My XP needs help...

[Paul H]

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP on my
wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors? My father-in-law passed away last
month, taking his passwords to the grave with him. He even put a password
on the bios, preventing me from just wiping the hard disk, and starting
fresh. It has many problems - for example OE6 has an error when trying to
spell check. Many applications will not uninstall. I find problems
everywhere. TIA, Paul

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP on my
wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors?

What kind of errors are you asking about?

My father-in-law passed away last
month, taking his passwords to the grave with him. He even put a password
on the bios, preventing me from just wiping the hard disk, and starting
fresh.

No, it's very easy to get around that password. Just open the case,
remove the motherboard battery, and wait a little while. All the BIOS
settings, including the password, will be set to their defaults (no
password).

It usually takes 15 minutes or so, but in some cases, it can take as
much as a few hours. I would just do it overnight.

You *should* start over and reinstall Windows from scratch. It's
always the best practice when you acquire a used computer, even if it
was a relative's and even if it has no known problems.

 

[Paul H]

Thank you. I did open the case a little, and am intimidated. And it will
probably cost more than the 2 year old computer is worth to pay someone to
do it. Unless someone north of Dallas (McKinney) is smart enuf and feels
kind...

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP on my
wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors?

What kind of errors are you asking about?

My father-in-law passed away last
month, taking his passwords to the grave with him. He even put a password
on the bios, preventing me from just wiping the hard disk, and starting
fresh.

No, it's very easy to get around that password. Just open the case,
remove the motherboard battery, and wait a little while. All the BIOS
settings, including the password, will be set to their defaults (no
password).

It usually takes 15 minutes or so, but in some cases, it can take as
much as a few hours. I would just do it overnight.

You *should* start over and reinstall Windows from scratch. It's
always the best practice when you acquire a used computer, even if it
was a relative's and even if it has no known problems.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thank you. I did open the case a little, and am intimidated. And it will
probably cost more than the 2 year old computer is worth to pay someone to
do it. Unless someone north of Dallas (McKinney) is smart enuf and feels
kind...

Although I understand your reluctance, removing the battery is very
easy. It's a little disk, much like an oversize hearing-aid battery,
around the size of a US quarter. Discharge yourself to ground to get
rid of any static electricity and then pry it out of the clip that
holds it in.

If you still feel uncomfortable, do you have a friend nearby who can
help you? These batteries need to be replaced every few years, and
most of us have done it numbers of times.

 

[WaIIy]

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP on my
wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors? My father-in-law passed away last
month, taking his passwords to the grave with him. He even put a password
on the bios, preventing me from just wiping the hard disk, and starting
fresh. It has many problems - for example OE6 has an error when trying to
spell check. Many applications will not uninstall. I find problems
everywhere. TIA, Paul

How did you find errors everywhere if he took all the passwords to
his grave ?

 

[Paul H]

Removing the battery will be easy - getting to the motherboard in this
laptop is the problem...

Thank you. I did open the case a little, and am intimidated. And it will
probably cost more than the 2 year old computer is worth to pay someone to
do it. Unless someone north of Dallas (McKinney) is smart enuf and feels
kind...

Although I understand your reluctance, removing the battery is very
easy. It's a little disk, much like an oversize hearing-aid battery,
around the size of a US quarter. Discharge yourself to ground to get
rid of any static electricity and then pry it out of the clip that
holds it in.

If you still feel uncomfortable, do you have a friend nearby who can
help you? These batteries need to be replaced every few years, and
most of us have done it numbers of times.

 

[HeyBub]

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP
on my wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors? My father-in-law
passed away last month, taking his passwords to the grave with him.
He even put a password on the bios, preventing me from just wiping
the hard disk, and starting fresh. It has many problems - for example
OE6 has an error when trying to spell check. Many applications will
not uninstall. I find problems everywhere. TIA, Paul

How can you get an error on OE6 if the BIOS is password protected?

Are you SURE you want to know what pops had on his computer?

 

[Paul H]

I installed OE6 - he didn't use it. And, for example, not only can it not
spell check, but it will receive email but not send, although the account is
set up identical to OE6 on another XP computer I have. The bios password
only prevents me from using the CDs that came with the computer to set the
computer back to how it was when it was new.

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP
on my wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors? My father-in-law
passed away last month, taking his passwords to the grave with him.
He even put a password on the bios, preventing me from just wiping
the hard disk, and starting fresh. It has many problems - for example
OE6 has an error when trying to spell check. Many applications will
not uninstall. I find problems everywhere. TIA, Paul

How can you get an error on OE6 if the BIOS is password protected?

Are you SURE you want to know what pops had on his computer?

 

[Bill Watt]

Is it possible to run some Microsoft utility that will check the XP on my
wife's Acer laptop, and correct errors? My father-in-law passed away last
month, taking his passwords to the grave with him. He even put a password
on the bios, preventing me from just wiping the hard disk, and starting
fresh. It has many problems - for example OE6 has an error when trying to
spell check. Many applications will not uninstall. I find problems
everywhere. TIA, Paul

You might try to find Zerocmos.zip or killcmos.zip. I got it from
www.bootdisk.com but I don't see it there now. Or maybe Google for
it. Unzip it and put it on a boot diskette and run it from there.
Here's the text file info:
_____________________________________________________
Kill/Wipe/Clear/Dump BIOS PW Killers - Sets BIOS To Defaults
There are NO trojans in the zerocmos file as may be reported by
home-user type anti-virus programs.
_____________________________________________________

My AV programs always pick it up as a Trojan but it's not unless run
maliciously. It's a small file, easily fits on a diskette which is
where I would keep it.

Regards,

Bill Watt
Win98 Computer Help & Other Information http://home.ptd.net/~bwatt/