Laptop went Bananas on Me HELP!

Hello everyone,

Been a while since i have been around here. The working/school part of life has gotten the best of me lately. However my Laptop is not making it any easier. I own a dell laptop. Latitude C510/C610. Thats the best info i can get to describe it. I have had it for over two months now, and two days ago, i shut it down to go to sleep. Next morning, I turned it back on and have been stuck at this screen forever, with this error message about entering a password, which i do not remember entering in the first place. Last week, it was running pretty slow, and i couldn't stop popups if my life depended on it, so i figured a spyware, however, i used Hijackthis to clean it up a bit. Ran well, but I would loose control every here and there like someone was controlling my pointer. It stopped, and all was fine and then i shut it off and have been getting this message ever since. Message is exactly as it is written below..


" This computer system.. #7s87m11, is protected by a password authentication system. You cannot acces the data on this computer without the correct password."

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


I do not recall entering any password for any administrator access, etc. This is the first time it has done this, and i am completely lost. I have a lot of important information and data on this laptop and i cannot afford to loose them. I even gave up and attempted to format it by inserting an Windows XP Cd that i own in to give it a whole new OS, because it is currently running on Windows 2000, and it would not pick up the cd or read it without this password. Is There anything i can do? I have hit all dead ends, and i know there are people here that know tons more than i do, please help me with this. Do you think I was hacked or i lost control of my laptop to someone else? If so, how is it still in effect when i am disconnected from the internet? Any help would be MUCH appreciated. Thank you all very much.

I think I already know the answer, but any luck getting into the BIOS to reset the password?

First off, I'd suggest getting your data off of the hard drive so you don't run the risk of losing it. The easiest way I know is to run by a local computer store and get a drive mount with cables so you can connect it to a desktop (I've heard they even have USB devices nowadays you can plug a laptop HD into, but I haven't seen or tried them myself). Once you've done that, you have a couple options. One thing you could look into is to see if there's a way to reset the BIOS by setting a jumper or something on the motherboard. I don't think you'd be able to find this information online (though it's worth a shot), but you could definitely get it from a Dell representative (if they speak enough English, that is). Another option would be to simply ship the system back to Dell (I'm assuming it's a new system?) and have them sort it out there, but then you'd be without a laptop for a couple weeks.

As for what happened to the system, you didn't happen to spill a drink on it or anything, did you? I know it's a stupid question, but one of my friends spilled a glass of bacardi and coke onto her laptop and it had a lot of issues thereafter until I opened it up and cleaned every component carefully. She still needed a new keyboard and pointer, but the hardware was fine. She not only had random problems occuring (such as some of yours), but her pointer was going crazy as well. She had no control over it whatsoever. Anyway, it's just a thought based upon what I've seen.

A.J.

Hmmm,

That is the BIOS password, which lives in its own EEPROM chip. Probably a 24c02 chip (look at markings on the top).

As suggested, get an adapter and connect the HDD to a desktop. If you cannot get into that because of a password you are basically SOL.

Is the machine new? or did you buy it second user? Dell will want details of any previous owner before they will help you. And you will need them for a HDD pass.

There is no way you can reset the password with a jumper or by removing the battery. This is a EEPROM chip.

You say that you do not recall setting a password?................trust me you didn't; if you had you would have hit this problem the very next time you tried to restart.

I also do not think that any hardware issue or spillage would suddenly set a BIOS password for you............this sounds very much like someone jerking your chain.


:(

The fact that it's an EEPROM chip is not the reason you can't reset the password... (In fact the bios password isn't even stored in the bios chip, it's stored in the CMOS chip... completely different chip.) Most, if not all motherboards store the BIOS in an EEPROM chip these days... That is what makes it so easy to flash (upgrade) the bios in a computer...

EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory

When you flash your bios, there are instructions in the floppy disk you use that tell the motherboard to draw more electricity then usual for the EEPROM... Enough electricity to "electrically erase" the data the EEPROM chip holds so it can be rewritten with the new bios information... :)

Hello, The Duck

We are talking laptops here?it is actually a separate chip. It is a security feature specific to lappies.

Sure, the stuff I have built over the last few years have had EEPROM chips for the BIOS............in fact, the Gigabyte ones I have used have usually had "dual BIOS"

The chip that I am talking about is soldered to the MoBo, and is purely for a BIOS/BOOT password.

Desktops do not have this feature.

The important thing IMO is to find out if he has a HDD password set as well?

:)

EDIT: When you flash your bios

This is seagull country old chap..............that sort of activity is not recommended :eek:

There are a couple of ways to get around the BIOS password, either flashing or removing the battery, or you can try some standard BIOS passwords....

Quote:

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Standard BIOS backdoor passwords

The first, less invasive, attempt to bypass a BIOS password is to try one of these standard manufacturer's backdoor passwords:

AWARD BIOS
AWARD SW, AWARD_SW, Award SW, AWARD PW, _award, awkward, J64, j256, j262, j332, j322, 01322222, 589589, 589721, 595595, 598598, HLT, SER, SKY_FOX, aLLy, aLLY, Condo, CONCAT, TTPTHA, aPAf, HLT, KDD, ZBAAACA, ZAAADA, ZJAAADC, djonet, %øåñòü ïpîáåëîâ%, %äåâÿòü ïpîáåëîâ%

AMI BIOS
AMI, A.M.I., AMI SW, AMI_SW, BIOS, PASSWORD, HEWITT RAND, Oder

Other passwords you may try (for AMI/AWARD or other BIOSes)
LKWPETER, lkwpeter, BIOSTAR, biostar, BIOSSTAR, biosstar, ALFAROME, Syxz, Wodj

Note that the key associated to "_" in the US keyboard corresponds to "?" in some European keyboards (such as Italian and German ones), so -- for example -- you should type AWARD?SW when using those keyboards. Also remember that passwords are Case Sensitive. The last two passwords in the AWARD BIOS list are in Russian.

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How to bypas the BIOS Passwords

Ah... you were just talking about laptops...

So your saying a laptop actually has an eeprom chip just for a bios password??

lol kind of a waste of space for a product that has to be concerned about space management... :p

Hi, dalek

My problem is that I am pretty sure that this is laptop specific security?

Sure, I do know how to circumvent it, but I will not post that information in an open forum ;)

And I want to know if the HDD is accessible.................and I do not support people who buy on scum-bay and that is my final word on those trash throwers.

:mad:

Hi Quackkers

Yes, the modern lappies have that feature. It can be a pain, and a lot of stuff goes through e-bay?

I personally bid $1 for each of them............on the Gentleman's agreement that they will ALL go to Nigeria?

:D

well, if it is bios issue (which it isn't) the cmos battery can be found by taking out the main battery any opening that little plastic door. (I cant remember if it is that way on the 510 or not... might be the bluechip expansion slot. been on vacation for a week and a half... If memory serves me the 410s have the bluechip slot there and the 500/600 series have the cmos battery there)

I will try some things here. I went wrong, and bought it from a friend of mine. He said he can't find the info it came with, so i am screwed with the info to call dell. That is why my last resort is here.

When I turn it on, under Latitude 610, it says " BIOS Revision A07" is that info useful in anyway?

Quote:

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I will try some things here. I went wrong, and bought it from a friend of mine. He said he can't find the info it came with, so i am screwed with the info to call dell. That is why my last resort is here.

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Usually, all you need is the serial number, which should be located on the bottom of your laptop. It's always worth a shot.

A.J.

i Work for Dell Gold Tech Support... by the way. the instructions gave buy dmorgan lead you to the bluetooth card...
all tech support needs from you is your express service code, or service tag.. (located on the bottem on your system.)
if you do not have that info we can look up your system based on your friends name..
once we get that all we need from you is this code "#7s87m11" that you gave in your first post. from there we can get whats called the Master Password. i would do this for you now but if i did i could loose my job

Devildell,

Nice, but our friend HAS TO ACCEPT that the fact that he comes from Nigeria puts him in a slightly different class from the rest?

When your nation's second largest money earner is internet fraud............and second hand laptops play a major part?

Ack! Phtt!

:rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally posted here by nihil
Devildell,

Nice, but our friend HAS TO ACCEPT that the fact that he comes from Nigeria puts him in a slightly different class from the rest?

When your nation's second largest money earner is internet fraud............and second hand laptops play a major part?

Ack! Phtt!

:rolleyes:

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I live in Roselle, New Jersey. I was born in Nigeria, i put the flag there.. That makes me a fraudelent person? The U.S is known for many other things too, that does not mean every U.S citizen, including me is whatever people outside the country think of the U.S. Stop with the unneccesary comments. Thank you.

You cannot deny the fraud?

Live with it, or state that you live in New Jersey and then use your national flag? a lot of us do that

But DO NOT try to say that Nigeria is not a hotbed of internet fraud.........Google works?
:)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by nihil
You cannot deny the fraud?

Live with it, or state that you live in New Jersey and then use your national flag? a lot of us do that

But DO NOT try to say that Nigeria is not a hotbed of internet fraud.........Google works?
:)

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I am not denying that there are people that fraud is their way of life in Nigeria, but many of the good people there don't even have computers or access to them. I just thought that comment was pretty childish. Anybody else offering help? I don't know how we went from my problem to me "supposely living in Nigeria and being a fraud".. Wow.

hi ebo! glad to see you not dead.

we got a bunch of dells including some 610's. you already have the answer. the express service tag,,,sorry i was too late. if your short of anything, like things thar originally came with it please let me know.ill see what i can do.

Hey Tedob, I am very much alive. This Laptop case is going to drive me crazy very soon though. Spent all day trying to fix it, but no luck. I cannot do anything and Dell constantly refuses to help, because i cannot get a hold of the original owner. Guy i bought it from won't even answer my calls.

there is something with american laptops.

i bought one from new york. its less than 9 months old. one day i ran my scans for spyware and adware in safe mode and next thing i know the damm thing's gone kaput. it just wont start. it would get into logon screen and just keep loading. i tried a lot of stuff but the thing just wont start. then some registry error came up. its gone for servicing and thats the last i heard of it.

i had to get one of those hhd adapters (its been recomended to you too by couple of people). i did manage to get most of my documents and files and most importantly my music.

get the adapter. you havnt tried it, because if you had, you would have posted it here. we dont even know if the hhd is locked or not.

ahh, america..... people like to follow rules so much...