Dell Laptop stolen - anywhere I can find the serial number?

Hi,

My Dell Vostro 1500 was stolen from my house last night. It was less than 2 weeks old,I had not yet registered it and had not written the serial number down yet. Is there anywhere I will be able to find it (box maybe?) and what should it look like (in terms of format)?

Thanks

 

This sucks.
As far as I know the serial number is only put on the laptop. Just like its service tag. Maybe if you call Dell they keep a record maybe.
Just make sure to go to the police for a report or something. Could help with dealing with Dell.

 

The Service Tag is the serial number - check on ya invoice.

 

My Dell laptops have a seperate number beside the service tag on them. When you call for support they only ask for the tag though. Still, I never found my service tags on the invoices. Only on the computer/laptop.

 

Yeh its not on the invoice. Any chance it could be on the box somewhere?

I'm so angry about this, I want to punch someone/something . Only just got the f***ing thing...

 

I doubt they put it on the box. That'd be to obvious. I'm afraid you're out of luck. Maybe you can put in a claim with your insurance company?

Some time I get the feeling you need to bolt down everything you own to prevent people from stealing it...

 

Call Dell. They keep records of everything. Maybe you can still register your laptop that way or get a service tag to give to the cops to ID your machine should they ever find it.

 

Well the Service Tag shows on my invoice at the bottom labeled "Tag Nos".
Maybe UK invoices are different.

The other number is the Express Service Code which is derived from the Service Tag.

 

And that my friend is why I purchased Lojack.

 

Here is the problem with LoJack:

If you password-protect and encrypt your system to protect the data, then the thief will simply wipe it and start fresh, so no more lojack. If, instead, you leave everything open, in the hope that the thief uses it, your (and other's?) data is open for the taking, and that could be worth much more than the laptop, so that's not really an option.

As far as the service tag, it should be on the invoice. It should also be in your order status when you sign in to Dell. If you don't see it, call Dell and have them look it up.

 

Service Tag is on the box also.

 

If you bought it with a Credit card they might insure you for lost/theft.
Call them too.

 

Service tag is on the invoice...I have mine there.

 

Lojack is such a joke. Our company has had several laptops stolen and *NONE* have ever been recovered. Just another way to suck money from the consumer.

Spend the extra $50 (approx) a year through your home/content insurance and get a $0 deductible in the event it's lost, stolen, or damaged.

 

Absolute Software, the publisher of Lojack for Laptops, says on its website that: "Our Recovery Team recovers 3 out of every 4 stolen laptops that are protected with Computrace LoJack for Laptops software." There was a review of the software here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3736

It's not clear whether reinstalling the OS will defeat the protection. Some manufacturers (I think Lenovo is one) include an embedded chip which would protect against that. I don't know about Dell.

 

Lojack is installed into the bios, even if you format the drive and reinstall the OS, Lojack will still be enabled.

 

Most notebook are now LoJack-BIOS compatible believe it or not. Its become a standard thing on many notebooks.

As for the service tag, you can get it from your account information @ Dell using your original order information.

Oh, and call Dell and inform them its stolen. Someone will probably register the notebook as their own eventually, then Dell can give you or the authorities that info. Not to mention if the thief ever calls in the warranty Dell will (hopefully) return it to you instead if you inform them of the theft.

 

The Serial No. you are referring to is the express service code. The service tag is an alphanumeric code, whereas the express service code is only numbers. If you have your order/customer number, you can pull up your invoice and packing slip. The service tag is located most definetly on the packing slip and also on the packaging carton that the system came in. Once you call Dell Customer Service, give your system tag, verify your information and tell them that the system was stolen. Basically next time the thief calls Dell with the service tag (if he/she does), then it would be red flagged (and if the thief gives the address for a service call, then well, you know the rest...)

 

The serial code is on the box check the box.

 

I guess every laptop we had stolen accounts for that remaining 25% ratio, and I can think of at least 10 that we've heard nothing of since.

 

Hey, tighten up your security. You're hurting Lojack's numbers.

 

Yeah, I'd say that's a security problem more than anything else. LoJack is a good defense mechanism, but it isn't foolproof. Not that you are a fool or anything .

 

My condolences dude, good luck with getting back online.

 

That's true and I agree with you, especially if the thief doesn't use the laptop but just scavenge it's parts, which still makes the BIOS-compatible Lo-jack worthless as ever.

 

My numbers come from a Canada wide company with a plethora of laptops spread all over. Most were in vehicles or offices that had been broken into, and this was over a couple years.

However, to not hear anything back for ANY of them, is really proof positive in my eyes, that this "service" does nothing but empty your wallet.

 

Since Lojack offers a guarantee that refunds the cost of the software if the laptop is not recovered in 30 days (for personal systems) and pays up to $1,000 per laptop for corporate accounts, how does this empty your wallet? Did your company take advantage of the guarantee?

 

We used the software when it was still marketed as "Computrace", not "Lojack" , and at that time I'm not sure if they had any specific guarantee per say, or any kind of monetary reimbursement.

 

Found it, it was on the invoice all along, just wasn't sure what I was looking for. Thanks guys.