i bought this laptop its a siemans lifebook e class
there was no os on it so i tried to install one can't do it say's write to hard disc 0 disabled is there anyway i can enable this will a firmware flash sort it or have i got stung big time

Most probably you will have to look under CMOS settings whether the HDD access is given as Read Only.

it is can i clear the cmos on it or will a bios upgrade sort it

if you upgrade your bios...it should clear all settings.

BIOS upgrade... YES. But its a risky solution.
CMOS clear... YES. But how you will do that... there is no jumper which is easily accessible.

Instead, press a required key combination to enter into BIOS/ CMOS and look for the proper option in Advanced CMOS Settings.

and how do i find the required key combo
thanks for all the he

Someone will tell you about it; provided you put the exact model no here.

ok thanks but think i broke it now download this program
called killbios ran it
it switch it of and now when it boots up there no harddrive or floppy drive
what have i done lol
model is siemens fugitsu lifebook E-series 6624

Your going to have to do what was suggested by Mastermind, enter the Bios settings an reconfigure them manually, set the drives to Auto detect themselves, enable the hard drive for write enable, put the time date in an all the other bits, tell it to boot from floppy, then hard disc then CDrom, I know its easy with hindsight and youve learned a valuable lesson, but you shoould have hung on until you got the advice you were after.

to enter the bios you normally hold down a key or two keys at the same time soon as youve powered the lappy up.

the delete key, F1 F2 or a combination of Fn+delete or Fn+F1 etc usually does the trick, your next stumbling block and hopefully not.....

Is you find the BIOS is password protected and you cannot make any changes without putting in the admin password, if you had it??

================================================
Q3 : The BIOS of my LifeBook was infected with a virus and I would like to replace it. Where can I download BIOS for my LifeBook?

http://www.fsc-pc.de/support/softwareassist_e.asp

A3 : Please refer to our Download site to download BIOS for your LifeBook notebook.

Note: Not all BIOS may be found from this link. Please contact us for further help.

==================================================

Here's the manual as a PDF File (http://support.fujitsu-siemens.de/DokuCD/Manuale/GB/BA_EG/Lifebook/EG_E66xx_A26391-K114-Z120-GB_07-2001.pdf)

here's the documaent page for all docs (http://support.fujitsu-siemens.de/DokuCD/Start_GB_Doku.htm)

straight from the manual M8

Start BIOS Setup
Restart by switching your notebook off and on, or "Re-starting the notebook" (warm boot).
Ê When the message Press F2 to enter Setup appears, press the key [F2] [F2] [F2] [F2].
i
If a password has been assigned:
ÊEnter the password and press the Enter key.
If you have forgotten the password, contact your system administrator or contact our
Hotline/Help Desk.

Just a remind, don't forget to backup your cmos if you want to upgrade it.

thanks for the help from everyone but confused now
i can get in bios there are no passwords on it but yet still can't write to hard drive
on boot up it say's
error 020f
hard drive write disabled
does that mean the hard drive is locked and if so can i put a new hard drive in it

Its very unlikely that hdd is permanently locked by your systems BIOS. Might be related to either HDD access option... like for floppy disk we have read/ write access to be set from BIOS. Another thing is Protection from Boot Sector virus by BIOS. Third is some kind of virus and least possible is hdd MBR corruption.

At what time of booting procedure you are prompted with that error? At POST ?

Hi M8, that error code, how did you try to install the OS? has the Hdrive been Fdisk'ed and formatted before you attempted the OS installation?

i turn it on win98 boot floppy in first it bleeps twice then it say,s
Fixed Disk 0: fujitsu mhn2200at error
hard disk sector read fuction failed
save to disk feature is disabled
WARNING
020F: Password locked: Fixed disk 0
F1 to resume F2 setup
if i resume it boots up from floppy enable cd rom fdisk it enable large disk support it then says unable to write to hardrive or somthing like that
if i enter setup there are NO Passwords in bios i can put in my own pass words
hard disk security primary is clear
secondary is clear
thanks for all the help and for any other help i may get

I got some more info for you... don't know the solution yet... :(

6624 includes Built-in Security Panel with PIN code User and supervisor password Password from resume (only with Security Panel) S.M.A.R.T hard disk with password protection & Kensington Lock support.

Humm...

Security Panel (http://support.fujitsu-siemens.de/SecurityCD/E/SecurityPanel_Applikation.htm).

BIOS (http://support.fujitsu-siemens.de/drivercd/Start_GB_Notebook.htm) Update.

thanks did bios update but still no good think i need to put new hard drive
in it think thats locked

Okay... :(

Try putting borrowed one first. We don't know whether its IDE channel that is locked or it's the disk itself.