PC Help - Need Guru's XP start up issue

[JamesB]

last night I updated the hardware in my PC.

MB, CPU, Memory, PSU, Video Card, added a SATA drive.

OS is XPsp2 home

I turned on the system and set up the bios, I exited and saved the settings and it goes through its bios boot stuff, then I get a nice screen telling me windows did not load properly and to try booting in normal mode or one of the 3 safe mode options. None of them work.

I tried using the XP cd to boot with to try the recover option (this is a store bought version of XPsp2, not an oem version like you get from dell or hp), but it aske me for the System admin password.

I for the life of me can not remember my admin password. I tried the usual suspects in my huge password data base, but none of them are working and after 3 failed attempts you have to reboot and try again.

any ideas on how to recover the system admin password?

I do NOT want to reformat the drive as I have so much junk installed I dont want to spend the next month setting it all back up.

fyi... I do know that with XP if you upgrade the MB you do have to go through this recover process to re-create/update the installation ID of the system and re-register with MS. its part of their anti-piracy junk to make sure your licensed copy is only installed on 1 PC

James

[prncfarquad]

I know this is a stupid question but one I have been asked before. is it possible that you didn't set a password for admin? I have seen XP home systems where the password is not set for admin. Just a thought, wish I could be of more help

[srwatters]

There is a very easy utility that is Linux based that will edit the registry hive and replace or remove the current password. Take a look at this link: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

I use it often and it has never failed me.

[srwatters]

What you most likely need to do is an in-place upgrade of Windows XP. The mother board chipset is most likely different as well as the processor base. Follow the directions in this MS KB article (I had to do this recently at the office for one of my lab machines) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315341/en-us

[zeroendless]

2nd that, i used more or similar linux based utility to reset admin password.

Leave the new password blank when asked, assigned new password nevered worked for me.

Originally Posted by srwatters

There is a very easy utility that is Linux based that will edit the registry hive and replace or remove the current password. Take a look at this link: http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/

I use it often and it has never failed me.

[zeroendless]

Nope, it doesn't.

Your OS just failed to boot because there's no drivers yet properly installed for that 90% of the new hardwares you just installed. Specially the Mobo. You could tried to repair The system drivers from xp repair disk but doing so need admin password. I recommand reinstallation when change the mobo.

fyi... I do know that with XP if you upgrade the MB you do have to go through this recover process to re-create/update the installation ID of the system and re-register with MS. its part of their anti-piracy junk to make sure your licensed copy is only installed on 1 PC

[JamesB]

thanks for the tips guys. I will try the recover first with out using a password. I never just hit the enter key to see what would happen when it ask for my password. But I do think I set apassword at one time, but never use it as I am the only user on the PC and I dont make it ask me to logon when I boot up.
if that does not work then I will try the password tools.


James

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by zeroendless

Nope, it doesn't.

Your OS just failed to boot because there's no drivers yet properly installed for that 90% of the new hardwares you just installed. Specially the Mobo. You could tried to repair The system drivers from xp repair disk but doing so need admin password. I recommand reinstallation when change the mobo.

The in-place upgrade procedure will leave most everything else (programs, profiles, etc.) intact while changing out the OS. If you aren't willing to do a full re-install, that will usually repair the system. Although not as clean as the full re-install, it's an option. YMMV.

[JamesB]

I was reading the inplace upgrade and not sure I want to do that. im gonna see if I can get by the password thing first and see if the recovery option will work first. if not i have to approach it completely different. I will put in a new system OS HD and start with a fresh OS install, then migrate all my programs and settings over the the new HD from the old one

James

[srwatters]

Trust me that the recovery option will not work in your case. Even if you have a restore floppy, that won't help because you've yanked the hardware out that the disk was made with. You have new chips that require new drivers. You have two choices at this point:

- do the inplace upgrade
- reinstall the OS from scratch.

The only other viable option would be to put the machine back to it's original hardware and then build the new machine with a new power supply and HDD. Then do a system migration. You'll still have to re-install all the apps, so you're back to option #2.

Welcome to Windows. I won't even go into how easy this is on the Mac...

[darktiger]

Put it back into your old hardware setup, like on a table or something. The when it comes up, you can back up your info. Or what is prob happening is you have all the drivers loading up for your old hardware. You could uninstall all your drivers, then try to hook it up to your new hardware. I usually recommend a reformat and reinstall for all that hardware that you replaced.

[David Whatley]

Try to boot in safe mode and then reset the admin password. I have been able to do that before.

[JamesB]

Originally Posted by David Whatley

Try to boot in safe mode and then reset the admin password. I have been able to do that before.

part of the problem was when I select to boot in safe mode, it reboots and goes right back to chosing either safe mode or normal mode, it was a vicious cycle.

i put the XP cd in and booted that way and just hit enter when it asked for the admin password and that took care of the password issue.

right now its going through the recovery to rebuild the boot sector. its been running about 40 minutes now, well actually runnning a chkdsk, then I will rebuild the boot sector and I should see how it goes after that.

I found this procedure and this is what I am doing now

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...id=35917&guid=

James

[srwatters]

James. Let me give you an analogy... You've just taken your Ford engine out of the car and replaced it with a Chevy. Don't expect it to start unless you make the proper adjustments.

It's NEVER going to boot using the repair console.

I've been doing IT support and management for 20+ years. The choices I gave you above are the only way to proceed. You will do nothing but waste your time and get frustrated by trying the procedure you've linked above.

I wish I had better news for you, but bite the bullet. What you've done requires an OS re-install or in-place upgrade. Your choice. I just did one of these yesterday in the lab.

[JamesB]

you were correct, the recovery console did not work. i ended up doing a repair install and all is working and all my programs are fine, except I have to re-configure a few things, but all is working fine

have not put it to the test yet as I have been out watching a movie

James