forgotten password

[Appolonia]

My niece has a Dell 85-- (can't remember) PC running XP home edition
She's forgotten her password. So I tried a couple of password crackin
programmes but now am in even more trouble. The PC no longer boots t
windows, instead it boots to a dos screen which asks me for th
password and to press (ctrl+enter) to disable security or (enter) t
keep security enabled.

The PC has no floppy drive (thanks dell for that stroke of genius) so
copied a boot file to a CD, however the primary boot is of course ID
and I can't change that as I don't even get the option to go into th
bios now.

Can somebody help?

 

[Malke]

My niece has a Dell 85-- (can't remember) PC running XP home edition.
She's forgotten her password. So I tried a couple of password
cracking
programmes but now am in even more trouble. The PC no longer boots to
windows, instead it boots to a dos screen which asks me for the
password and to press (ctrl+enter) to disable security or (enter) to
keep security enabled.

The PC has no floppy drive (thanks dell for that stroke of genius) so
I copied a boot file to a CD, however the primary boot is of course
IDE and I can't change that as I don't even get the option to go into
the bios now.

Can somebody help??

It is extremely unclear what you have done and naturally we don't know
what programs you used. On one hand, if you really can't get into the
BIOS, you can open the computer and remove the battery. Let it sit
overnight. This will reset the BIOS to default settings without a
password. However, the message about pressing Ctrl+Enter isn't
something you would usually see at the BIOS password level.

As for not having a floppy drive, there is no need because everything
you need to repair a system is on a bootable CD. In your case, you
don't need to be copying any boot files anyway and would probably wind
up hosing the system even worse than it is now.

You know, to get into the computer in the first place all you had to do
was boot into Safe Mode and access the normally hidden Administrator
account, the default password for which is a blank. You didn't need to
get fancy with stuff you obviously know nothing about.

You can try draining the battery and then getting into Windows as
described above, but you might be better off taking the machine to a
professional and letting them sort it out.

Malke

 

[David L McMurray]

It is extremely unclear what you have done and naturally we don't know
what programs you used. On one hand, if you really can't get into the
BIOS, you can open the computer and remove the battery. Let it sit
overnight. This will reset the BIOS to default settings without a
password. However, the message about pressing Ctrl+Enter isn't
something you would usually see at the BIOS password level.


Malke

Ctrl+Enter is a Dell feature that can be enabled in the BIOS whereby you
can disable the boot password requirement. There's a jumper to reset the
BIOS in many of the Dell's if you have any access to the Dell support
site. I agree that perhaps you would be better off getting some help
here.

Good luck,
David

 

[Malke]

Ctrl+Enter is a Dell feature that can be enabled in the BIOS whereby
you can disable the boot password requirement. There's a jumper to
reset the BIOS in many of the Dell's if you have any access to the
Dell support site. I agree that perhaps you would be better off
getting some help here.

Good luck,
David

Thanks for that additional information, David. I've made a note of it.
Some Dells have really nice BIOS options; some are pretty sparse. You
and I both agree that the OP should take his/her niece's computer to a
shop and have a professional fix it.

Malke