Dell Technical Support will request the Service Tag and Express Service Code from the bottom of the Inspiron.
If the current user is not the original Inspiron owner, Dell will transfer the used Inspiron’s registration from the original owner with only the Service Tag and Express Service Code from the tag on the laptop.
To transfer a used Dell Inspiron’s registration, fill out the Transfer of Ownership form on Dell’s web site.
The location of the password jumper on a Dell Optiplex motherboard can be found by reviewing the Optiplex User Guides.
For most Dell Optiplex desktops, the steps to reset a BIOS password and clear all CMOS settings are:
The BIOS password may be cleared from a Dell Dimension by moving the password jumper on the motherboard.
The location of the password jumper on a Dell Dimension motherboard can be found by reviewing the Dimension User Guides.
For most Dell Dimension desktops, the steps to reset a BIOS password and clear all CMOS settings are:
You don’t need to be an expert to reset a Dell BIOS password. There are however a few tools that you need to have should you decide to do this.
Get your motherboard manual and look at the motherboard diagram. Look for the password jumper. There should be a mark or label there indicating which one it is. This is usually the 3 pin CMOS jumper.
When you see it, open the computer case. If necessary take the user guide and compare the layout. The pins will be labeled or on “1″ and “2″. To reset a Dell BIOS password, pull off the two jumpers. Place them on the number 2 and 3 pins. Leave them there for 5 seconds. Now, pull the jumpers off and set them on pins 1 and 2.
In some cases only a call to technical support will allow you to recover it. What the technical support will do is use the master password. This is similar to the backdoor password used by other companies. This is a code that will work on most models.
Before you call technical support, make sure you have the Service Tag and the Express Service Code. Having your registration card may also be required so take it with you too. When you have all the necessary information, call the technical support staff and they will reset a Dell BIOS password.
There are several programs on the Internet designed to reset and recover these types of data. You just have to go online. At your favorite search engine, enter your computer name and model along with “password recovery” or something similar.
If you can’t find a specific software, you can post a message on a forum. Post the pertinent data (computer model, BIOS settings etc). There are plenty of forums on the Net, so you can set the message in as many forums as possible.
When you get the software, download and install it. Follow the instructions so you will be able to reset a Dell BIOS password.
