Stuck w/o BIOS password.v.EBay

[DISLEX]

I am a Computer Technician with a company here in Texas. A

Dell Latitude CP M233XT

was brought in.

The lady said she had bought this off of EBay (eek). Once she recieved it, she found it is pass protected.



When the computer is turned on, it goes directly to a gray and white
screen that says

"DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION
www.dell.com

Checkout 19

This computer system, #CDMWR**-595b, is protected by a password
authentication system. You cannot access the data on this computer
without the correct password.

Please type in the primary or administrator password and press <Enter>"

===

It looks like she got Ebayed! I have tools to get around BIOS passes, but nothing is working with this one. There HAS to be some freaking way around it.

Blah... I hate Ebay.




And before you throw red points at me, notice I have been here for a long time. I'm a good person. This is no trick.

Ideas, anyone???

[Negative]

It looks like you're going to have some soldering to do

From what I can find, Dell can do it for you (read: get you a master password), but you'll need the previous owner's data, then Dell needs to transfer ownership of the laptop to you, and then they'll help you (if you're lucky).

If you don't want to deal with Dell, check this out: http://www.dellpassword.net.ms/

[Ghost_25inf]

Are you telling me resetting the bios wont clear the password?

[©opy®ight]

Did you try pulling the jumpers out ?

[Negative]

Apparently, Dells store their BIOS passwords on a separate chip - removing CMOS battery won't help, and there are no jumpers. The "solution" involves soldering directly on that password chip to short the chip - not worth the trouble if you ask me...


On another note: that laptop has probably been stolen...

Someone steals the laptop, doesn't have the recovery disk(s) to clean the hard drive and start all over, takes out the hard drive and puts a new one in. Most Dell's don't like that and give the message you are getting... thief puts the laptop on eBay to get rid of it, and you're stuck with it... you call Dell, give them the tag number, and they'll probably tell you that it's been stolen... end of story...

I would call Dell, and tell them what happened. Give them the serial number - if it's been stolen, they can tell you, and you can tell your customer. If it's not been stolen, try getting the information from the previous owner and have Dell transfer ownership so they can help you...

[XTC46]

generally people dont get negged just becasue they are new. they get negged becase they ask how to crack a password without giving any relavent info, without any backgrund info and sound shady. And then stumble to answer the simplest of questions. Negative is right, dells are a pain to crack. Have her contact the previous owner and get the password? or atleast transfer info.

good luck. Oh, and its probably not the best idea to mention your companies name on a web forum. Becasue later if you ever ask any more sensitive work related questions people know where you work and it can get you in toruble.

[GONEin62nd]

Related to this thread, it is funny I came across one guy asking for the same issue about his Dell Latitude D505.

I had checked it last two days ago and been working around inside out but did not find anything. I had checked and searched and SWEAT but did not find any informative stuff directly from Dell.com or other source. Not to mention I had downloaded much of the manuals and stuff from their site (PDF).

I also suspect the guy had stolen it or acquired it legally but the guy seems to be honest, and he is an Aircraft Mechanic getting 10x my salary , so that makes sense on trusting him, huh?

Anyway, the problem is his wife messed up with the Admin password (CMOS). That is the short story.

I'll check the link that Negative had given and try it when I get home today and update you if some positive situation happened.

-GONE

[nihil]

Well,

My view is that e-bay should be made illegal in all countries throughout the world

They are careless scum, and well deserve terminating.............and as a computer tech, I would say to someone who bought off e-bay........"£$$%^%^&* OFF" simply because they think that they can get things cheap, pay less, cut corners and so on................

Yes, I actually know several solutions to the problem, but I will not post them for obvious reasons, nor reveal them because the bitch has to learn not to deal on e-bay

For those who wish to neg me for my opinion (first amendment right) please post so I do not have to look for you

[steve.milner]

You could

A) Speak to Dell.

If it's stolen inform the police & they will get e-bay involved & go & sort the seller out. You are unikely to get your money back & may have to hand over the laptop.

B) Sell it back on ebay (sold as is)

Steve

[Maestr0]

Dell BIOS backdoors, are created from the service tags. If you have the Service Tag you can get the password, you can also call Dell and give them the SN to get your service tag. This program will calculate the backdoor from the ST.

-Maestr0