How do I remove/disable service code in BIOS?

Question

Hello,   I am a small business owner here in michigan and we have been retiring our older laptops with new models and we generally sell our old equipment to our employees.  Just so there are no issues with this we would like to remove and or disable the service code on our current latitudes as we are selling these to our employees as is.   I have heard this can be done, but found nothing in the knowledgebase.  How can the latitudes service code and asset number be removed and disabled?   thank you.    john firth IT solutions inc.

chapmasj · Answer

Why would you want to disable the service code? Do you actually mean a BIOS password?

awdriven · Answer

I want to remove and or disable the service code because i have no way of preventing my employees from reselling these and trying to obtain service from dell and ect... We want to sell these completely blank with all company information removed from it.

Ed C · Answer

Well you really shouldn't do that. What you should do is leave the service TAG in the BIOS and the service tag label/sticker on the bottom of the notebook and transfer ownership to whomever buys each unit. Otherwise the person you sell it to will never be able to get any help from Dell. Without a service tag and or a express service code and a transfer of ownership Dell tech support will not even talk to the new owner. I really don't understand why you want to do this. Whatever warranty time is left on the notebooks has already been paid for and it wouldn't cost you anything. But if you do remove the service tag and do NOT transfer ownership to the new owner and the notebook dies I would be 1 psed off buyer and employee.

You really need to rethink this action.

Ed C · Answer

To completely remove the service tag you need a Dell tech ONLY program that erases the tag. This program is not freely distributed so you will not be able to do it. Thank GOD. Have a nice day.

awdriven · Answer

Im not sure why everyone is trying to talk us out of doing this on our units.  We just asked what the process was for it.  I have read that the NVRAM needs to be reset but cannot find any information on doing that with a latitude.      Can a dell employee help on this one?

chapmasj · Answer

@awdriven wrote:

Im not sure why everyone is trying to talk us out of doing this on our units. We just asked what the process was for it.

What you asked makes little or no sense and is certainly ambiguous. If what you are really trying to do is protect sensitive company information what you need to do is reformat the hard drive and re-install the OS.

I have read that the NVRAM needs to be reset but cannot find any information on doing that with a latitude.

I don't know what you've been reading, but that doesn't make much sense either.

Have you got someone who is knowledgeable about IT in your organisation, if so get him/her to post the questions for you.

Message Edited by chapmasj on 01-19-2005 06:48 PM

JersWork · Answer

You are probalay thinking about using the ASSET.COM utility to remove the 'owner' and 'asset tag' information from the NVRAM.  Other than that,  there is a key sequence (Ctrl-F or Alt-F I think) which resets the BIOS to factory defaults.

leduke30 · Answer

Just wipe the Harddrive to remove your data and files, and leave the Service Tag alone. Remove the Asset Tag and Owner's Tag if you wish.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

How do I remove/disable service code in BIOS?

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