Help A month in Dhell!

[Bg260]

I have a BIOS locked Dell Latitude D620. Found discarded headed for the dump. XP is completely Borked and will not boot.
I want to give this to my son for Christmas but Dell is making that impossible.
BIOS settings are locked and I cannot boot USB. It will boot a Windows CD but the machine powers off halfway through install. I have spent a month trying to get the password from Dhell. With no luck as I do not know who the previous owner was, (it's a commercial service tag) The damn thing is 10 years old and non-functional, they would rather see it in the dump. The BIOS lock only keeps settings from being changed and does not protect any data, as the OS would boot if it wasn't borked.
There are many solutions on the internet. For just about every Dell except the D620. What a waste. If you have any secrets that you might suggest.

Also, I have contacted customer care, filled out a transfer of ownership form and told them that if this has a shady background that I would be more than happy to return it to the rightful owner. . . . Still nothing.

I have also tried installing Linux onto the hard drive using a different machine. Grub menu comes up but machine powers off halfway through boot up. I am extremely frustrated with Dhell at the moment.

 

[Dngrsone]

So, you cannot test the BIOS by removing the battery?

 

[kate]

By BIOS locked do you mean there's a password? Have you removed the CMOS battery for 30 minutes? That usually clears the password.

It will boot a Windows CD but the machine powers off halfway through install...
Grub menu comes up but machine powers off halfway through boot up.

Have you tested the RAM? Is the CPU overheating?

 

[Dngrsone]

RAM issues usually don't cause shutdown, but overheating (or poor main battery life) do.

Though I do agree with Kate that the RAM should be tested.

 

[svim]

A ways back I had to reset the BIOS in a D630 so this should close to what's necessary to your D620:
https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-reset-the-cmos-for-a-latitude-d630

 

[psionandy]

One of the problems with the D620 is that they didn't solve the problem of getting the heat out of the laptop.. which meant that over their lifespan they tended to cook the components inside... so not long after the 3 year warranty expired, so did the machine... except before they died they stated behaving eratically,...

if you do get it going great.. but if it starts behaving oddly,, it's not you thats going mad.... so don't pull your hair out or anything...

 

[Dngrsone]

With that in mind, it may be a good idea to open it up, do a thorough cleaning and make sure you have a good thermal connection between processor and heatsink... Probably too much to hope that the processor itself is replaceable?

 

[Bg260]

@Dngrsone @kate @svim @psionandy I'm sorry, I had some family time. I have tried everything suggested. Removed the battery, RAM tested. I can't even set the correct time and date in BIOS without this password. It is etched into the Motherboard and is shipped from the factory with this password. It is a laptop so there is no password jumper or master CMOS reset. The overheating cpu is something I haven't considered.

I have stripped this machine to the Motherboard twice.

 

[mikedt]

Has that one got Nvidia GeForce 8600M series graphics in it? Because I believe Nvidia produced a bad batch of chips around that time, circa 2006 - 2008, which could fail prematurely. I know some MacBook Pros were affected by it. Which might have something to do with it shutting down, or could be bad capacitors, given its age and possibly capacitor plague.

The BIOS password might be stored in flash, so pulling the CMOS battery may not work for resetting it. So could be that only Dell can clear it at the factory or service centre, an anti-theft and security measure.

 

[Bg260]

I also tried running gparted live and installed to RAM. Halfway through. . . power off. Is this a function of secure boot?
I haven't tried to start it without the battery yet. Will do that now only there is no Windows login screen.

 

[Bg260]

It used to boot to the safe mode menu. After I pulled the battery, which reset the clock, it throws an error.

 

[AZgl1500]

@Dngrsone @kate @svim @psionandy I'm sorry, I had some family time. I have tried everything suggested. Removed the battery, RAM tested. I can't even set the correct time and date in BIOS without this password. It is etched into the Motherboard and is shipped from the factory with this password. It is a laptop so there is no password jumper or master CMOS reset. The overheating cpu is something I haven't considered.

I have stripped this machine to the Motherboard twice.

somewhere on that laptop is a small Clock battery soldered to the board.
if remove it for a few minutes, the BIOS will be unlocked.

 

[svim]

I haven't tried to start it without the battery yet. Will do that now only there is no Windows login screen.

If you can't change any of the settings in the BIOS that's an indicator the BIOS has not been reset. When you removed the CMOS battery connector an important part of the process is to a) leave the power adapter unplugged and b) the main battery removed, c) either leave the CMOS connector unplugged for a few hours or short out the CMOS plug end on the mobo. Re-read the link I posted and don't skip any of the steps.

Also, the D620 is too dated for secure boot. Once you do clear the BIOS there's an A10 update that you should apply if it's not there already.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R186796
If there's still a functional Windows install before you do your Linux install flash the BIOS.
If not, go ahead with your Linux install and if you still want to flash the BIOS this biosdisk utility has worked on several different laptops over the years. It uses a FreeDOS boot image so you can apply BIOS exe updates running Linux:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R186796

 

[Bg260]

 

[Bg260]

Another thing I can add is that the Motherboard was out of the machine completely, CMOS battery removed for 3 weeks while I back burnered it. That cpu is removable, so if that's the issue. . . .
Read somewhere that if date is wrong it will have issues. I also read that the D620 is a particular PITA.

 

[Bg260]

Alright, something else is definitely amiss. It just booted all the way into the mint desktop before shutting down. CPU? Memory looked good.

Fan cycles on and off while running.

 

[Dngrsone]

Will it run without the battery in, but external power applied? If so, then yeah, you probably have a fried procedure.

 

[Bg260]

This thing is hotter than Dhell. I think I'm leaning towards psionandy's solution. It was broke before I got it

 

[Bg260]

Update, there are two dimm slots. One excessable from a hatch on the bottom , the other is on the reverse, under the keyboard. I removed the RAM from the lower slot and it booted into gparted. I think I have a bad slot, and 2 GB RAM is not going to cut it.
Followed @svim 's guide to unlock BIOS and it did not work. The D620 seems to be the exception to a lot of solutions.

Edit: Also started using my cooling pad.

 

[Dngrsone]

Make like Elsa, dude.

 

[Bg260]

Culprit:

Yes, that is the GPU. 1/4 " from the RAM slot.The second slot is directly beneath the first. It gets a little warm right there.

Someone must of thought of that 5 minutes before lunch break. Great craftsmanship. Would have been a decent enough machine for a six year old to play Mine craft on. . . . or watch his favorite show

Thank you all for the help. Guess the locked BIOS was just the beginning of the problem.

 

[mikedt]

Culprit:
View attachment 112630
Yes, that is the gpu. 1/4 " from the RAM slot.The second slot is directly beneath the first. It gets a little warm right there.

Someone must of thought of that 5 minutes before lunch break. Great craftsmanship. Would have been a decent enough machine for a six year old to play Mine craft on. . . . or watch his favorite show

Thank you all for the help. Guess the locked BIOS was just the beginning of the problem.

Intel. So it's not one of the faulty Nvidia Geforce M ones then. I remember at the time manufacturers like Dell, Sony and Apple did extend the warranty to cover ones that failed, after the original warranty expired. More details here with a Sony Vaio...
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...ics-faulty-card-faulty-graphics-card-distort/

 

[Bg260]

It is definitely a thermal issue. I thought it was a bad RAM stick. Replaced it and got Windows 7 90% installed. Even with the cooling pad, after running for a while it just shuts down. I think there is a BIOS setting that controls this. BIOS is A04 current is A10. I'm going to see if I can't flash a newer version.

I ran every diagnostic. Everything passed. Still a bit befuddled.

 

[Bg260]

If you can't change any of the settings in the BIOS that's an indicator the BIOS has not been reset. When you removed the CMOS battery connector an important part of the process is to a) leave the power adapter unplugged and b) the main battery removed, c) either leave the CMOS connector unplugged for a few hours or short out the CMOS plug end on the mobo. Re-read the link I posted and don't skip any of the steps.

Also, the D620 is too dated for secure boot. Once you do clear the BIOS there's an A10 update that you should apply if it's not there already.
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R186796
If there's still a functional Windows install before you do your Linux install flash the BIOS.
If not, go ahead with your Linux install and if you still want to flash the BIOS this biosdisk utility has worked on several different laptops over the years. It uses a FreeDOS boot image so you can apply BIOS exe updates running Linux:
http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R186796

OK, so. I'm not ready to give up quite yet. The current BIOS version is A04. I'm guessing that's because of the BIOS lock. I'd like to try the Linux option. The second link isn't the right one. Still got that handy?

 

[svim]

Oops my mistake, sorry about that:
https://github.com/dell/biosdisk
Note this refers to Dell but just for reference it's worked for some other PC brands where the only option is a Windows executable. YMMV.