the BIOS?

I ask because of the information found on page 100 of this manual: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/736529/Toshiba-Portege-Z30-A.html?page=100#manual

 

[AlienSciences]

No passwords indicated anywhere in Bios settings... Can an expert change a setting under a password, then leave it functional after clearing the password? This mess is acting like a super hack.. Is there a program that when installed, damages the Bios..?
I've heard of Bios viruses that kill a motherboard.. How do you test for them? Maybe the tech added a Bios virus..?

 

[COLGeek]

No passwords indicated anywhere in Bios settings... Can an expert change a setting under a password, then leave it functional after clearing the password? This mess is acting like a super hack.. Is there a program that when installed, damages the Bios..?

Not that I am aware of.

Have you tried resetting the TPM and then trying a "new" HDD?

 

[AlienSciences]

I think I did, but I'm gonna try it on a few of these notebooks this morning..

Silly me, I haven't tried pulling the Bios battery yet.. I'll do that too...

I noticed that on some computers if you shut them off and on about three times it resets something that erases irritating boot glitches.. What do you know the about the technical's on that? I should try that too.. but it might just be only for a troublesome preloaded old version Ubuntu Studio hd..? I found that older Ubuntu OS's sometimes needed three initial reboots to get them up'n working properly.. I don't know why..?

A tip: if you are having problems with a fussy non-responsive external hard drive or other external media, plug them into an old Scientific Linux OS.. It usually over-rides the problem, then you can format it.. I use Scientific Linux as a last resort tool... I think it works because hacker bullies generally didn't and don't target Scientific Linux... They just couldn't penetrate it... It was created by Cern Labs for universities...

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

I noticed that on some computers if you shut them off and on about three times it resets something that erases irritating boot glitches.. What do you know the about the technical's on that? I should try that too.. but it might just be only for a troublesome preloaded old version Ubuntu Studio hd..? I found that older Ubuntu OS's sometimes needed three initial reboots to get them up'n working properly.. I don't know why..?

Just reset the bios from within the BIOS, or try updating it using the update from toshiba's website

 

[AlienSciences]

Thanks.. I'll check out that Bios reset in Toshiba's webpage, but I think I'd need the hard drive and OS to be working to reset the Bios thus..

I somehow need to get these lovely computers to detect a hard drive... I tried for a couple hours today with a few of them, doing all of you good folks suggestions, and a few I found in YouTube videos, but all attempts failed.. I think it's a lost cause, but I sure would like to know what the expert computer tech did to destroy notebooks so well.. Somewhere out there someone knows... Maybe it's a Toshiba secret..? Maybe a hacker could use it to destroy a computer from afar..?

I'm gonna drop trying to get these lovely Toshiba notebooks working.. It's too much for me to understand, and it's taking too much of my precious time.. They are going to my brother for recycling the gold, silver, and platinum out of...

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

Thanks.. I'll check out that Bios reset in Toshiba's webpage, but I think I'd need the hard drive and OS to be working to reset the Bios thus..

You can reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery and disconnecting all other power sources.

If you can boot off of USB WinRE can usually let you run a BIOS updater.

 

[COLGeek]

We are done here. Closing now.