Disabling CompuTrace


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5 years 11 months ago #9713 by Muggerprime
Greetings everyone,

I refurbish computers for a living. An office in my area upgraded their laptops and sent the old ones to a recycling center in my area. The recycling center plans to scrap them for metal, because they all have Computrace active. If I can disable the Computrace, they're willing to sell them to me for cheap. They gave me one of them to play with and try to disable it. If I can't, they're going to throw these otherwise perfectly good I5 laptops in the shredder.

They are all Dell Latitude E5430. The one I got had bios A11 on it, and I flashed it to A18 (non-vPro).

Direct link: downloads.dell.com/FOLDER04135952M/1/5430A18.exe

Computrace has 3 settings in the Bios - "Disabled", "Deactivated", and "Activated". "Deactivated" means it's ready to be set to "Disabled" or "Activated". Once set to one of those two, it can "never" be changed, and the setting in the Bios is grayed out. I want to change the setting from "Activated" to "Deactivated" so I can then go in and disable it.

I found a video of someone doing this on a different Dell (this is exactly what I'm trying to do):


What I've tried:
- I tried extracting the Bios from the "5430A18.exe" file using the /writehdrfile and /writeromfile flags, but got errors and it didn't work.
- I used "Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit 2.0" to try to backup my Bios to a file. I ended up with "DellInc.-A18.rom", which is 14MB. I attached it to this post.
- I then used "UEFITool_0.22.4_win" to try to edit the Rom. I found 2 Computrace modules, and a lot a Computrace references in "SetupPrep". The modules were easy enough to remove, but wasn't sure if I should remove SetupPrep or leave it. I don't know enough to edit it. I decided to leave it.
- I got stuck when it came time to try to flash the Rom file back. Dell has no separate flash utility for Rom/Bin/HDR files; their Bios files are all EXE. I tried a few flashing programs, but they all said my Rom was an invalid file.
- From the video I posted above, it looks like they were able to circumvent CompuTrace by using "dellbiosreset.iso" to wipe the service tag. The E5430 appears to be too new for this tool to work, and I haven't been able to find another way yet to change or delete the service tag.

Can anyone please help me?
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5 years 11 months ago #9714 by Mafioso3
Replied by Mafioso3 on topic Disabling CompuTrace
Interesting... I know it's question of playing with modules

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5 years 11 months ago #9715 by vnn567
Replied by vnn567 on topic Disabling CompuTrace
i can help you remove /unlock Computrace or Bios password. Perfect
My skype : Haisung4344

Be Contact Me When You Need To Unlock or Remove Password.My Skype : haisung4344

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5 years 11 months ago #9716 by Muggerprime
Replied by Muggerprime on topic Disabling CompuTrace
I'm not paying money, sorry.

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5 years 11 months ago #9724 by KingBonecrusher
I have attached the hdr file. Take a look with a hex editor. Most stuff should be clear then. Find the start of the bios area and replace it in your dump.
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5 years 11 months ago - 5 years 11 months ago #9725 by KingBonecrusher

- I tried extracting the Bios from the "5430A18.exe" file using the /writehdrfile and /writeromfile flags, but got errors and it didn't work.

Works mostly on the cheaper APTIO bios updates.

- I used "Universal BIOS Backup ToolKit 2.0" to try to backup my Bios to a file. I ended up with "DellInc.-A18.rom", which is 14MB. I attached it to this post.

SPI Flash is protected after bios runs.

- I then used "UEFITool_0.22.4_win" to try to edit the Rom. I found 2 Computrace modules, and a lot a Computrace references in "SetupPrep". The modules were easy enough to remove, but wasn't sure if I should remove SetupPrep or leave it. I don't know enough to edit it. I decided to leave it.

This is then only temporary. If it should work Computrace comes back after bios update.
But you should use this tool to find the length and start of the bios area!

- I got stuck when it came time to try to flash the Rom file back. Dell has no separate flash utility for Rom/Bin/HDR files; their Bios files are all EXE. I tried a few flashing programs, but they all said my Rom was an invalid file.

You need an external flasher like SVOD/SVOD2/RT809H/RASPI

- From the video I posted above, it looks like they were able to circumvent CompuTrace by using "dellbiosreset.iso" to wipe the service tag. The E5430 appears to be too new for this tool to work, and I haven't been able to find another way yet to change or delete the service tag.

My Granny has used dellbiosreset.iso ;-)


And please don`t start to "clear" the me area. That is bullshit at all...
Last edit: 5 years 11 months ago by KingBonecrusher.

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