Hey folks, am sure we have a few computer geeks in this crowd. I need some help...
Have a PIII system with WinXP loaded to a 10Gb HD. (yeah, it is small, but only for limited use)
Problem: I can log on as a User, but do not have Admin powers over this computer. It seems the HD has remnant Win 95/98SE info on it as well.
I wish to re-format and reinstall only WinXP on drive, but w/o Admin password keys, I am blocked from doing much of anything in the OS w/o Admin powers.
The basic functions I desire for this computer are just to DL or transfer music files and burn CD's. Other than that, it can be basically a "dumb" terminal with no bells and whistles like those offered in XP Pro.
This computer has been inactive for several months and may have picked up a variety of viruses as well. I can get free software to clean this up later. But my primary goal is to get a clean boot and start fresh. Do I need XP boot disketts here as the system will not boot of XP CDs.
Comments?
Swez
PS Am pretty much up on audio related topics... computer software issues are a mystery to me. SAD
Replies (12)
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 10:54:34
So, you're locked out of your own computer and you need administrative passwords.....
First, go to Control Panel, then to Users ....then look to see if you can Edit the admin. account. With any luck, that should solve the first little problem.
Then, IF you had a backup file of the original hard drive on Norton Ghost, then you could install it, and be right back to a brand new hard drive. Then, you could install XP and it would be like new.
Also, if you knew DOS, then you could get into a lot of things without having to fool with all the Windows programs, but with what you have now, i would reccommend getting the XP software........in Floppy Disk.....hehe
Norton Ghost is a very clever thing to do before you start using a computer.....make a backup copy in case something goes haywire, you can start back with a clean slate.
I recently got a virus called "R-28" which quickly hijacked all the applications, and with Ad-Aware & Norton Virus scans 4 times a day, i managed to keep the computer alive long enough to install my Ghost copy, and now the computer is back to normal and running like a charm!
Good Luck, and keep drinking your COFFEE for this one.
Dano
P.S.- 10 Gigs.......whew! the least i have ever heard of was my grandparents computer, which had a whopping 25Gb..... im running 260Gb and it never gets full.
UKinstaller on 04/20/2005 11:21:20
your cd won't boot?? all xp cd's should be bootable. have you checked your boot order in your BIOS?? if it's set to read the hard drive before the cd-rom drive, it will always boot to the hard drive because it doesn't even look at the cd-rom. this is a real common problem. all you have to do is change the boot order to cd-rom, then floppy drive, then hard drive. that way, it will boot from the cd.
are you familiar with how to change the setup in your BIOS??
generally what i do when i reformat is just boot the windows xp cd, delete the partition of the hard drive that i want it on, re-create the partition, format it using FAT32 (i hate NTFS hard drives) and let setup do the rest. it is REALLY easy to do this in windows xp setup, all you have to do is follow the directions on the screen.
clean formats are always the best way to go. you can reinstall everything knowing that there are absolutely no viruses or any spyware or any crap like that, and your computer will run faster than you could every imagine. the great thing with xp is that about 90 percent of the time, you can reinstall it and it will automatically detect all of your drivers for your pc so you don't have to download them yourself.
that's what i would do if i were you. of course, you could always use linux..........
viva Gentoo Linux. greatest operating system ever made.
-UK
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 11:23:10
I use Linux and its not even comparable to anything. It Rules
UKinstaller on 04/20/2005 12:29:33
which distro are you running??
-UK
sounds on 04/20/2005 12:51:54
if you're not comfortable with changing BIOS settings u can download the floppy disk setup from here it will boot up from the floppy and then then will run the installation from your windows xp cd... just make sure you have six blank floppy disk for the setup
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 13:34:35
On my AlienWare Aurora i am using BioBrew Pro 3.1
On my "daily driver" computer, i use Ubuntu 5.04
swez on 04/20/2005 22:06:41
Thanks guys! I do know how to manipulate Bios to do as mentioned... booting from a CD.... it did not work. It does do something when using floppies... but same problem.... no Admin codes or powers.
I have tried many ways to find the Admin passwords for this computer, but have no luck to date. I got this computer a few years ago from a friend and he was a bit light on details too. I am viewed as a user and have tried to upgrade from user to Global or Admins.... NG.
I will try the boot from floppies again. Tried it twice... no favorable results. I really think the system has several very bad viruses that have really hacked the OS up bad.
Yes, I even tried to go back to DOS (Dumb Operating System) to format the HD.... does not recognize standard DOS commands... error messages.
Have heard good stuff about Linux though. Does it take up less HD space to do its job? Where to get a copy? Would it be compatible with Roxio 5.0 burners?
I can do Fat32 here. It's familiar to me... a bit rusty is all. My daily driver Computer uses WinXP PRO with NTFS. To date, it works pretty much flawlessly for my most basic of needs. Will try as mentioned and get back to you guys on findings.
Thanks for the help,
Swez
compvr15s on 04/20/2005 23:12:32
too bad you didnt post a few months ago lol, i bout a box of hard drives at a computer show about 8 months ago, seller said as is, we paid 125 dollars for 7 hard drives, ranging from from 40-80gigs. we tested them and only two were bad, ended up getting rid of them because my bro and i both bought new computers. i would have gladly sent you one or two for free, alls they needed was to be formated with whatever OS you wanted, bummer..
Buickman94 on 04/21/2005 00:57:20
Swez, i had a similar problem a while back with my brothers computer. What i did was pull the HD out of the bad computer, throw it in my computer and format it from there. Just an idea.
sounds on 04/21/2005 01:44:39
another option would be to boot up with austrumi. It's a linux bootable program that will let you reset your administrator password. It's a big file (a little over 50mb so might not be an option for dial-up). just need to download it and then burn it on a cd.
How it works is that you boot it up and then at the prompt u type in "nt_pass" and press enter and then it'll lead you into the process and you can reset your administrator password to a blank (by using * when asking for a new password) and then you should be able to use administrator when u reboot.
can download it from Here
swez on 04/22/2005 11:43:36
Thanks guys... have the 6 boot disks now and will try some of the things noted here in the threads. Will let ya know about the progress as I get back to it.
Thanks much,
Swez
swez on 04/22/2005 23:32:56
Success guys... seem to have things back in order again. Am a happy camper now and will be dealing with upgrades as I need them.
Thanks for the assistance there folks! I appreciate the support and good info. Now, I will probably look for a larger HD to slave off this 10Gb master. Anyone have a good used HD of 40Gb or higher they wish to unload? You can reach me at: swezdp@juno.com
Swez HAPPY
Have a PIII system with WinXP loaded to a 10Gb HD. (yeah, it is small, but only for limited use)
Problem: I can log on as a User, but do not have Admin powers over this computer. It seems the HD has remnant Win 95/98SE info on it as well.
I wish to re-format and reinstall only WinXP on drive, but w/o Admin password keys, I am blocked from doing much of anything in the OS w/o Admin powers.
The basic functions I desire for this computer are just to DL or transfer music files and burn CD's. Other than that, it can be basically a "dumb" terminal with no bells and whistles like those offered in XP Pro.
This computer has been inactive for several months and may have picked up a variety of viruses as well. I can get free software to clean this up later. But my primary goal is to get a clean boot and start fresh. Do I need XP boot disketts here as the system will not boot of XP CDs.
Comments?
Swez
PS Am pretty much up on audio related topics... computer software issues are a mystery to me. SAD
Replies (12)
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 10:54:34
So, you're locked out of your own computer and you need administrative passwords.....
First, go to Control Panel, then to Users ....then look to see if you can Edit the admin. account. With any luck, that should solve the first little problem.
Then, IF you had a backup file of the original hard drive on Norton Ghost, then you could install it, and be right back to a brand new hard drive. Then, you could install XP and it would be like new.
Also, if you knew DOS, then you could get into a lot of things without having to fool with all the Windows programs, but with what you have now, i would reccommend getting the XP software........in Floppy Disk.....hehe
Norton Ghost is a very clever thing to do before you start using a computer.....make a backup copy in case something goes haywire, you can start back with a clean slate.
I recently got a virus called "R-28" which quickly hijacked all the applications, and with Ad-Aware & Norton Virus scans 4 times a day, i managed to keep the computer alive long enough to install my Ghost copy, and now the computer is back to normal and running like a charm!
Good Luck, and keep drinking your COFFEE for this one.
Dano
P.S.- 10 Gigs.......whew! the least i have ever heard of was my grandparents computer, which had a whopping 25Gb..... im running 260Gb and it never gets full.
UKinstaller on 04/20/2005 11:21:20
your cd won't boot?? all xp cd's should be bootable. have you checked your boot order in your BIOS?? if it's set to read the hard drive before the cd-rom drive, it will always boot to the hard drive because it doesn't even look at the cd-rom. this is a real common problem. all you have to do is change the boot order to cd-rom, then floppy drive, then hard drive. that way, it will boot from the cd.
are you familiar with how to change the setup in your BIOS??
generally what i do when i reformat is just boot the windows xp cd, delete the partition of the hard drive that i want it on, re-create the partition, format it using FAT32 (i hate NTFS hard drives) and let setup do the rest. it is REALLY easy to do this in windows xp setup, all you have to do is follow the directions on the screen.
clean formats are always the best way to go. you can reinstall everything knowing that there are absolutely no viruses or any spyware or any crap like that, and your computer will run faster than you could every imagine. the great thing with xp is that about 90 percent of the time, you can reinstall it and it will automatically detect all of your drivers for your pc so you don't have to download them yourself.
that's what i would do if i were you. of course, you could always use linux..........
viva Gentoo Linux. greatest operating system ever made.
-UK
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 11:23:10
I use Linux and its not even comparable to anything. It Rules
UKinstaller on 04/20/2005 12:29:33
which distro are you running??
-UK
sounds on 04/20/2005 12:51:54
if you're not comfortable with changing BIOS settings u can download the floppy disk setup from here it will boot up from the floppy and then then will run the installation from your windows xp cd... just make sure you have six blank floppy disk for the setup
danielm87 on 04/20/2005 13:34:35
On my AlienWare Aurora i am using BioBrew Pro 3.1
On my "daily driver" computer, i use Ubuntu 5.04
swez on 04/20/2005 22:06:41
Thanks guys! I do know how to manipulate Bios to do as mentioned... booting from a CD.... it did not work. It does do something when using floppies... but same problem.... no Admin codes or powers.
I have tried many ways to find the Admin passwords for this computer, but have no luck to date. I got this computer a few years ago from a friend and he was a bit light on details too. I am viewed as a user and have tried to upgrade from user to Global or Admins.... NG.
I will try the boot from floppies again. Tried it twice... no favorable results. I really think the system has several very bad viruses that have really hacked the OS up bad.
Yes, I even tried to go back to DOS (Dumb Operating System) to format the HD.... does not recognize standard DOS commands... error messages.
Have heard good stuff about Linux though. Does it take up less HD space to do its job? Where to get a copy? Would it be compatible with Roxio 5.0 burners?
I can do Fat32 here. It's familiar to me... a bit rusty is all. My daily driver Computer uses WinXP PRO with NTFS. To date, it works pretty much flawlessly for my most basic of needs. Will try as mentioned and get back to you guys on findings.
Thanks for the help,
Swez
compvr15s on 04/20/2005 23:12:32
too bad you didnt post a few months ago lol, i bout a box of hard drives at a computer show about 8 months ago, seller said as is, we paid 125 dollars for 7 hard drives, ranging from from 40-80gigs. we tested them and only two were bad, ended up getting rid of them because my bro and i both bought new computers. i would have gladly sent you one or two for free, alls they needed was to be formated with whatever OS you wanted, bummer..
Buickman94 on 04/21/2005 00:57:20
Swez, i had a similar problem a while back with my brothers computer. What i did was pull the HD out of the bad computer, throw it in my computer and format it from there. Just an idea.
sounds on 04/21/2005 01:44:39
another option would be to boot up with austrumi. It's a linux bootable program that will let you reset your administrator password. It's a big file (a little over 50mb so might not be an option for dial-up). just need to download it and then burn it on a cd.
How it works is that you boot it up and then at the prompt u type in "nt_pass" and press enter and then it'll lead you into the process and you can reset your administrator password to a blank (by using * when asking for a new password) and then you should be able to use administrator when u reboot.
can download it from Here
swez on 04/22/2005 11:43:36
Thanks guys... have the 6 boot disks now and will try some of the things noted here in the threads. Will let ya know about the progress as I get back to it.
Thanks much,
Swez
swez on 04/22/2005 23:32:56
Success guys... seem to have things back in order again. Am a happy camper now and will be dealing with upgrades as I need them.
Thanks for the assistance there folks! I appreciate the support and good info. Now, I will probably look for a larger HD to slave off this 10Gb master. Anyone have a good used HD of 40Gb or higher they wish to unload? You can reach me at: swezdp@juno.com
Swez HAPPY
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