Missing Service Tag in Bios

Question

I have an issue where I am missing the Service Tag in the Bios. I hear that this happens sometimes in shipping where it may get bumped wrong and the info disappears. Is there anyway to get it back.

It is a Dimension 4600C P4. It came with a USB Floppy drive which we used to try and reflash the bios(at request of Dell Tech Support). That did not work. During the flash, we did not get any errors, but I'm pretty sure it did not flash as it went by pretty quick. Any ideas?

BIOS : Dell Dimension System BIOS
Version A04
For
Dimension : 2400C, 4600C
Languages : English

Majestic · Answer

I've heard of the Service Tag sticker on the outside of the case being lost during shipping or handling, but never in the BIOS. If the computer was banged around enough to erase the Service Tag number in the BIOS then I suspect you would have additional problems related to a corrupted BIOS.

As far as I know the Service Tag number can't be added or modified by the computer owner. It's basically the serial number for the machine and that's why it can't be altered. I am afraid you will have to contact Dell Tech Support again and see if someone there can help you out. A BIOS upgrade won't restore the number.

As for the BIOS flash they are performed rather quickly. Generally less than a minute. If you remember what BIOS version you upgraded to then go into your BIOS Setup and see what version number is listed. BIOS version A05 is the latest for your machine and I would assume that is the version you upgraded to. The information will be listed on the first screen of the BIOS Setup along with the Service Tag number if it's available.

Message Edited by Majestic on 03-12-2004 06:42 AM

c9house · Answer

I thought it was wierd also.  The reason I even found out was that we went to register the McAfee firewall product that came with it and it won't register.  Apparently it reads the Service Tag to register it for the free Dell/McAfee  year or whatever.  The only reason we even figured that out is that we bought two of the same machine.  One worked, one didn't.

Majestic · Answer

I would double check to see if the Service Tag number isn't listed on the BIOS Setup screen.  If it is, then I would re-install McAfee's to see if it will pick up the number the second time around.  If it isn't, then I would call Dell Tech Support regarding the missing Service Tag number and hopefully they will give you a better solution then just flashing the BIOS.

SFL · Answer

Have you deleted the Dell Utility Partition? Maybe this is the reason?

c9house · Answer

You know I'm not sure if we did that or not.  Now we did reformat two computers, both the same, however it only happens on one.  Is there a way to check if we deleted that partition??

Majestic · Answer

The Service Tag number is hard coded into the BIOS on the motherboard and unaffected by hard drive formatting.  That's the reason you can replace the hard drive and the Service Tag number remains.

SFL · Answer

Hmmm... since I deleted the Dell partition the service tag in the BIOS disappeared... So it couldn't be hard coded...?

Majestic · Answer

Unless Dell is doing something different on the newer models the Service Tag number was always in the BIOS as it is the machine serial number. The number was unaffected by a hard drive change or repartitioning/formatting of the drive. The Asset Tag number on the other hand was stored on the hard drive and could even be modified by the owner using a Dell utility. I'll have to pose the question to a Dell Moderator and see if there has been a change. Otherwise I did a quick search of the forums and came across a couple of postings regarding the Service Tag number:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_harddrive&message.id=31092

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=51463

Message Edited by Majestic on 03-29-2004 08:19 AM

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Missing Service Tag in Bios

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