[Shuushin]

Greets all.

Here's a little story about a flaw in the BIOS password scheme, and a long delay in Dell's response.

Recently, I utilized the BIOS password on my Dell Mini 9 (because I couldn't Truecrypt the entire drive with a dual boot Win7/Ubuntu install - but that's another story).

I used a Master password and a user password. They were the same, and it was "KL:" (no quotes, natch). Basically the shifted keys just to the left of the enter key on the Mini 9 keyboard (US layout).

When I attempted to log in - it would not accept the password(s). I tried every thing I could think of along the lines of keyboard mapping and what it possibly could have interpreted the colon as (figured it could handle the K and the L). I've used that sequence before many many times - it was my Truecrypt password on the same machine for a year. Searched high and low on the internets, too - and found this BIOS password thing is a fairly common issue (I won't say problem, because there are legitimate times when you shouldn't be able to get past the BIOS password, like when it isn't your machine).

But hey, I'm the actual original owner, so I called Dell Technical Support. This was on a Friday. I just now, Tuesday afternoon, was able to log back into my machine using the master password (a code generated with a program based on my machine's service tag - that's how it's often done these days).

The thing is, the normal tech support folks don't have access to this program (security reasons, most likely). A group called the "PNP Team" has it, and they don't work weekends. As it turned out, they didn't work Monday, either. Four days... I had a backup of the data but it was still a nuisance.

I had Tweeted my situation during the weekend, and a Dell rep was trolling and was nice enough to try and help - but he didn't have the software tools either and suggested I do the "remove the CMOS battery" trick. Don't know what you know about that process, but it involves taking apart most of the Mini - and, I'm not sure it would have worked anyway.


So, I could suggest to folks with a Mini 9 (or any Dell machine, for that matter) that they consider getting that Master Password before they need it (one might feign a lockout, for example) - because it could take *days*.

Whatever the reason, you might be inclined to be prepared now, especially if you have a warranty close to expiration.

Thought I'd pass my experience along to like-minded folks.

thanks for reading my rambling.

[holmes4]

There are also services, which you can buy on eBay, that will generate this for you. Good idea to get it in advance. Were you still in warranty when you asked Dell?

[cbruffin]

No, i have the same problem. I am waiting on my password until tuesday as well. I know my way around computer hardware reasonably well, and I tried the cmos battery reset. Don't waste your time. In the end I ended up on the wait list just like you, and hope to get my password on tuesday.

I have my service code and all, so I can give it to them when I call back. Did they give you any trouble once you called in? Ask any more questions, or just give it to you immediately? Just curious.

[Shuushin]

Originally Posted by holmes4

There are also services, which you can buy on eBay, that will generate this for you. Good idea to get it in advance. Were you still in warranty when you asked Dell?

Was out of warranty. They tried to push that point, but I persisted, saying to call this a warranty issue was unacceptable. Frankly, I'm not sure of the logic of this point, but I wasn't about to pay for something that should have been right in the first place, and was not.

---------- Post added at 01:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 AM ----------

Originally Posted by cbruffin

No, i have the same problem. I am waiting on my password until tuesday as well. I know my way around computer hardware reasonably well, and I tried the cmos battery reset. Don't waste your time. In the end I ended up on the wait list just like you, and hope to get my password on tuesday.

I have my service code and all, so I can give it to them when I call back. Did they give you any trouble once you called in? Ask any more questions, or just give it to you immediately? Just curious.

Small world. Got the reset password in minutes afterwards, no other questions. However, the tech told me to use the "ctrl+enter" technique - but that did not work; so he gave me another code... eventually we figured out that just a plain "enter" was the trick.

---------- Post added at 01:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:20 AM ----------

Originally Posted by holmes4

There are also services, which you can buy on eBay, that will generate this for you. Good idea to get it in advance. Were you still in warranty when you asked Dell?

Might have had to resort to that if DTS didn't play nice.

[cobweb49]

Hi Yall, I bought a mini 9 and I got it cheap because they forgot the password also,let their kids do it and they forgot,Is there any way to fix this because Iam not the original owner and Dell wont help me? Thanks

[rrfranczak3]

Originally Posted by cobweb49

Hi Yall, I bought a mini 9 and I got it cheap because they forgot the password also,let their kids do it and they forgot,Is there any way to fix this because Iam not the original owner and Dell wont help me? Thanks

I dont understand the question, this was answered in the previous post..also please do not cross post on the forum....your other post has been deleted......

Originally Posted by holmes4

There are services, which you can buy on eBay, that will generate this for you.

I believe that is your answer and that is your only option