Dell Desktop 531S bios password

I know this is not strictly a Vista issue, but thought maybe someone would have an answer.

I have purchased a used PC (Dell 531S Desktop) from a National Rental company with Vista Home Premium installed.

I wanted to change the boot order in bios (CDROM before Harddrive) , but it asks for a password to enter bios. The Rental Company has no idea where this password comes from. There is nothing about it in the user manual.

I assume that Dell did this to keep rental customers from making major changes to the computer.

I can get around the issue by clicking F12 to the Boot Menu and have it boot from the CDROM. This works but it is a pain.

Any help finding or eliminating this password would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Hello huffman and welcome to the forums

I would suggest that you should download the Hirens Boot CD:

Hiren's BootCD 14.1 - All in one Bootable CD » www.hiren.info

Burn this file to a CD at a low speed using this:

InfraRecorder

Then boot into the CD

On this disc there is a tool called BIOS Cracker 5, you will need to use this to remove your password. Here's a tutorial:

[YOUTUBE]uY0wZMqNzmw[/YOUTUBE]

Tom

I think I have the solution to the problem. I was told that if I take out the cmos battery for about 5 minutes and then replace it, the passwould would be restored to "blank".

I will give a try first

Okay, well let us know how it goes!

Tom