I have a Dell Inspiron 3475 AI0 with a setup lock on the BIOS. It lets you get into the BIOS, but won't let you change anything until you enter the unlock code. I know a guy who generates these codes cheap, so that's no problem. The problem is that I've already unlocked it twice and it keeps coming back, generating a new unlock code each time, meaning I have to pay every time I want to unlock it.
The BIOS shows no passwords set for Administrator, System or HDD. There is an "asset tag" setting. I went into that the last time, then just hit ESC to get right back out. At that point the setup lock was gone. I turned it off, turned it back on, went straight back into the BIOS and all was well. But then I tried to let Windows boot and it did what it had been doing, logging straight in with the Administrator account, which takes forever, and then it's never responsive. I can't even boot from a flash drive or even the Windows repair. If I cut power 3 times as it's booting it just goes into a Dell hardware test, which seems to test only memory.
They had problems with the computer for 3 months and just didn't use it and finally brought it into me yesterday. Of course, the warranty expired 2 weeks ago. Any ideas how to remove this permanently once I get it unlocked again?
The BIOS shows no passwords set for Administrator, System or HDD. There is an "asset tag" setting. I went into that the last time, then just hit ESC to get right back out. At that point the setup lock was gone. I turned it off, turned it back on, went straight back into the BIOS and all was well. But then I tried to let Windows boot and it did what it had been doing, logging straight in with the Administrator account, which takes forever, and then it's never responsive. I can't even boot from a flash drive or even the Windows repair. If I cut power 3 times as it's booting it just goes into a Dell hardware test, which seems to test only memory.
They had problems with the computer for 3 months and just didn't use it and finally brought it into me yesterday. Of course, the warranty expired 2 weeks ago. Any ideas how to remove this permanently once I get it unlocked again?