OT Password problem -

[Matthew Woehlke]

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