toshiba satellite m105 factory reset

[jpickel]

Hello, I am trying to factory reset an old Toshiba laptop model 105-3041. I have the restore disc but the DVD player does not work. I have tried the 0 trick but am not having any luck. Is there any other way? Thank you!

 

[Prostar Computer]

The 0 trick?

If the laptop doesn't have a bult-in factory recovery partition on the storage drive that you can boot from (or if it's not working), you can connect an external USB CD/DVD drive and use that to launch your factory recovery from your discs. Or you can move what you have on disc(s) over to the USB drive, but that might take quite a bit of work.

 

[jpickel]

Thanks for your response! I tried hooking up an external DVD and a USB drive and starting the recovery from there. But, after I get past the confirmation screen I get a message that the boot sequence file experienced a problem and needed to shut down. So, at this point I am assuming there is no way to reformat or reset this computer to factory setttings. I guess it is just too old but it was worth a try. Thank you!

 

[hackintosh777]

Oh, you can reformat and wipe it. Just use a Linux distro, one of your choice, and burn it to a USB. Then wipe the disk and install it. But if you want Windows...That's another problem. What OS do you currently have on it?

 

[jpickel]

Thanks I will try the Linux route. It is currently running Windows XP which could be part of the problem.

 

[hackintosh777]

Thanks I will try the Linux route. It is currently running Windows XP which could be part of the problem.

xp is probably not the problem since recovery is seperate from the main OS. But I can recommend a good distro if you give me the specs of the laptop.

 

[jpickel]

The processor is an intel T1350 1.86GHz, 504mb RAM, 80GB HDD. Vintage 2007 laptop. Thank you!

 

[hackintosh777]

If you can upgrade the RAM to ~2GB I suggest either Lubuntu 14.04 LTS (supported until 2019) or Manjaro 0.8.12 XFCE

 

[jpickel]

Great Thank you! This laptop will be long dead before 2019 so that sounds great. I appreciate your help!

 

[Prostar Computer]

Thanks for your response! I tried hooking up an external DVD and a USB drive and starting the recovery from there. But, after I get past the confirmation screen I get a message that the boot sequence file experienced a problem and needed to shut down. So, at this point I am assuming there is no way to reformat or reset this computer to factory setttings. I guess it is just too old but it was worth a try. Thank you!

You're welcome! That sounds like a problem with the recovery software, not so much your laptop. Sorry to hear that.

Ubuntu is good. I've no experience with Manjaro. Linux Mint is another good distro, as it's user friendly and lightweight (which might be better on your laptop given its specs).

However you go about it, good luck!

 

[hackintosh777]

Thanks for your response! I tried hooking up an external DVD and a USB drive and starting the recovery from there. But, after I get past the confirmation screen I get a message that the boot sequence file experienced a problem and needed to shut down. So, at this point I am assuming there is no way to reformat or reset this computer to factory setttings. I guess it is just too old but it was worth a try. Thank you!

You're welcome! That sounds like a problem with the recovery software, not so much your laptop. Sorry to hear that.

Ubuntu is good. I've no experience with Manjaro. Linux Mint is another good distro, as it's user friendly and lightweight (which might be better on your laptop given its specs).

However you go about it, good luck!

Linux Mint is typically a bit heavy (at least the Cinnamon, KDE, and MATE versions, and I didn't like the look of the Xfce version). Manjaro is very light; you can read my review of it here: http/linuxdesktopreviews.blogspot.com/2015/03/manjaro-0812.html

 

[Prostar Computer]

Cinnamon is a little more heavy on resources. I found MATE to be acceptable on an old machine that otherwise struggled a little more with Cinnamon. I'll have to take your word on Manjaro.

 

[hackintosh777]

Cinnamon is a little more heavy on resources. I found MATE to be acceptable on an old machine that otherwise struggled a little more with Cinnamon. I'll have to take your word on Manjaro.

Just installed it on an old machine yesterday, runs great but only thing is that the web browser (Firefox) is a bit slow but that happens on almost all old machines.