Stolen laptop

I highly doubt dell will do anything for you since its not there fault. If you had insurance on it then you can try ur agent but other than that your outta luck. Ask around and tell the appropriate people but this sorta thing happens alot.

Unfortunately I don't think there is much you can do... It really sucks but even the CompleteCare with Dell doesn't cover stolen items. The problem is, is that people could obviously take advantage of such things, and would claim it was stolent and it really wasn't... Thus, you would get two laptops for the price of one...

Don't know how your campus network is set up, but if you remember the name of your machine, you can try pinging it.

If they're stupid enough to have plugged it into a wired network port, you can get campus security to track down the port (since it most likely is getting a DHCP IP address), which means they'll track down your computer.

I'm not sure if you can track somebody using wireless though.

ah, man. sucks to hear this happen to anyone. i wouldnt know of anyway to recover your laptop unless you specifically ran across it or unless you can get the above method to work. it does make you realize that stuff like this is possible and that they make tracking software for this type of thing. i'm contemplating it myself after a close friend had his laptop stolen not too long ago. this software, supposedly, is the best thing you can do for protecting your laptop. anytime the thief connects the laptop to the internet, it sends a signal to a security company that monitors for your laptop once it becomes stolen. they can also remotely erase data that is confidential from what i understand. if you dont end up finding it (which i hope you do), you might want to look into something like that for your future setups.

that really sucks but you should really learn to protect your stuff better this would never happen with my laptop :X

The people operating the wireless can get a list of MAC addresses connected to the access points.

I'd advise:

1) AS SOON AS YOU CAN, call the networking people at your campus. They should have sufficient records to get your MAC address for wired or wireless just from your name (depending on which you registered with them); then if that machine is ever used on campus again*, they can track it to a wireless cell or (depending on how your network is set up) to within a building.

2) Do you by any chance have any software that causes your machine to check your school email automatically? If you do, contact your school email administrators (NOT BY EMAIL) and ask them when the last time your account was accessed and from what IP address; you might just get lucky.

3) This is a desperation thing, but if you have your MAC address (or can get it from school networking) and had your computer configured to autoconnect to wireless access points (your own, or another that you know the SSID of), you can go reverse-wardriving. You'll need a borrowed laptop, unfortunately. Get your router, or another router configured with that SSID, and power the router off of a power inverter in your car. Then drive around and see if your computer autoconnects. This is a needle-in-haystack problem, unfortunately.


Fortunately the statistics are a little bit more in your favor: since it was ganked from your dorm room, it's probably another student ... and probably one that doesn't know much about networking. If they ever use that machine on campus again*, your network people should know.

*If they're smart, they can do some Linux ifconfig ninja-stuff and change the MAC address. Most people who do that, however, probably already have a laptop and don't go around ganking Inspirons.


I had a laptop stolen two years ago ... it sucks badly. Good luck finding it... and then stringing up the thief with cat-5 and flagellating him.

How can you ping to another computer? I know about run, and then type cmd, but what next?

dont worry I ve done it and you can do it through wireless as well.

to ping a machine, type "ping <address>" at the command prompt.

i.e. "ping 192.168.1.1".

U shudda bought this.
http://www.lojackforlaptops.com/default.asp

I was just thinking of that.

What Entropius said: They'll probably use it on the school network again without changing the MAC, or the person they sold it to will (if they don't ebay it). Then your IT dept (become friends with them, bribe them, introduce them to your hot friends, etc) will eventually be able to see that MAC connect again and if it's from a wired port, they SHOULD know it's location, and if it's from wireless, they should have a good idea about were it is (then you get your friends and search the location, etc).

But isn't there some "holes" when using that? Such as if you have a startup password and the other person can't get in, then he might sell it to someone who is computer savvy and will just reformat the drive, erasing everything with it, including the tracking software.

It hurts to hear about another laptop owner's lost, but some people are just interested in the laptop.

1 It seems to be better than not trying
2 Just reformatting doesn't stop it
3 Wouldn't you like to know there is even a chance you could catch that sob?

Dude, invest in renters insurance. It's so cheap and it covers things like this.

actually, i read that that with the LoJack, that reformatting the harddrive doesnt get rid of the tracking software. i'll have to reread their page, but i remember something about that because i thought the same thing about reformatting.

Good luck in finding your lappy.

I thinks homeowner's might cover for a student in a dorm. You would need renter's insurance if you live off campus.