Inspiron E 1505 - OS reset to factory defaults without knowing the Administrator password

Power on, and press F8 before WIndows loads.  Choose Repair, then Restore.

 

Power on, and press F8 before WIndows loads.  Choose Repair, then Restore.

Wrong answer! It is asking me for the password, which i/we dont know.

First of all plug the external monitor into your E1505. Note you may want to have the laptop folded and a dell keyboard and mouse in the usb ports aswell.

Here is the method using the system discs (which you don't have). However you can request the discs:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&redirect=1

 

Insert the media direct disc and switch off your E1505 press and hold F12 whilst powering up and select selection 1 or 2 (1 is recommended unless you want to create another partition)

 

On the screen where it asks you where you want to install windows, select the largest size partition and format it. Select drive options and select format (do this only for the largest partition - leave the rest alone). Then install windows on this partition.

Now when the discs finished and prompts you to change for your Vista disc do so and as it reboots hold down F12 and start reinstalling windows:

 

Meanwhile... Download the following onto another machine and copy to a CD/DVD flash drive or external hard drive (recommended):

 

Copy the following to a CD or DVD or external hard drive.

Note most of these will be on the drivers cd they would supply however some may be updated on the dell website. (The service Packs may be Included on the windows dvd and can be downloaded with windows update later on.)

 

1. Download vista service pack 1 and then 2:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b0c7136d-5ebb-413b-89c9-cb3d06d12674&displaylang=en

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3

Download the following drivers from here:

 

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WLH&osl=EN&catid=-1&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INSPIRONI6400%2FE1505&hidos=WW1&hidlang=en

 

2. Dell System Notebook Software Under System Utilities

 

3. Both the Chipset drivers

 

4. Then the Intel Video Driver (or ATI or NVIDEA depending what you have) 

 

5. Then the two Conexant Drivers Under Communications

 

6. Then the two Broadcom Drivers Under Network

 

7. Then depending what you have Dell Wireless Card or Intel PROSET Wireless under Network

 

8. Then the Sigmatel Driver under Audio

 

9. Then Synaptics Touchpad under Input Devices

 

10. Then the Dell Quickset under Applications

 

11. Bluetooth Driver under network if you have Bluetooth, will be a Blue Light if switched on if you have a bluetooth card. (Had to XP install Bluetooth driver afterwards aswell to get it to work)

 

12. Install the two Dell Diagnostic Drivers

 

13. Also recommend you download and install Adobe Reader 9 and PDF Creator here in order to read and print PDFs:

http://www.adobe.com/

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=57796

 

Ok now install all the drivers in the order I specified. Restart and load up windows, now insert you dell media direct disc and it should prompt you to install if not go to my computer and double click the disc to install note install while on the windows desktop or you'll format your harddrive again.

 

Once thats done press the dell media direct button, note do not do so before this stage. Set it up for configuration and go to update note you will have to go to update 2 -3 times to get the latest version which I believe is 4.7.

 

Then go to vista and install all other such as antivirus and office programs copy music and documents over etc. Be sure to go to windows update to get other vista updates.

 

Note the following requires that you have your OS disc (Vista or XP) which I assume that you do (and hopefully able to get a Media Direct CD). The drivers CD is unecessary and I recommend downloading the latest drivers from the dell websites and the latest service packs from the microsoft website (using the links provided).

I would not recommend installing any driver listed on the drivers and downloads page especially cd/dvd firmware and BIOs updates. Also the dell applications except quickset are useless.

 

If the system is prompting you for a password before you can even press F8, then there's a BIOS password on the system.  To bypass it, you will need the master password, which is system-specific and issued only to owners.  Call Dell (there's a $49 charge if you're out of warranty) and be prepared to prove you own the system.  You will be issued a bypass password and can then restore the system.

plz read the initial question: Administrator password is asked, not the BIOS password

If the system is prompting you for a password before you can even press F8, then there's a BIOS password on the system.  To bypass it, you will need the master password, which is system-specific and issued only to owners.  Call Dell (there's a $49 charge if you're out of warranty) and be prepared to prove you own the system.  You will be issued a bypass password and can then restore the system.