bixy Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Can anyone help with this? My daughter has a brand new laptop, running XP. She assigned herself a password as administrator, then tried to enter the system using this but it would not accept it. What can she do? All help gratefully received by (tearful) daughter and (not very techie) dad.Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eslier Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Passwords are case sensitive - has she tried entering it in both lower and upper case ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery tramp Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Has she tried doing one of these?Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bixy Posted September 21, 2006 Author Share Posted September 21, 2006 Yes, tried all possible combinations of upper/loer case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecossais Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Bixy,Did the laptop come with a “Recovery CD”? If you’ve got one it will restore the PC to the way it was when it was first turned on – ie you will have to accept Microsoft’s T&C’s, select country, set up users etc.If you don’t have a recovery CD (sometimes you have to create one yourself by running a programme on the PC) you should be able to buy one from the manufacturer.I would have thought the only reason your daughter can be encountering this problem is because the password she is typing is different in some way to the one which she set up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJSLIV Posted September 21, 2006 Share Posted September 21, 2006 Or tryhttp://www.loginrecovery.com/The free version may be worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Have you tried no password?Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bixy Posted September 22, 2006 Author Share Posted September 22, 2006 Problem now solved using system restore at startup. Luckily there was no data yet on computer. Thanks to those who offered advice.Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 As I think I might have a similar problem could I ask - if you use 'system restore' as Bixy has, with a brand new computer, what happens to the software that came with the computer and was pre-loaded eg Norton, Office one-note - does that remain or disappear?I ask because I set the computer up to use French, thinking I could cope but now I am not sure as the French used is beyond me so I am hoping that if I do a restore I might be able to swap to English instead. Is this totally wrong or could it work?Sue - who has never set up a computer which has XP before, never mind trying to do it in French. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecossais Posted September 22, 2006 Share Posted September 22, 2006 Hi Sue,When Bixy says his daughter resolved the problem by using “system restore”, I don’t know if he means the Windows “System Restore” function (Start | All programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore) or by using the recovery CD method I suggested earlier. I’m guessing he means the recovery CD method as I don’t think it is possible to navigate to Windows “System Restore” if he couldn’t get past the password request.If you have a recovery CD (or “Master CD”) or a system recovery program on your PC, you can put the PC back to the way it was when you first switched it on. Exactly what is on the CD or recovery programme varies by manufacturer – you sometimes get ALL of the original software on one CD, some manufacturers will give you individual CDs for some of the programs which you will have to install separately. Either way, you should be able to put all of the original programmes back on.I’m surprised you were able to select what language you wanted to install your software in as every PC I have had only had the English language version of the software. An old Packard Bell PC had multiple language versions of the software on the CD, the machine was supplied with a different boot disc in each country in order to start the recovery process in the relevant language.The recovery programme operation should be explained in the instructions you received with your PC. You will need to copy all of your documents / pictures etc onto a CD before you run the recovery programme as all user data will be erased during the recovery process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 EcossaisThanks for your post - I think I just panicked when I ran into problems but am now a little calmer and will look at the manual for the info about the 'recovery CD' and will see if that will help.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bixy Posted September 24, 2006 Author Share Posted September 24, 2006 Just to clarify this. Because of the password problem it was not possible to access the computer conventionally. On advice from Dell [the manufacturers] we started up, and at the point where the "Dell" logo appeared pressed Ctrl and F11 simultaneously and then released them. This brought into play the system restore facility. It was then a question of following the on screen instructions. It puts the computer back to the state it was in when first received, in other words, with all the pre-installed software but with nothing that was put on the hard drive subsequently. Effectivelt it was "as new". Hope that clarifies things.Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted September 25, 2006 Share Posted September 25, 2006 You were lucky that there was no significant data on the machine when you had to do a restore. For peace of mind, may I recommend the excellant Norton 'Ghost' which will take a 'Ghost' image (i.e. a copy) of your hard drive and allow you to replace everything as it was in event of a system crash/hardware failure/Overrun with Spyware/becoming a Zombie/virus etc. I backup my machines with it at least once a week and it's saved my bacon - and I'm supposed to know what I'm doing.There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and those that don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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