Dell complaints

buddha513 · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 2

i have tried everything and of course dell sucks because i dont have the previous owners real name they cannot help me with the bios password i cant even change the boot order so been reading about cmos dip switch but am unsure if this is true about using that or eeprom chip to clear password. could you help me please also i was wondering if i could get the password off the hard drive.

4merDellOhioGuy · Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure Dell is the one that sucks here. They don't provide the BIOS or Hardware passwords for security reasons.

You somehow have obtained a computer and won't say where you got it. If you bought it from a reseller, return it and let them deal with it. If you bought it from a person, then get them to reset it.

If you just 'found' it, well, the security feature is operating as designed...
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ex-9 year Dell Veteran. Worked at former Braker K, Metric 12, PN2/TMC, WS1, SPH and PN1

buddha513 · Discovering Dellhate Joined: 02 May 2009 Posts: 2

thats funny i got a pw from them before, however, i was the ORIGINAL owner i bought this off ebay live and learn and anyway. believe me i would rather figure it out myself then ask for help and get stupid answers!! besides if you dont know the answer just dont say anything thanks for telling me what i know already i will go elsewhere to find people with KNOWLEDGE

HellResident · Chancellor of Dellhateology Joined: 20 Nov 2005 Posts: 255

The passwords are protected by an algorythm. that algorythm is based on the Service Tag of the PC. If you work for Dell asa first line tech, you dont have access to the web tool that generates the master password, you have to go on chat with an L2 to get that. IT's closely guarded, that's why the techs have to chat.
Your challenge is to pass the "Verification" check by the tech, because his l2 will ask him if he has VA'd ( veriied authorization) Your challenge is to get past that.

You do that by having a rep update the recorrd...with your information.Call in and ask for something stupid. Tell them you just want to know if your warranty is still good if you upgrade the hard drive, or say you want to reinstall...and only need a driver CD ( or both). They dont really care about CD's so they'll ship it with little fuss. In the process...they update dellserve with your email phone and address for the dispatch.
Then call in a week later and ask for the password. Give them your information. You'll pass VA, as it's your information in the record.It's hard as hell to get prior address information out of DellServ.Most techs dont even know how.

Alternatively you can try and guess what the prior owners information is and try and do an ownership transfer. Then call in.

HellResident