A thread for boring computer questions.

I would say maybe

1) try unseating and reseating the CMOS battery again after like 10 min

2) update BIOS, I think a lot of times you can get a BIOS updater that can be run on like a bootable USB stick? But you’d need a separate computer to do this

I'll try those things.

Booting from USB will depend on the boot mode which obviously I can't change. Actually j can't get back into the BIOS setup at the moment for some reason.

I've a suspicion that the BIOS did lose settings including those pertaining to the HD mode (hence the error) but not the password which seems to be more persistent. Which could mean this machine is a write-off as it's unlikely I'll be able get any help from Dell and it doesn't seem worth delving into the shady world of backstreet BIOS password pedlers.

1234
Welcome
Password
trustno1

in all seriousness, have you tried "Dell"?

When you press "unlock" on the BIOS does it show you a system number?

If you try typing it in here, it may be able to generate your default/master BIOS password for you:
https://bios-pw.org/

(I recall doing this for a work Dell laptop at one point, though am not 100% sure it's the same website, but a few other sites seem to vouch for it. Good luck!)

By "does it show you a system number" I mean that the blurb in the password entry box may list a "system number" in approximately the same format as the Dell examples on that page.

(Seems to be the serial number which may be on a sticker on the underside of the laptop plus 4 extra hex digits, not sure where they come from.)

Woohoo!

That site delivered. Thanks so much. I did a little dance.

Changed the SATA mode and the BSOD went away.

Glad you got in and even more glad the BSOD went away!

(Be careful because Win7 is end of life and won't be getting many security updates - but you probably already knew that..)

Yes.

That machine has actually never been online or connected to a network since I got it.

I started looking at the local free ads and see I can get plentiful desktop units that would be a step up in terms of CPU with Windows 10 installed for about £60-£100 so that's exciting.