Transfer of ownership when you do not know the orginal owner - can it be done?

I purchased a used Dell laptop about 6 months ago from Craigslist and currently have no way of finding the orginal owner.  

I now have a hardware problem and my warranty does not expire until Sep 2010 but because I do not know the orginal owner's name, Dell will not provide support.

Does anyone know how to do a "transfer of ownership" on a computer when you do not know the orginal owner?   Article ID: 167117 from Dell's web site states "If you did not provide the previous owner information above, you must provide both the Service Tag and the Express Service Code to transfer the ownership of requested systems." 

I have the both the Service Tag and the Express Service Code, I have filled out the "transfer of ownership" form on Dell's web site 3 times over the last couple of months but I never get a reply.  I used "x" in the orginal owner name block per Dell's customer support instructions.  Dell's web site automatically pulls "the service tag" information from the laptop.

I have contacted Dell's customer service (staff and managers) several times and provided them with both the Service Tag and the Express Service Code and told them that I have filled out the form 3 times. 

Customer service repeated response was they can not tell me why the "transfer of ownership" form I submitted did not work unless I provide them the orginal owners name; even after they researched Article ID 167117 which states that I do not need the orginal owners name to do a "transfer of ownership".  Without the orginal owner's name Customer service would only tell me one thing " submit a transfer of ownership form".

If anyone has any ideals on how to do a "transfer on ownership", please let me know.  As it stands now my warranty, which expires in Sep 2010, is no good because I don't know the orginal owner's name.

Thanks,

Roger