compaq power on password

My friend asked me to fix her computer. She tried to set a "power-on password" on her compaq evo desktop. Now everytime she starts up the computer "power on password" and a big key comes up on the screen and the date. No area for the password comes up and whenever she types in her password it beeps and nothing happen. can anyone tell me what she is doing wrong or how to get the password of off the system. xp pro system

thanks