Password

[bluedos82]

I have a computer that will boot (I think) but it requires an admin password to even allow it to boot.

THe screen is black and there is nothing on it but

Supervisor Password:

Is there anyway of changing this without knowing what the previous password is?

If not, what can I do to make this computer useable?

[TallCool1]

I have a computer that will boot (I think) but it requires an admin password to even allow it to boot. The screen is black and there is nothing on it but

Supervisor Password:

Is there anyway of changing this without knowing what the previous password is?

Yes, but it depends... How old is it? Desktop or laptop? "Brand name" or generic?

In most cases, you need to erase the contents of thebattery-backed CMOS RAM. This is done by moving a jumper, usually the one closest to the coin-cell battery. For example, if it were a two-year-old generic desktop PC, and you could find the brand and model of the motherboard, you could go to the manufacturer's web site and download the manual (usually in PDF form). You could then find the exact location of said jumper from the manual.

If the unit is newer or a laptop it gets trickier. Some laptops and newer desktops use flash memory (semi-permanent, not battery-backed) and require a back door or special techniques to erase or reset the password. Since this varies from brand to brand, we would need to know more.

[feigned]

What airport did you pick up this laptop at.

:lol:

[feigned]

I have a computer that will boot (I think) but it requires an admin password to even allow it to boot. THe screen is black and there is nothing on it but Supervisor Password: Is there anyway of changing this without knowing what the previous password is? If not, what can I do to make this computer useable?

Like Tall said, you have to clear the CMOS. There's a jumper that's on the motherboard if you take the side panel off. Unless it's a laptop, then it's harder to do this.

You can Google for that specific motherboard once you take off the side panel to get a "map" of the motherboard so you can clear it.

Clearing it's easy though. Unplug power, put jumper on pins 2-3, press power buttons to fully discharge system, put jumper back on ping 1-2. Plug power back in, should have access.

[bluedos82]

)BIG"B"Affleck , If you can't say soemthing nice, don't talk to me. I am a first time Admin and the jerk who left before me left a nice mess for me to clean up.
To all of you who have posted with useful info, thank you

[bluedos82]

It's a Desktop computer, Generic and it is more than 5 years old. This is a school computer

[feigned]

It's a Desktop computer, Generic and it is more than 5 years old. This is a school computer

There still should be 3 pins side-by-side with a jumper connecting two of them somewhere on the motherboard.

With the power cable unplugged, you can move it over. A small illustration:

1	 2	 3
  Jumper
 
1	 2	 3
	 Jumper

I know that's not pretty, but it gets the idea across.

After you do this, be sure to move the jumper back to the position it was in.

You can also pop the battery out for a few minutes. It's a little smaller than a quarter. Pop it back in and see what happens.

[bluedos82]

YES! It worked. Thank you to all who helped.

[feigned]

As shown

Yeah. lol

Much more descriptive images than my ASCII art. :)

[netcat]

Sorry, this is back to antivirus things ... I downloaded the Grisoft program you suggested, ran it, and still get the svchost.exe error, which is what people were talking about further back.
What should I do???

[Roberdin]

I had a similar Error on my Win 2003 Server until I installed a firewall. Try ZoneAlarm.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=zadb_zadown

Just click "Downlaod FREE Zonealarm", don't worry about nething else. Then Install it by following the instructions.

[vigneshvh]

i think u forgot u r administerator password to open u r os in u r computer,hope u made an password with its hint,so just after power on u r pc and then when it aks to insert password in administerator column then u can c another word near by it known as hint,it shows a hint of u r password,frm that u can easilly get u r password