I'm fixing a computer for someone else and I've run into some problems. Original problem: The owner of the computer ridded it of its viruses. After that, it would only boot into safe mode. When trying to start it normally, it would show the Windows XP loading page...and then it would go black. I couldn't hear the hard drive starting up the startup programs or anything so I'm assuming it wouldn't even load windows all the way. Also, in safe mode, the device manager would be blank. I tried using the recovery console (from MY XP disc) to repair windows but it said I needed an administrator password. Such a password doesn't exist. I tried the recovery console again but when I pressed the 'R' button (commanding it to launch the recovery console) it began to setup a new copy of Windows. Before all this I tried other things like selecting Last Known Good Config but nothing changed. New problem: The computer will load the new copy of Windows and even though the other copy's settings aren't in place, I can still access the files on the hard drive. The problem is...that new copy is from my XP disc, therefore I can't register it...so it'll only last for 30 days. Also, when I try to load safe mode, it goes to a black screen with text in all the corners saying it's in safe mode but there is no toolbar or icons or anything functionable. So I need to know how to get rid of the new copy of Windows...and to get the original copy working. I'm afraid I've really screwed things up and I want to make things right with this person's computer. Please let me know if you can help. So to recap: new 30-day copy of Windows needs to be deleted, hard drive cannot be formatted (so I can keep their files), and I can't load safe mode or normal mode. Do you think a viable solution would be to run file and settings transfer wizard through the new copy of Windows...therefore saving all of their files and settings on my flash drive? i guess that wouldn't work since all i have is MY XP disc. Please let me know if you have any idea how to fix all this. I'm in quite a pickle with this problem.

Why didn't you get an install disk and key from the owner? That would seem to be the logical course of action. If the computer is riddled with viruses it would be best to format it anyway. Not sure if you are trying to perform this repair professionally or not but it sounds that way. If that is the case you should be better versed in how to handle this kind of stuff. Depending on how much personal data is on the computer you could save to burn to DVDR or copy to external drive. Once you verify you have all the personal files and they are good readable files you can wipe the drive and install using the owners disks.

The solution to the Admin Password was most likely: Leave blank and press Enter! If the original version of XP and yours were identical (Home-Home, Pro-Pro, etc.), it was/is just a matter of using the someone else's key instead of yours. Regardless, even your XP installation does not work anyway, so it does sound like this "repair" is a lot more than you can handle. I would recommend you stop your "fix-job" right now. Hand it off to someone more experienced who CAN retrieve/save the original owner's data, and install a functional copy of XP, and learn a valuable lesson. Then there will be some ethical/liability/responsibility issues to resolve.

justcuz My thoughts also.