Dell Laptop MASTER password issue

xxsilk109xx

xxsilk109xx

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An older lady brought me this laptop that she has, its a dell inspiron 1545.

Her granddaughter was playing around on it and ended up setting a password, I am going to call it the BIOS password even though I am sure there is another phrase for it. Basically, she doesnt know what it is and her granddaughter doesnt either.

How can I reset this or go about resetting it? Will pulling the CMOS battery do it? Before I take it off and try I wanted to ask as I heard that the password is stored in another chip as to prevent a thief from doing this and gaining access to the computer.

Any help? I am sure someone has ran into this problem before..
 
wow lots of views and no answers, please dont tell me i am stuck paying some guy 50 bucks off of ebay to tell me what it is based on my service tag..

If i back up all the data and then format and reinstall will this solve the problem?
 
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If i back up all the data and then format and reinstall will this solve the problem?
Click to expand...

Not if it's a BIOS PW

Pull the CMOS batt, it might do it, looks like you've got nothing to lose in trying

If not try this ...

Dell Inspiron BIOS Password Recovery
Each Dell Inspiron has a master password which will clear the BIOS password. You can get this number by calling Dell Technical Support at (800)624-9896.
Dell Technical Support will request the Service Tag and Express Service Code from the bottom of your Inspiron.
If you were not the original owner of the Inspiron, Dell will transfer registration of the used Inspiron from the original owner with only the Service Tag and Express Service Code from the tag on the laptop.
To transfer the registration of a used Dell Inspiron, fill out the Transfer of Ownership form on Dell's web site.
Click to expand...
 
Yea I have got that far, apparently its a hard drive lock that keeps you out of the bios, boot options, etc.

The CMOS battery wont do it because its stored in some chip. I officially HATE with all capital letters anything DELL. They blow a big one for making it so hard to get a password, like thier laptops cost 10K and they are made of gold or something lol.

Dell wants money from me to give me the password. I would rather tell the lady to burn it on camera and send it to dell and tell them how much it sucks and give her the money to buy a new one from another company and then send dell a video of the money they lost because the are a bunch of F'in idiots to think up something like this. What a scam, DELL as a company should be shut down for this and I hope that the person who devised this little idea has horrible horrible horrible things happen to them.
 
xxsilk109xx said:
The CMOS battery wont do it because its stored in some chip. I officially HATE with all capital letters anything DELL.

and blah blah blah
Click to expand...

Forgive me for this but . . . how long have you been doing laptop repair?

EVERY BIOS has a password option for the BIOS and most now for the HDD as well. There are a few techniques for defeating them, specific to the manufacturer and the model. I have had to clear passwords on Toshibas and VAIO's and of course DELL. For example, on one model of Toshiba, it requires removal of the RAM door, peel back the insulating plastic and jumping two unmarked solder points on the PCB/MOBO.

IMHO: If this were my client and Dell wanted to charge HER a fee for fixing a problem that occurred while it was in HER possession, I would respectfully hand the laptop back to her with the printed instructions on how to contact DELL service for her to get the password reset. I would then offer her any kind of service on it that she might like eg: Tuneup, upgrade, etc.

Why all the angst?
 
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Well I have been dealing with this issue with dells for a while now and why would they not have a simple way to fix this is beyond me. I have been fixing laptops for awhile now, but from my understanding this is not a BIOS password it is a hard drive lock password.
I cant even enter the BIOS without getting past this screen.

How would you go about clearing this password. Apparently this is stored in some EEPROM chip that you must replace. From what I have read, there is no way to just reset this.
 
1. Take off shoes
2. Shuffle across carpet
3. Touch BIOS chip
4. Repeat
:)

BTW this is just a joke in case any non tech stumbles across this and wants to try it.
 
xxsilk109xx said:
Well I have been dealing with this issue with dells for a while now and why would they not have a simple way to fix this is beyond me.
Click to expand...

The reason is this:
If this were a corporately owned laptop and the company wanted the locks in place to safeguard their proprietary data, would they want a lock that was EASY to defeat? Something that any criminal could find on the internet? Probably not.
 
kentuckyjoe - are you going to have any luck with the service tag i gave you?
Click to expand...

Trying, I got a buddy at Dell support, I left him a message.

Stupid question: Have you tried to flash the BIOS?
 
<---TRY THE FOLLOWING AT YOUR OWN RISK--->

Find the 24C02 chip
Short (jump) pins 3 and 6 while powering on
(2nd pin from right, top and bottom)

This come from buddy at Dell, he's on vacation so no access to look up service tag, but he swears this will work. I'm still putting a disclaimer on it, don't blame me if it fries something. I trust him though, and if I had the laptop I'd give it a go. Good Luck
 
This is a long shot but worked on an Inspiron for me before to get into Windows

While it's asking you for a password, just press Ctrl-Alt-Del and it should restart and hopefully not ask you for the password

Don't ask me how I discovered it, but it worked for me!
 
If she can prove she is the original owner - just call Dell and they will tell you a password that can allow you access into the bios and remove the password.
 
I'm a little confused here, to the OP, was it a HDD lock password or the Admin password to the BIOS?

If it is the Admin BIOS password, the BIOS Upgrade CD's sent to Dell Field Service Techs (I was one) for motherboard replacements, have a program on them that kills/clears BIOS Admin passwords... The real purpose is to reset the Service Tag, but it also kills BIOS passwords... I saved all my BIOS CD's just for this purpose :-) I have a gig at a private school and this saved me once, the kids have school-supplied laptops and they set BIOS passwords, we found out and killed them (BIOS passwords, not the kids hehee), and password protected the BIOS after that so this won't repeat :-)
 
wtigger said:
I'm a little confused here, to the OP, was it a HDD lock password or the Admin password to the BIOS?

If it is the Admin BIOS password, the BIOS Upgrade CD's sent to Dell Field Service Techs (I was one) for motherboard replacements, have a program on them that kills/clears BIOS Admin passwords... The real purpose is to reset the Service Tag, but it also kills BIOS passwords... I saved all my BIOS CD's just for this purpose :-) I have a gig at a private school and this saved me once, the kids have school-supplied laptops and they set BIOS passwords, we found out and killed them (BIOS passwords, not the kids hehee), and password protected the BIOS after that so this won't repeat :-)
Click to expand...

These sound handy. Is there a name for the app that we could searching for to download from somewhere? :D
 
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