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Inspiron 3521, refurbished/replacement motherboard, HDD password message
Ok I purchased a Refurbished motherboard to replace my broken one on a Inspiron 15 3521. When I installed it and powered it up it is asking for a HDD Lock Password. Why? Especially when its not the Hard Drive that originally was Locked with the password, Its a brand new HD. Called Dell and they kept telling me to hit F2 at start-up and it would go into BIOS. NO it does Not. I kept repeating this to him and he kept telling me I'm wrong. Then he gives me some other 800 to call and hangs up. Why isn't it booting? What do I need to do? Anyone Please. Oh and the other number he told me to call was Dell Credit Dept and they were closed...like the could help anyway.
DELL-Chris M
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April 19th, 2017 10:00
This has nothing to do with your hard drive. The refurbished motherboard still has the previous owner BIOS HDD Password on it which is why you are getting that message.
The only way to clear this old data is by contacting Dell Technical Support. Tell them that you need L2 support to clear the password. They will verify all of your data as the owner of the laptop, put you on hold and contact an L2 technician to get the password reset. If the originally purchased warranty on the computer has expired, there will be a one time fee to do this.
ejn63
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April 19th, 2017 10:00
You're going to need to contact the seller from whom you purchased the replacement board to have the board replaced -- unfortunately, that will not clear the hard drive password, so you'll either need to get them to cover the cost of replacing that drive as well (since it was their shipment of a password-protected board that caused the issue).
Even if Dell can clear the password (which they may not be able to since the service tag they have on record won't match that of the replacement board), doing so DOES NOT remove the password from the hard drive.
DELL-Chris M
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April 20th, 2017 07:00
ejn63, thanks for the clarification.