Maximum PC

This is the first time I've seen this, & anything I've found through searching only deals with Windows password...

A customer bought a Dell Inspirion N5050 from QVC & somehow managed to put a password in then forget the password.

This isn't a Windows password, this comes up before POST starts... As soon as you press the power button, a blue box pops up & asks you to Enter System Password. This cannot be bypassed, cannot enter BIOS, cannot enter boot menu, cannot boot from CD/DVD, cannot boot from USB, cannot enter diagnostics, cannot enter recovery partition, cannot flash the BIOS.

Any ideas??? Any chance to clear CMOS on this thing without voiding warranty, i.e. hold certain keys down while turning on laptop??? Dell hasn't been any help so far...

Did you try to pull the battery out of the motherboard for 60 seconds, then put it back in?

Flash the bios, go to Dells site and get the latest bios and flash utility.

Nasty

I would try removing the CMOS battery fro 5 mins, that will reset it, I don't believe it will void the warrenty, as all it does is return the motherboard to stock settings, which is what Dell probably shipped it with anyways.

It looks like removing the cmos battery would void the warranty since I'm not a Dell authorized service tech (yet), & you have to disassemble the laptop to get to the battery including removing the keyboard & lcd

Did you try the default password Dell?

More to try:

http://www.technibble.com/how-to-bypass ... -password/

The easiest way is to remove the cmos battery.

The top post gives you a piece of software from Dell that is suppose to be able to fix your problem.

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/archiv ... 19369.html

Nasty

Yes, I've tried the 'default' Dell password as well as about 300 other potential candidates...

Since I aparently lack the ability to sufficiently describe the problem with written words, here's a short video clip showing the problem in action... http://youtu.be/X_Ob7wNj-vA


Main things to take from this:
password request happens BEFORE P.O.S.T. & is almost instant upon turning on the laptop
password request cannot be bypassed by any normal keyboard shortcuts
password request cannot be bypassed by booting to another device (USB thumb drive, CD/DVD, etc...)

I did find out some more information since my first post. The laptop was NOT this way when owner purchased it 6 weeks ago. After purchase, she setup a Windows password, she later forgot the password and took it to a "computer shop" near her home because I was in the hospital at the time. The tech at the shop told her that they would have to tear the laptop appart & that it would cost $150 to fix it. She freaked & basically told them off, took the laptop back home, & it's been this way ever since leaving that computer shop.

They probably quoted the price correctly, it takes time to disassemble the laptop, take out the cmos battery, replace it and reassemble the laptop. So that is the only way to fix this thing I guess, is remove the cmos battery and the main battery for a minute, reinstall the cmos battery then reassemble the laptop and add main battery.

Might as well give disassembly a go:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/disassemb ... 40-laptop/

Passwords are case sensitive, did you use upper case for the d in Dell?

Nasty

I've been destroying & fixing computers since 1983... yes I used Dell, dell, DELL, dEll, dELl, DELl, delL, DeLl, DeLl, D3LL, D311, n5050, N5050, n 5050, N 5050, n-5050, N-5050, n_5050, N_5050, inspiron, Inspiron, INSPIRON, InSpIrOn... I think you get the picture.

I've dissasembled 14 non-working laptops & gave them back to customers in like new working order. To date, the Dell's (3 for failed hard drives, one to upgrade the wireless card from G to N) have been easiest to dissasemble for me averaging about 20 minutes apiece. Based on the Dell's own field tech tear-down guide, I could probably tear the laptop appart & put it back together in under an hour, even with the damned keyboard not wanting to come loose... $150 is a rip-off.

My primary concern is protecting the factory warranty (only 284 days remaining, but a lot can happen in 284 days...), dissasembly of the laptop by anyone not authorized by Dell (me), voids said warranty. Therefore, I was trying to see of anyone (forum readers), knew of a keyboard shortcut to reset BIOS (like some desktop motherboards have), since there's nothing listed at Dell.

Basically, what I'm going to do at this point, is hand the laptop back, & tell her to call Dell & explain the situation.

Found the solution...I love Google!



From another website called Fixit!

Nasty

Me too... imagine that



actually, it's ifixit.com, and they don't seem to have anything regarding an Inpsiron n5050 unless I'm missing something... or maybe your search skills are better than mine & aparently my eye-sight is messed up as well so could you please show me where this mystical rear door is????


Oh wait... I see it... it's that big thing at the bottom of the picture...


Wait a minute... there's no RAM in there... no pin's I can short either...


Maybe it's that smaller rectangle on the right side


Damn... that's the DVD drive....


An in case there's any confusion about exactly what brand, make, & model of laptop this is....



Sorry about being a smart-ass... but sometimes it just makes me feel better

Unfortunately the ram is under the keyboard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyYLwyXl1G8

In Chinese but you will see where the ram is and how to get to it.

Nasty

I wish the keyboard would just pop off like in that clip.. unfortunately it won't, it feels like it's been superglued in place. I've tried the little plastic pry stick that Dell uses, credit card, guitar pick, plastic knife, damned thing won't budge & there aren't any screws holding it down so that's not the issue. I know that I can force it up, but there's a chance I might break the keyboard in the processes

I would just give the laptop back and have her call Dell and see what they say....hope they don't snicker...

Nasty

I used to have a whole page dedicated to hacking into PC's but the site it was on apparently got nervous and took it down after they didn't like my page dedicated to bypassing Windows OS install limitations. Pity the poor service tech who comes upon a password protected PC. This assumes it is the BIOS (CMOS) password and not the supervisor (eeprom) [administrative] password.
<excerpt>
CMOS

This is where people are advised to set the jumper to CMOS reset and remove the battery for a few minutes. It should reset the password to its default which is none (blank). If there is an eeprom storage of this as there were in some laptops discharging the power won't work.

KillCMOS: Erases CMOS memory contents. Useful when someone sets up a setup password and you don't know what it is. Note: since the purpose of this software is to erase CMOS memory contents, some antivirus programs will detect it as a virus. This file isn't infected. http://users.powernet.co.uk/sysserv1/killcmos.zip

BIOS (same as CMOS)
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Download ... d_BIOS.pdf
http://xtreview.com/review113.htm
http://www.tech-faq.com/reset-dell-bios-password.html [some Dell's]
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic90285.html [Dell]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U5WdaCO6Qk [dongle based]
http://www.passwordmethod.com/content/view/109/27/
http://www.5starsupport.com/info/biospw.htm
http://www.Intel.com/support/motherboar ... 002842.htm
http://www.Intel.com/support/motherboar ... htm#noboot (clearing the CMOS)
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000235.htm

Hope it helps. note: some of these can be found on UBCD and maybe Hiram's. And I can't believe there are no access panels in that laptop. Wow...but I never had any respect for either Inspiron line anyway.