lock out

[mellissasu]

i bought a comuter from a friends ex, i had it a few weeks and then i got locked out.......apparently he was attending a college and they issued him a labtop. he quit and they locked up the computer. i was going to do a clean unstall of the os, but now it wont even turn on. does any one have any idea if its possable for the programe that locked it up could preent it from turning on? and if i can get in on will putting a new os on it solve the lock out problem???????

 

[detox1]

was this friends ex suppose to return the laptop and didn't?
If so, this could be classed as stolen property.
I'd try and get your money back, save the hassle.

 

[mellissasu]

i guess he was supose to, i had no idea it was from a school. he told me it was his, he sold it to me because he needed money for a bus ticket to go back to his home state. i can not get ahold of him now. im pretty much stuck with it, and im trying to figure out how i can make it work. other wise im out 200 bucks. the school he got it from told me to report it to the police, but that wont get my money back, and they would take the computer for evidence. the school has already filled on him for stealing it.

 

[Celegorm]

Only way to get your money back would be to give it back to the police, make a report and sue. Otherwise you're out. School-issued laptops can (and do) have features that will prevent any software from restoring the computer until it goes back to the manufacturer (who will then send it to the real owner).

 

[berry120]

You might want to consider giving it back more than you are at the moment - if you've basically told the school you've got it, then you know you're in possession of stolen property and they could get it back by force and it *could* go on your criminal record if that happens. You could file a claim to get the money back from the guy that sold it to you, but the school won't give you it.

Technically speaking, you could try popping the CMOS battery and swapping the hard drive, which might be enough - but if not you're pretty much out of luck.

 

[Celegorm]

Technically speaking, you could try popping the CMOS battery and swapping the hard drive, which might be enough - but if not you're pretty much out of luck.

I'm going to go out on a whim for a minute and assume this is an HP laptop since that's what my school has. In that case, it's in flash memory and popping the CMOS doesn't work (won't even clear BIOS passwords). Again assuming, I'd think that any program worth it's weight in salt would use flash memory.

Also like berry pointed out, you now have notice that you are in possession of stolen property. Failure to turn it in could be worse than just losing a couple hundred dollars.

 

[dude_se]

i find it wierd that it wont switch on at all. seems a bit extreme. then again i dont really know what methods they use on these things.

worst case if you do have to hand it in to the police just hope the college take pity on you, or the police do something, but with no proof of purchase its a bit of a bugger.

 

[botwa]

do you have any documents claiming you bought it for 200$ from that guy?
if you do then don't worry, you can sue him and you WILL get your money back and you won't get onto trouble because you bought this laptop for money, so it's not your fault that that guy stole it