VOGONS


First post, by aaron158

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I bought a Dell Optiplex GX300 when u go in the bios the service tag has not been programmed in. either it was never done at the factory or someone replaced the motherboard at some point and never programmed it in.

there don't seem to be any option in the bios to enter the tag number. i also have the dell optiplex Diagnostics and unity disc from around the year 2000 and it don't seem to have anything on it for doing it.

i assume dell used some kind of utility for programming the tag in can anyone point me to where i could find it.

another thing that is odd if i put the service tag in that is listed on the side of the system on the dell website it says it can't find nothing. but service tags from system just as old or even older then this one can be found.

Reply 1 of 7, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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aaron158 wrote on 2023-10-19, 18:53:
I bought a Dell Optiplex GX300 when u go in the bios the service tag has not been programmed in. either it was never done at th […]
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I bought a Dell Optiplex GX300 when u go in the bios the service tag has not been programmed in. either it was never done at the factory or someone replaced the motherboard at some point and never programmed it in.

there don't seem to be any option in the bios to enter the tag number. i also have the dell optiplex Diagnostics and unity disc from around the year 2000 and it don't seem to have anything on it for doing it.

i assume dell used some kind of utility for programming the tag in can anyone point me to where i could find it.

another thing that is odd if i put the service tag in that is listed on the side of the system on the dell website it says it can't find nothing. but service tags from system just as old or even older then this one can be found.

Manual refers to an asset tag utility - may be worth checking here - https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drive … driverid=r20297

Reply 3 of 7, by theamtrakvirus

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Sometimes Dells stored their service tag in CMOS instead of anything fixed or sometimes when the motherboard got swapped. I know I've had a few Dells from various eras lose their service tag one way or another. I believe you can use this version of CentOS to boot and run terminal to change the service tag, I had to do it on my Poweredge T320 for iDRAC related things and it worked well. If it works anything like how it did on my Poweredge on this you'd just boot in to it, open terminal and type these:
su
smbios-sys-info --service-tag --set=(service tag here)
reboot

Reply 4 of 7, by aaron158

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PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-10-20, 00:13:
aaron158 wrote on 2023-10-19, 18:53:
I bought a Dell Optiplex GX300 when u go in the bios the service tag has not been programmed in. either it was never done at th […]
Show full quote

I bought a Dell Optiplex GX300 when u go in the bios the service tag has not been programmed in. either it was never done at the factory or someone replaced the motherboard at some point and never programmed it in.

there don't seem to be any option in the bios to enter the tag number. i also have the dell optiplex Diagnostics and unity disc from around the year 2000 and it don't seem to have anything on it for doing it.

i assume dell used some kind of utility for programming the tag in can anyone point me to where i could find it.

another thing that is odd if i put the service tag in that is listed on the side of the system on the dell website it says it can't find nothing. but service tags from system just as old or even older then this one can be found.

Manual refers to an asset tag utility - may be worth checking here - https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-uk/drive … driverid=r20297

assets tags are dif from service tags. assets tags are something a company can setup to track systems in there inventory. service tags are like serial numbers they should be programmed in at the factory but apparently a lot of times when people set systems in for warranty if the tech replaced the system board sometimes they forget to reprogram it with the service tag.

Reply 5 of 7, by aaron158

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theamtrakvirus wrote on 2023-10-21, 03:54:
Sometimes Dells stored their service tag in CMOS instead of anything fixed or sometimes when the motherboard got swapped. I know […]
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Sometimes Dells stored their service tag in CMOS instead of anything fixed or sometimes when the motherboard got swapped. I know I've had a few Dells from various eras lose their service tag one way or another. I believe you can use this version of CentOS to boot and run terminal to change the service tag, I had to do it on my Poweredge T320 for iDRAC related things and it worked well. If it works anything like how it did on my Poweredge on this you'd just boot in to it, open terminal and type these:
su
smbios-sys-info --service-tag --set=(service tag here)
reboot

this os seems to be to new for a p3 cpu. when it tries to boot it says this kernel requires an x86-64 cpu but only detected an i686.

Reply 6 of 7, by aaron158

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according to people on the the dell form u needs something called SVCTAG.exe on badcaps site someone posted the iso for version 3.4 of it witch seems to be from 2003 but apparently its to new when i try to run it just says this system is not supported so i assume i need an older version but seems like dell don't just post this utility on there site.

the version i got of it off bad caps when u run it says for dell internal use only so assuming something only techs worked for dell would have had access to would have.

Reply 7 of 7, by aaron158

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ok i figured it out so u go here to badcaps download the iso https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=88323

burn iso to a cd or cd-rw.

boot it

if u have no service tag u just have to do the follow

type in

ASSET.COM /S (put ur service tag here)

it will ask if u want to set the service tag push yes and reboot service tag will now be listed in the bios.

there is also programs in the iso for wiping the service tag and one for Recalibrate floppy drives stuff that a service tech would used back in the day.