How do I reboot my Laptop when the BIOS settings won't let me?

Alright so I have a Dell Laptop Latitude E5420 and I have Windows Home Premium 64 bit installed in it.
So far I am not enjoying it just because it's a 64 bit and I'm not a huge fan of it.
I'm deciding to switch to Windows 7 Pro 32 bit and I have a disc that I have bought at Microsoft's webpage.
Thing is my laptop won't boot from the CD and I want to clean my hard drive out and install a fresh files of Windows 7 onto it. So basically I want to replace the Windows Home Premium 64 bit with Windows 7 Pro 32 bit.
After shutting down my laptop, I power it back on and press F12 to get to the screen that asks me where do I want to go. I take myself to the BIOS Settings, find the boot settings and the selections are grayed out.
When I try to disable the security to let the selctions back up in white it asks me for this password?
I honestly don't remember putting a password on the BIOS settings and I did buy this laptop myself.
Any suggestions, comments, or instructions is helpful!

4/10/2013 - Opening Dell Latitude E5420 *Attempt to reboot Bios*

I have uploaded 3 pictures 1 is the CMOS unplugged....hopefully it is.
The other two pictures are the bottom of the laptop while the last picture is the top where I dissembled the keyboard part.

You should be able to clear the password by resetting the BIOS settings. this can be done by removing the CMOS battery: (this is for 6420 but should be very similar)



Also,

I'm with TwoCables on this one. I would think x64 would run faster for you on the i5. only reason to stay with x32 is if you have old programs that are x16 (as x64 won't be able to run them as well) or if you have less than 4GB of RAM (if you have 2GB then stick with x32)

Also, you might be able to return the Pro version if you were only purchasing it thinking you needed it in order to get a x32 version. Each license allows you to install x32 or x64 so if you already have home x64, you could install home x32 with the same license that came with your laptop. If you are wanting Pro for some other reasons, you can install x32 or x64 with that purchased license.

Do you remember getting a password from Dell with the media because there are a lot of Youtube videos mentioning passwords?

I found this if it is of nay help Unlock Dell Laptop with a Special Bios Password: DELL LATITUDE e5420 BIOS PASSWORD, Laptop unlock code solutions

otherwise why not contact Dell? if you have the model and serial number plus PART NO like a lot of Toshiba's have that denote region for use and / or build and get the password back form them.

Like Two Cables said why 32bit is a mystery as it limits you a bit and thta machine can support a fair bit mor RAM then 2GB!!

Hello again zilean,

the CMOS bettery should be fairly easy to find when opening the computer as replacing the cmos battery is needed if the battery dies.

For how it works: the BIOS has settings that are not hard coded in a chip so these settings need to be stored somewhere. since they are stored, they require a charge of electricity to hold their values. this includes any changes that have been made to the BIOS, password, system time, etc. when you turn off your computer, this stuff would be lost each time you power down if it didn't have a charge coming from this battery.

When you take out the battery, it clears out all those settings as there is no other way for it to store that info. You need to leave the battery out for about a minute to allow the charge to drain. you might have to hold the power button down as well to help drain the circuits of their charges.

here's a link to the Manual for your comp as well. I can't view it from my comp right now.... check to see if it has any info on how to reset the CMOS: ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-produ...nual_en-us.pdf

Also you can take a look at the link ICit2lol posted. I also saw that while searching, but have not used it. Take caution when downloading anything (even reputable commonly known sites these days) in case there is some other software bundled with it.... but that looked like a common complaint from dell users and a possible fix...

Just two cents worth again just remember some laptop CMOS batteries are soldered in

ICit2lol said:

Just two cents worth again just remember some laptop CMOS batteries are soldered in

lol that's a horrible idea....