Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows XP > Windows XP General Discussion > Cannot log in to XP
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gbdg   09-20-2009 at 07:07:25 AM

This concerns an ASUS F5VL laptop running XP Pro.

Some weeks ago I ended up with a situation where the system had become unbootable. I sent the laptop to ASUS on an RMA and they returned it with a fresh XP install, circa late-2007. I spent the next 3 days upgrading Windows to SP3 with the latest patches, then installing applications and data.

In the midst of that I converted from FAT32 to NTFS. At the end, after everything was up and running, I used the defrag option on the My Computer/Tools menu. Once that was done, I rebooted and found that I couldn't get the password prompt from Windows to allow me to type an entry.

Next I performed a CHKDSK /R. That repaired some sectors. On the next boot, I got to the point that I could type the password, but it was rejected as invalid.

I then booted into safe mode and tried to log in as administrator. No love.

At the moment I don't recall if I have tried a XP repair or not.

It took 6 weeks to badgering ASUS support to reach a tech, and they told me there is no option other than reinstalling XP.

Tonight I discovered OPHCRACK, burned it to a CD and ran it. It reveals that the password I believed to be correct is indeed correct. Regardless, I still cannot log in.

I'm at the point that I need this machine running. I need to either resolve this login issue or I need to bite the bullet and reinstall XP again.

So - is there ANYTHING that you might try, and that I didn't list above, which could overcome this issue? I'd really prefer to not have to reinstall everything again.

Would a dirty install of XP leave my programs installed? Would it resolve the login issue?

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Bronze Win XP badge aford10   09-20-2009 at 08:03:45 AM

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321305

------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
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gbdg   09-20-2009 at 04:08:37 PM

I guess I'm toast. I don't have such a PW reset disk, and I cannot log in as admin. Tried that, and it failed. Thanks aford10, as always.

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gbdg   09-20-2009 at 05:21:18 PM

Holy crap. I managed to get in!

I found this program and it allowed me to clear the password:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Once I did that, I got back into Windows. It took a lengthy period of time to get past the "restoring personal settings" screen, but I got to the desktop and it appears to be intact.

I am probably going to follow the same procedure and remove the password for "administrator", but I'll await your advice before taking further action.

Why would the system have become corrupt as a result of running defrag? I feel like I may need to take some preventative action(s) to protect myself from this again. Seems that creating a "password reset disk", just in case (a) this happens again and (b) the password editor failed to work, is a good starting point.

Now that I am back in, is there anything you would propose that I perform in terms of maintenance or diagnostics on this system to protect myself from future problems?

Thanks!

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