Making money with BIOS passwords?

Question

Hello there,

I have a Inspiron 640m (same as e1405), and I've set a BIOS password like two years ago when I bought the machine. Now I wanted to change something, and I can't remember the password. Now it is true that I'm a morron myself for setting a password and then forgetting it, but to actually be forced to pay Dell another 36 bucks just to get access to my own machine seems kind of wrong.

So up until now I didn't have many problems with Dell. There were some issues when it shipped, but I didn't expect much for the price, and Dell has willingly replaced my broken keyboard while the machine was still under warranty.

But charging money for giving out Master passwords really makes me scratch my head. What is the point of that policy? Am I going to buy a Dell again when I know that even for such a small matter, Dell will charge me if I'm not under warranty anymore? I guess not. There's nothing broken on my lap top, there's nothing to replace. No, there isn't even a software problem or any other problem that Dell would have to solve. I just want control over my own device, and I don't have it because of this policy.

In any case, I find it very disturbing that Dell is charging me for this. Oh, and if it *really* was such a workload that the managers upstairs had to decide to start charging morrons like me to give out Master passwords, then why not simply set up a web interface for registered customers to retrieve the master password? I still have the original receipt, order numbers etc. so anyone like me could simply log in to their user account, enter the proof of ownership, and get the password. No big deal. But no, I have to call the costly hot line and pay 36 bucks to get the password. Oh and people who buy lap tops off eBay are off even worse than me if they can't provide proof of ownership. This whole BIOS locking business doesn't prevent theft anyway. If a thief finds a machine he can't unlock, he can still either sell it on eBay or trash it.

I'm disappointed.

Regards,

Carl.

ccctb2 · Accepted Answer

'Yes you paid for the protection and warranty once, but it ran out.'   When I said that I already paid, I said that I paid for the complete system, including hardware and top level software components, including the master password which belongs to me and that it should have be bundled with the system or be freely available, for example through the online account. A lost password should not be treated as a case of warranty as stated earlier, because there's nothing wrong with the machine, neither hardware nor software. I'm just lacking a password which is part of the software on my machine, which I paid for when I bought it.   You have to remember,when a warranty runs out,thats it.And the software is attatched to that expired system.   I agree that you can always see every sort of service strictly as a compliance to a contract. A contract, such as given warranty over one or three years or any other period of time. Then, when the time runs out, the seller of the product, in this case Dell, has no obligation whatsoever to give any support free of charge. I can still say though (again, letting alone the fact that the master password belongs to me, and that I should get it free of charge as I paid for my machine with the password protection being part of it) that it is not very friendly of Dell charging 36 bucks for a simple matter like this. It simply not inspiring confidence in Dell as a reliable and friendly company, while doing the exact opposite. At least to me, it seems greedy charging money for a matter like this. Of course you can buy anything with money, but Dell is clearly missing chances with matters exactly like this, where amounts of money are charged, which are very little to a giant like Dell, yet quite a lot to one customer. If Dell would give the master password to me for free, I'd go tell it my friends, recommending them to buy Dell hardware as well as the experience with Dell is mostly a pleasing one. Like this on the other hand, being charged with 36 bucks for a non-issue, I feel like Dell is trying to squeeze every last penny out of their customers. I must admit, the market isn't the same as 10 years ago, where Dell was famous for good support and hardware build quality. Everything must be cheap, the competition is strong and yeah, every penny counts. But this is no reason for affronting customers with these kind of service charges when there is in fact no service needed.   I don't need any service, I just want my master password.   These 36 bucks definetly are a bigger loss in corporate image, than a profit in money.

husky0894 · Answer

Lose the last key to your house;  would you expect a locksmith to replace the locks and keys for free?

ccctb2 · Answer

Software can't be compared to hardware that easily. Or can you copy your house with "cp"? Can you burn it on a disk or send it by email? Or could you store the key to your house on a web server for your family members to retrieve and duplicate it at any time?

I guess not. The BIOS password protection is a software component. Providing the master password as a bundle with the hardware which I already paid for does make sense imho, and it should be provided either through the online account or somewhere in the paperwork. Or, following your example: I never received the key to my house (the master password) in the first place.

Apart from hardware not being comparable to software, I certainly find it reasonable that some sort of compensation has to be made for someone at Dell to provide me with the password (letting alone that I should have actually received it with my computer when I bought it). But it is definetly not worth 36 bucks, which is certainly more than the advisor is earning in one full hour of work. Retrieving the password from the system should not take him or her more than three minutes, and I'm also paying for the hot line. So, apart from it being unreasonable that I have to call Dell in te first place - as the password should be retrievable by other means - the price tag for a master password is awfully high.

dgkpcon · Answer

'The BIOS password protection is a software component. Providing the master password as a bundle with the hardware which I already paid for '.Yes you paid for the protection and warranty once,but it ran out.The software,warranties,etc..that come with the system expire at some point and you will have to pay,i do not no of any company that would would give you free service.   You have to remember,when a warranty runs out,thats it.And the software is attatched to that expired system.

NemesisDB · Answer

The bottom line is that this was a business decision by Dell. If they can get some money from fees and support down the road, then they can offer the product at a cheaper price to begin with. Only time will tell whether it's a good policy, as it obviously angers some people.

To the OP, older Dell's came with lifetime phone support. Newer models do not. You should consider Dell's current policy if and when you make a new purchase -- but based on my own experiances, Dell is still way ahead of its competitors.

husky0894 · Answer

None of the major vendors provide lifetime free support any longer - Dell isn't unique.  And while some provide easily defeated passwords (HP, Compaq) the question becomes why bother?

PudgyOne · Answer

Carl,

On some of the older desktops, to reset the bios password you would have to remove the battery from the circuit board for 15 minutes and this would reset the bios back without a password. Unknown if it will work with your problem.

Manual for the Inspiron 640m see page 130. If this works, that will be $17.50, I'm running a 50% off special this week only.

Rick

dmaster · Answer

...or a jumper you could set to reset the password, and it was the same with many laptops.  I didn't know that things had changed.  I know that Dell provides some of the best prices and bang for the buck so I do expect when I have to talk to someone and receive something their will be a charge.

hrova · Answer

You likened it to a house and never receiving the keys... I'd guess you'd have dealt with that while it was under warranty.

You could have called Dell while it was under warranty and received the information. But the reality is, you'd have lost that master password, just like you lost the password you put in....

Some of the fee, I'm guessing, is the fact that Dell has the password stored better than you did.

Hopefully, the advice of some others is helpful to you. I disagree with your decision you'd not buy a Dell again because of this, but your entitled to your own choices.....

ccctb2 · Answer

Removing the battery doesn't work as the password and settings are stored on non-volatile memory. To this day, the only way of unlocking my model is to call Dell. There's a master password generator out there for some old Latitudes (with a service tag not ending in 595B) and on a few of the newer models, it is possible to shorten pins 3 and 7 of the CMOS chip with a paperclip with the chance of destroying it completely.

Yeah, it was their business decision. A bad one imho, but it's not like they care about a customers opinion. And they don't have to care about it.

I also have to say that I agree on some of the marketing ideas that Dell is using. For example giving the option of providing support for more than a year, but not forcing it, so that one can buy the hardware at a cheaper price when renouncing longer warranty. I decided not pay for extended warranty, and objectively speaking, I'm still way better off with my decision than if I would be having paid 350 bucks for extended warranty. The broken keyboard they replaced might have cost me 50 bucks, and my dvd drive is broken as well, but I don't use it anyway. If I'd replace it myself, that would be another 80 bucks. Also,I thank Dell for mostly using standards compliant hardware, e.g. the slim drive bay sata connectors and not some stupid custom flavor like Lenovo does.

Well. *shrug*. Add another 36 bucks to those 50+80 and I'm still under the three year extended warranty price. If the lap top now holds out like this for another 9 months, it's three years old and would have run out of warranty as well ;-)

It's still greedy to charge 36 bucks for the master password, isn't it...

Redfredg · Answer

Hi, ok I am hoping that reading your info you are the man to help me. I have a Windows 8 Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop with bios password problem Hashcode produced after 3x enter :- 009AB0736C69D15E81
I am asking for your help as your generator doesn't seem to be working.

Appreciate your time and effort
Regards.

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Making money with BIOS passwords?

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