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Old April 12th 19, 07:00 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
Paul[_28_]
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Default How to unlock Bios? And a protocol for getting the BIOS screenin a Dell Latitude

RayLopez99 wrote:
I bought an ex-corporate Dell Latitude from 7 years ago and so far so good, but it has a locked BIOS. I wonder if it's worth unlocking? I don't think so, since I checked the settings and found nothing remiss, for example it is set to "AHCI" for the Sata drives, and Turbo for the chip, the memory is maxed out with memory in both slots, the timings seem normal, and everything seems OK, exactly how I would set it up.

Below is a protocol to get into BIOS. I put this on the net in case anybody else has this problem. I wonder however, with as much spam in Google Groups, are they even searched anymore by Google's search engine? Somebody said they are not.

One academic question I have is if I was to unlock the BIOS, how would you do it? Perhaps reset the coin battery? Or is it related to the Intel (R) Management Engine BIOS Extension (MEBx) ?

Like playing around with your registry entries, I would not do anything as 'radical' as unlocking the BIOS, but I know some of you would, hence the question. I'm just curious more than anything.

RL

PROTOCOL TO ACCESS BIOS MENU IN A DELL LATITUDE LAPTOP:

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/a...ios-windows-10

How to Access the BIOS on a Windows 10 PC - Laptop Mag

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/a...ios-windows-10

1. Navigate to settings. You can get there by clicking the gear icon on the Start menu.
2. Select Update & security.
3. Select Recovery from the left menu.
4. Click Restart Now under Advanced ...
The comptuer will reboot to a special menu. Click Troubleshoot. Click Advanced …
5. Click Troubleshoot…

Select UEFI Firmware Settings [NOT PRESENT IN DELL LATITUDE]. If you don't see this icon, and you will not see the UEFI icon with the Dell Latitude with locked BIOS, then press Startup Settings, instead. The PC will immediately restart. When your PC is restarting, tap for Dell the F12 key to access the BIOS menu

You can enter the BIOS but it is locked in some corporate Dell Latitude laptops

Instead, at the "DOS like menu" for the Dell Latitude you see:

"LEGACY BOOT:

Internal HDD
CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive

UEFI BOOT:

WEFI: TSSTCorp DVD +/- RW TS-U633J (if this DVD writer has a CD/DVD Macrium Rescue Media in it, then this is the best way to proceed, select this and you can backup from a Macrium Image file on the DVD with no problems. Once inside the Macrium program, you can plug in an external USB drive having the image file and it will be recognized by the PC.

OR, if you have a Macrium Rescue Media USB stick inserted, it would also appear here.

OTHER OPTIONS:
BIOS Setup (LOCKED in many Dell corporate laptops)
Diagnostics
Intel (R) Management Engine BIOS Extension (MEBx) (used by advanced users and possibly related to master password, see: https://www.dell.com/support/article...word?lang=en)\


Generally there is password protection offered on BIOS.

That's one way to protect the settings.

On a regular desktop (not business class), the password
is stored in CMOS RAM (inside the Southbridge CMOS well).
Pulling the line cord, removing the CMOS battery, causes
the password to get lost.

On a business class machine, say a business class laptop,
the BIOS password is stored in a 2KB EEPROM. Pulling
all the batteries, removing the line cord, doesn't help.

If you want to break into a machine like that, you'll need
help. Some OEMs make you return the machine to the factory,
to have the password reset. Anyone who is the least bit
adept at programming serial EEPROMS, could help with the
EEPROM part of it. The question would be, whether an "all zeros"
EEPROM is what you need to wipe the password, or whether there
is a "special initial pattern" that needs to be in the chip
(so it doesn't, say, lock up). I don't know those details.

And this is one of the reasons I would never buy a used
business class machine for cheap. It's the security features
that scare me. The basic hardware in the box doesn't bother
me a bit. But some security leaping up and biting me, that
really bothers me. Having to neuter a Management Engine
would bother me.

Paul