Question : How do i retrieve/change a password?

I am a beginning repairman.  I have broken passwords before several times with various softwares.   However, this time the password may be set in the BIOS, or even before that somehow.  i have never seen anything  like this.  It pops on intantly on power-up.  If i hit enter PC just shuts down.

 I want to reinstall windows Vista.  The disk spins but the password request appears before the disk loads.  So what I am saying is that a password is required to get into the BIOS and a cd or dvd does not run because the system itself seems to require a PW.  i have no idea what to do from here.

THE QUESTION IS:  How can I either break this PW or simply install windows over it. (that won't work, will it?)  

The system is a toshiba satelite laptop, with vista installed, plenty of memory.

thanks in advance

donnie616

Answer : How do i retrieve/change a password?

Go to control panel and check the Indexing Options.

Sudeep