Dell BIOS Password Removal

AJ9027 said:

The bios should have a manufacturer default password. You can find a list of these passwords on some underground websites. It should be DELL, Dell or, dell. You dont have to use the jumper to reset your BIOS, all you have to do is find the battery on your motherboard, you should be able to find it theres only one, remove it then put it back in after several seconds.

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Excuse me, but you do not know what the h--- you are talking about where Dell Laptops are concerned. That will have absolutely no effect on the passwords on a Dell LT and just confuses people looking for help.

I'd like to thank Paragon33 for the EEPROM reprogram utilities and Phuang for the boot ISO image containing those utilities he is offering for download on rapidshare.de. I forgot the Admin password I set on my Inspiron 8100 and these utilities, copied to a boot floppy, did an excellent and very easy job of clearing the Security EEPROM and giving me back full BIOS Setup Access, and for free no less. BRAVO GUYS!!!!!!

Gratefully,
Spektyr

Thanks Paragon for the info you sent me. I'm anxious to try some of the things in the info. One thing though maybe you know a trick but this Dell Insprion 1100 is a punk to get inside of. I've taken out every screw I can find, removed every cover, etc., and the thing still is attached within somehow. I don't want to force it for fear of breaking something but I'm about to perform a boston crab on the this thing down into the trash can.

dude i am dell gold tech rep man give me you service tag if you know and i can help you out.. also the latitude series and most dell notebooks do not have a rtcrst pin that you can pull... you might try to pull the cmos battery. another way and an easier way is giving me the service tag should be 6 to 8 alpha nemeric on the bottom of the system.. the reason they are not helping you is cause you have not done a transfer of ownership on the system.. and or it might not be under warranty.. sorry about that.. misread the system type.. let me check on the specs for that system..should be alot easier with that service tag man and i can have you up and running

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins5100/en/index.htm
for the full manual of the system that you are using.. sorry about the last thread i guess my info was unhelpful to some...

FullGainer said:

Thanks Paragon for the info you sent me. I'm anxious to try some of the things in the info. One thing though maybe you know a trick but this Dell Insprion 1100 is a punk to get inside of. I've taken out every screw I can find, removed every cover, etc., and the thing still is attached within somehow. I don't want to force it for fear of breaking something but I'm about to perform a boston crab on the this thing down into the trash can.

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I believe the 1100 and 1150 are similar. The four large head screws in the Fan/Heatsink also go into anchors in the Bottom Pan and must be loosened. You will need temporary anchors for them while shorting to keep the CPU from burning up, as I believe the Chip is on the bottom side of the motherboard. The double-ended screws from the rear were what I used as temporary anchors, and then put them back after of course.

Paragon thanks for that info I'll get to work on this thing.

OptimusPrime the service tag is G54Y541-A95B thanks bud!

phuang said:

I was able to reset EEPROM using paragon33's bootdisk (thanks heaps). If you don't have a usb floppy drive handy here is the boot cd that I made
http://rapidshare.de/files/5361813/bootcd.iso.html

Good luck

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I have updated the DST file/EE-CPB EEProm Erase to version 5.1 from 4.5. The older version was erroring out with newer models. You may want to redo your ISO file with Rapid Share

OMG it worked!! I can't believe it!! Thank you Paragon and to this fine board for otherwise this Dell would have been a paperweight! Now I just have to put this thing and the bazillion screws back together again!

I just punched myself in the mouth for speaking too soon. I get into the BIOS by shorting the chip but I'm unable to change the system password because the service tag is gone. So I boot with a floppy and run the utility to clear the EEPROM and assign a new asset tag. I've done this and it says successful. However when I turn the system off and back on again, the damn password screen comes back up. Any ideas? When it asks for a service tag, do I make one up or use the same one? Thanks in advance!

FullGainer said:

I just punched myself in the mouth for speaking too soon. I get into the BIOS by shorting the chip but I'm unable to change the system password because the service tag is gone. So I boot with a floppy and run the utility to clear the EEPROM and assign a new asset tag. I've done this and it says successful. However when I turn the system off and back on again, the damn password screen comes back up. Any ideas? When it asks for a service tag, do I make one up or use the same one? Thanks in advance!

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Use the same one that was erased when you Cleared the EEprom Chip. You are going to be changing from a blank to that one

Jeez this is like the neverending thread.

Even Michael Dell probably doesn't know what you're all talking about.

Somebody needs to compile this thread into a single "recover dell password" sticky, listing one after another, each possible fix.

Instead of a neverending thread, think of it as a work in progress as I said early in the thread.

dell latitude d600

Hi,
Can any boby help me with AdminPass in D600?
How I can use cd or fdd if laptop stop in bios start?? (sorry for my english )
Tag is #56s****-595B
Thanx.

WetRat said:

Hi,
Can any boby help me with AdminPass in D600?
How I can use cd or fdd if laptop stop in bios start?? (sorry for my english )
Tag is #56s****-595B
Thanx.

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You can't; you must first short the EEProm Chip and power cycle the computer to Clear the PRIMARY BIOS Password. Contact me at email removed to receive the files

Paragon33 said:

Use the same one that was erased when you Cleared the EEprom Chip. You are going to be changing from a blank to that one

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Thanks Paragon I'll give that a try. One quick question though. After erasing the chip and entering the new one using the same service tag, do I enter the entire thing, G54Y541-A95B, or just G54Y541? Because I only tried just the G54Y541 and not the whole G54Y541-A95B. Also I think I read in the docs somewhere the A95Bs are very difficult or something? Thanks!

Big Thx..

Big Big Big... thanks for Paragon33...
Now i'm happy )

FullGainer said:

Thanks Paragon I'll give that a try. One quick question though. After erasing the chip and entering the new one using the same service tag, do I enter the entire thing, G54Y541-A95B, or just G54Y541? Because I only tried just the G54Y541 and not the whole G54Y541-A95B. Also I think I read in the docs somewhere the A95Bs are very difficult or something? Thanks!

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Only G54Y541. The latest models can be difficult if you do not have the latest version of EE-CPB. I recently updated the DST file for the Floppy with EE-CPB Version 5.1. Previously it was 4.5

An Update on a New Type EEProm Chip-93LC46B

A friend and surplus parts dealer recently sent me 2 Inspiron 1000 boards on which he had not been able to crack the Passwords, and asked me to have a go at them. The BIOS and Password system used on this model is more like the one from the Inspiron 3500, but the 93LC46B EEProm Chip is a completely different design. The pin numbers are the same, but their use and assignment is not. I was not able to clear the passwords on this model after repeated efforts, and will be returning the boards to my friend uncleared. His intent is to replace the EEProm chips with blanks, as he has a Wave soldering machine to do the SMT soldering required.
I have downloaded a .pdf Spec file on this New chip and if any one is interested in it, I will make it available at email removed

Paragon33 said:

Only G54Y541. The latest models can be difficult if you do not have the latest version of EE-CPB. I recently updated the DST file for the Floppy with EE-CPB Version 5.1. Previously it was 4.5

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Thanks Paragon. I've run it again and checked the version and its 5.1. Still though I'm unable to clear the chip permanently. Everything says it successful and as long as I leave the system on, the password is cleared. However once the system is powered off and back on, we are back to square one again. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm missing something. I'll keep messing with this thing...

EDIT: I've been trying at this for about an hour now. One question. Does the shorting with the paperclip have to stay in place until all utilities are run? Because I use the paperclip only at powerup to get me past the BIOS, then I remove it, then continue running the utilties. This is correct right? I don't need to keep the paperclip on throughout? Thanks Paragon!

FullGainer said:

Thanks Paragon. I've run it again and checked the version and its 5.1. Still though I'm unable to clear the chip permanently. Everything says it successful and as long as I leave the system on, the password is cleared. However once the system is powered off and back on, we are back to square one again. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm missing something. I'll keep messing with this thing...

EDIT: I've been trying at this for about an hour now. One question. Does the shorting with the paperclip have to stay in place until all utilities are run? Because I use the paperclip only at powerup to get me past the BIOS, then I remove it, then continue running the utilties. This is correct right? I don't need to keep the paperclip on throughout? Thanks Paragon!

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You must get the Manufacturing Mode Screen before running the software; and it must persist. A momentary flash of that screen, or even if it hangs on for 15 seconds or so is not sufficient;it means the eeprom is not cleared beyond the "point of no return". Once you get there, the paper clip is not held in position any longer. I got 5 of these false positive results just like you are getting on the 1150 board, but I hit it right on the 6th try and it cleared to the MM Screen. You now know what I meant with 'later models trying your patience and persistence".

Paragon33 said:

You must get the Manufacturing Mode Screen before running the software; and it must persist. A momentary flash of that screen, or even if it hangs on for 15 seconds or so is not sufficient;it means the eeprom is not cleared beyond the "point of now return". Once you get there, the paper clip is not held in position any longer. I got 5 of these false positive results just like you are getting on the 1150 board, but I hit it right on the 6th try and it cleared to the MM Screen. You now know what I meant with 'later models trying your patience and persistence".

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Thanks Paragon. I'm assuming when you say Manufacturing Mode Screen, you mean the screen that says to Hit FN+X? Here is where I'm a little confused because I've only seen this screen come up a handful of times. Most of the time when turning on the laptop and shorting the clip, it just goes straight to the boot device. If I hit F2, it goes into the BIOS. Is there a trick to getting this Mode to come up? Thanks for all your help!