Enter current password - first screen at start up

14 years ago

Hi,

I cleaned up my old Gateway PC, Windows XP and gave it to a deserving family with no computer knowledge other than what the kids learn in school. They can not afford internet and were just going to use it for homework.

They called me the other day and said it wasn't working anymore. It was asking for a password. I couldn't help over the phone and asked them to bring it here the next time they are in town.

I booted it up this morning and the first thing I noticed is that the monitor energy saver message is in Spanish now. It then goes to the Gateway screen that has the logo and gives the option to enter set up and bios. After that it goes straight to a black screen that says "enter CURRENT password". It gives you three tries and then says "Fatal error....System halted".

I have tried booting it into safe mode, but it won't do it.

Any ideas? Hardware failure or...?

Thanks

Katharina

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Comments (12)

bbbluz ~ DonnaB
14 years ago
Hi, The family that you so Graciously gave this computer to, are they spanish speaking? Did they try changing the computer from english to spanish?
Not sure if I'm on the right track or not. But, curosity is getting the better of me. I am trying to learn some spanish for job reasons. Stay tuned for a more professional opinion, please!
Donna
bbbluz ~ DonnaB
14 years ago
Hi again, did you try this???

If the computer is running, shut down Windows, and then turn off the power
Wait 30 seconds, and then turn the computer on.
Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again.
Ensure that the Safe mode option is selected.
Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.
When you are finished with all troubleshooting, close all programs and restart the computer
Donna
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mikie_gw
14 years ago
Did you try with no password, a simple Enter keypress ?

But it sounds like they set a password in the bios for the hard drive.
glaserberl
Original Author
14 years ago
Yes, they are spanish speaking and I suspect that they did or tried changing the computer to spanish.
I don't even get to Windows. I get to the screen where it says to press F10 for start up options and F2 for Bios. I tried both - nothing happens. Same with tapping the F8 key at various points. It then goes straight to the black screen with nothing on it other than "Enter CURRENT Password".
Katharina
marooma
14 years ago
I agree with Mikie. If what you call the energy message is really the "energy star" message in yellow letters on a black background, someone has been fiddling with the bios.
glaserberl
Original Author
14 years ago
I took out the cmos battery and reinserted it. Now I get the XP start up screen and then the blue screen that says "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to the computer". unmountable_boot_volume.
What now? I can't find the XP install disk anymore, any other way to fix this?
Thanks
Katharina
glaserberl
Original Author
14 years ago
Did find a XP disk. Not the one for this computer, but it did get me to the recovery console and it is running chkdsk right now. We'll see...
glaserberl
Original Author
14 years ago
It's working again! Yeah!
Thanks to everybody who had suggestions.
Katharina
bbbluz ~ DonnaB
14 years ago
AHHHH! The Tower of Babel has been breached. I keep my disk in a special place. I have spanish speaking family members. I waited 2 wks one time for them to come back over & undo the mess they left me with. Glad you're back up and running, Katharina. That was mighty good of you to give your old computer to a needy family. BLESS YOU!
Donna
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
14 years ago
I would suggest putting free antivirus and malwarebytes on that pc before returning it if it does not have that and then if they end up messing it up again or getting infections it will be up to them to fix it, I think you have done your good deed by first giving them a working pc and fixing their mess up once!

You have no idea what they are doing with the pc or where they are surfing or how well they understand and utilize security measures. That is up to them to learn and implement. There are lots of great free programs out there, give them a list and tell them to install them and run them.
AVAST free antivirus
malwarebytes free antimalware
superantispyware free edition
spywareblaster
secunia personal inspector
and most importantly all windows updates.

You have definitely done a good deed.
glaserberl
Original Author
14 years ago
It does have Avast on it and I'm putting Malwarebytes on it. I updated Windows and virus definitions while I have it here. As far as I can tell they have not been on the internet. No History in either Firefox or IE. I don't think that they would know how to delete the history. And they are so poor that they can't afford internet service. They live in a small town and I checked, nothing low cost available.
Katharina
mikie_gw
14 years ago
Here eons ago our library had free dial-up internet access, maybe still does if I was to call and inquire.

A quick search shows some municipalities, schools, librarys still do offer internet services
...although not always simple browser access... some telnet, or terminal services. Amazing how fast you can transfer stuff from around the world to their computer cache's with a couple of commands.

Enter current password - first screen at start up

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