On 2015-07-09 10:55, Bob Goodwin - Zuni, Virginia, USA wrote:
On 09/07/15 10:04, Matthew Woehlke wrote:
> In my experience,*new* Dell machines do not have locked BIOS. However,
> I have a friend who recently bought a "refurbished" Dell machine that
> had been BIOS locked. It's most likely the entity that "refurbished"
the
> machine that locked the BIOS. You'll need to contact them to obtain the
> password / do research on them (not Dell) to find typically used
> passwords.
>
> Personally I consider this practice abhorrent and would never buy such a
> machine or deal with sellers that engage in such practices. Also, FWIW,
> this friend has had terrible problems with his machine. (A locked BIOS
> is a red flag; the seller doesn't want you to have full control of the
> system. You'd better ask yourself *why?*. It may be to try to extort
> money out of you later for service, or it may be to hide a problem with
> the machine. Either one isn't good news for you.)
>
> My advice: don't buy used computers. Build your own from new parts, or
> buy new from a reputable dealer. With used, you never know what you're
> getting (e.g. did someone sell it because some hardware component is
> going bad?) and you can easily end up having to spend more money to fix
> it than if you'd bought new.
First, I did not anticipate this problem when I ordered the device.
Would you have expected that?
With no previous experience? Probably not. Now? I'd... be "very
cautious" about buying a refurbished computer. Especially from someone
that deals in "used" computers.
You're probably better off buying from an honest individual making a
one-time sale, actually. (The problem there of course is knowing whether
or not the individual *is* honest.)
I bought a "used" ASUS netbook off eBay that has been a truly wonderful
little machine. IIRC the seller stated it had been booted once but was
otherwise brand new; presumably he just didn't want it for whatever
reason. I put in a larger memory module and replaced the spinning drive
with an SSD and have never had any issues with it.
But anyway, that's general advise (i.e. for future reference / others
thinking about buying used). I do hope you can get your issue resolved
and don't have further trouble.
If all else fails I can return it, however I believe it is worth the
effort to get the problem corrected, at least give the seller a chance
to respond, he is probably reputable, certainly I must assume so until
proven otherwise.
I would strongly recommend you try to install Fedora before your return
period expires if at all possible. My friend was unable to install it,
and had issues reinstalling Windows later.
--
Matthew