My cousin brought me his computer and show me that he can't login by entering the correct password. I know it is correct since there isn't the balloon thingie that says 'Did you forget your password' which shows up when he enters a wrong password. When entered the password, things went ok like for one second, where it says 'loading settings and personal details' before it goes back to nothing. By that i mean the password is blanked out again and we are required to reenter the password. All of these are still in the login screen. I logged into save mode and the same problem occured. I tried pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del twice at the login screen but still i am required to enter the password which didn't worked. Any suggestions? My cousin bought the computer to me asking me to reformat the hdd but seriously it is too much hassle to do. To me, this seems to be a problem with the login instead of password problem.

seacrac, my 2¢ worth is that it sounds like some sort of nasty at work. Since things seem normal momentarily and then mess up, sounds like a redirect. Scan (with crossed fingers!). HTH. Ed in Texas.

Try downloading a copy of Linux-Boot disk. You should be able to eliminate the password. Tomorrow the Stars!

Hi seacrac, Your problem is very big for you. But i'm telling you the easiest procedure to solve this problem. After shutting down your computer Open the Cover of your tower(CPU, Cabinet). very Near to the RAM u can find a small white or black battery. Just remove once n again fix it. After doing it a pop-up will come on screen n might be it'll ask you for new password. it depends on you that you want any password or not. I'm sure after doing this u'll never see this problem again. Regards, Tusshar Rastogi. Please forward your queries regarding windows XP. Might be it's possible that i can help u out in such manner

Adding something i forgotten. In safemode, logging in adminisrator account, i entered blank for the password, which i am sure it is, and the same thing occurs. And the OS is XP Pro, but not sure which SP. Well, about the BIOS battery, are you sure it will do anything? This is the Windows password, the password is stored in the hdd right? And i think my cousin did that already. About the program i will give it a check. By the way, thinking about it, i think it might really be some viruses since my cousin had done some surfing before. Thanks for reminding. I will give the hdd a scan.

Removing the battery will only reset the BIOS and it's password. It won't have any effect on the Windows login. I have a bootable CD (Ophcrack) that reveals all the Windows passwords. You could google for it and give it a try, in case some nasty has changed it. You could also try doing a repair install. Please let us know if you found someone's advice to be helpful.

I think FJ and Tass are reading the question incorrectly. I concur with Ed. I doubt it's a password problem. Have you tried running System Restore? It sounds to me like there's some spyware/virus on the machine that preventing successful logins. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.