DO A SEARCH ON THIS FORUM THERE ARE MANY POSTINGS ON HOW TO "DEFEAT" OR "BY PASS THE DELL CHECK", I REMEMBER THAT THE PROBLEM FILE IS "Bchk32.exe" AND TO FIX IT YOU HAVE TO USE A HEX EDITOR, ON WIN 2000 THE WINNT.EXE UNDER I386 IS THE ONE THAT CALLS THIS FILE. DEFEAT DELL CHECK
OR
WIN2K
OR
MAKING DELL CD RUN ON OTHER
The file in question is "Bchk32.exe", you will find it in the "I386"
directory of the win2k install CD. Simply deleting this file will not
work you have to edit the file with a hex editor as described below or
just replace it with the attached file that I have already edited.
Here's how bchk32.exe works:
When setup.exe is executed, it launches bchk32.exe or launches some
other program which in turn launches bchk32.exe. Then, bchk32.exe
checks the bios to determine if the computer is a Dell or not. When
bchk32.exe is launched, it is passed a command line argument (i.e.,
when you type "unrar file.rar", the file.rar is a command line
argument), this argument is a directory/file name that tells
bchk32.exe where to save the results of the bios check. The file name
is generated randomly but always ends in .tmp (a temporary file), the
directory when the file is saved depends on your system (on win 95,
its "C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\"). If a Dell bios is detected, the file will
contain "+++" (3 bytes), if it fails the test, the file will contain
"---". I have tried replacing bchk32.exe with my own program that
simply creates the file with the name and location supplied in the
command line arguments, writes "+++" to the file, and then closes the
file and exits. This program however, did not work. So, obvioulsy
bchk32.exe does something in addition to this. While viewing
bchk32.exe with a hex editor, I found where it stored the "+++" and
"---". With the hex editor, I changed the "---" to "+++" so that even
if the test failed, "+++" would be the result and would get stored in
the file. To my surprise, this worked.
If you have a hex editor follow these instructions:
1) start the hex editor and load "bchk32.exe"
2) goto offset/location 1F92 (hex) or 8082 (decimal)
3) you should see "---" displayed at this location, change it to "+++"
4) save the edited file using the original name
If you don't have a hex editor, you can download one form just about
anywhere, I like UltraEdit-32. Its time limited for 45 days but is
fully functional until then and with a little searching you should be
able to find a serial number for it. I'm still looking for the seial
number myself. You can D/L UltraEdit from http:\\www.ultraedit.com.
If you don't want to go the hex editor route, just replace your
bchk32.exe file with the attached one that has already been edited,
this option may only work on Dell systems.
