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    Lojack rises from the dead and phones home...

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Fountainhead, Jun 5, 2008.

  1. Fountainhead

    Fountainhead Notebook Deity

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    ...just like E.T.

    There were a couple of threads about Lojack a little while ago, since Dell had included 2 free years with some of the offers recently. There were questions about what happens if you format, or swap the drive, or whatever. Thought I'd share.

    I installed Lojack on my new M1530 over the weekend, and activated it online. Once you do this, you can log into your account on Lojack's site and check to see when your notebook called in last. Mine seemed to check once a day.

    On Tuesday night I decided it was time for a clean installation of Windows. Rather than formatting the existing drive, I went out and bought a brand new Seagate 250 GB drive. I pulled the original drive from the new M1530 and installed the new Seagate. I partitioned, formatted, and installed Vista from scratch on the new drive. Within 24 hours, my M1530 had checked back in with Lojack. Diddn't have to do anything at all.

    So for Lojack BIOS-enabled systems like Dell's, Lojack really does come back on its own after a format or full disk swap. Not sure what a BIOS update would do, but I'm not particularly interested in researching that for no good reason.
     
    Fountainhead, Jun 5, 2008
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    BIOS update does not kill it either. I tried that too in my review.
     
    Greg, Jun 5, 2008
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  3. Wishmaker

    Wishmaker BBQ Expert

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    Nice system and thanks for sharing info.
     
    Wishmaker, Jun 5, 2008
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  4. jfdube

    jfdube Notebook Evangelist

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    Comforting to know, for those who either got it as bonus, or are paying subscribers. Glad to know that it proved to be technology which actually works as advertised.
     
    jfdube, Jun 5, 2008
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  5. The_Observer

    The_Observer 9262 is the best:)

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    So there is no way to remove this Lo Jack?
     
    The_Observer, Jun 5, 2008
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  6. jfdube

    jfdube Notebook Evangelist

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    Id say its safe to assume it would be removed with a complete BIOS flash (not just an update) with a generic verion w/o the LJ or a full chip replacement.Not everyone can attempt this.
     
    jfdube, Jun 5, 2008
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  7. zipx2k5

    zipx2k5 Notebook Consultant

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    That's good news, thanks for testing that :)
     
    zipx2k5, Jun 5, 2008
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  8. robgt

    robgt Notebook Guru

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    So the only way to remove it is by flashing the Bios?
     
    robgt, Jun 5, 2008
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  9. Bchen06

    Bchen06 Notebook Consultant

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    You can unregister your computer from the Lojack website, but you can't remove it, it's part of the bios. So "installing" it really didn't do anything to the operating system, it simply activated the lojack service in the BIOS and registered your computer's information with Lojack's site.
     
    Bchen06, Jun 5, 2008
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  10. Forte

    Forte NBR's Supreme Angel

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    So Lojack is basically frozen. No matter what you do to the hard drive, no matter what you do with the bios, it will always come back.
     
    Forte, Jun 5, 2008
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  11. Fountainhead

    Fountainhead Notebook Deity

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    Yes that seems to be the case, at least in the case of a Lojack-enabled BIOS. The CD they sent really served no purpose other than to provide the registration key and direct me to the Lojack site. Now maybe if one was installing it on a notebook without a Lojack-enabled BIOS, there would actually be additional services installed on the hard drive. Of course, then it'd be gone with a format or drive swap.

    Seems so. Must be stored in some non-volitle area of the ROM that doesn't get touched with a BIOS update. Kind of freaky. It's something that I'd probably never have bought on my own, but since it came for "free" (well, nothings really free) I'm kind of glad I have it.
     
    Fountainhead, Jun 5, 2008
    #11