password/domain problem; bios problem

Question

Hi all. Hope someone can help me with my problem. I have a Latitude X1 with XP professional. This used to be an office laptop with an assigned domain. The laptop was given to me as part of my severance but the office domain was never cleared out. I have not had a problem logging on with the assigned domain...until... It appears that Windows was corrupted and I could not get to the Windows log on page (it would not go past the Dell start up page and starting in various safe modes did not work). However, I had some help and someone did something to the laptop and now I can get to the Windows log on page. However, the previous domain details appears to have been wiped out, and I can no longer log in under that domain. I have tried unsuccessfully to obtain the original local laptop log in details. So it seems that I am stuck. I have the original Windows software and have tried to start up the laptop to read from an external CD drive. I have gone into BIOS and changed the boot sequence to read from the CD drive several times, but it does not want to do so and keeps going back to reading from the internal HD. I have even disabled it from reading from the internal HD, but it comes up with 'no bootable devices - strike F1 to retry boot, F2 for setup utility'. I have checked the Windows CD and it appears to be fine. What am I doing wrong? Is there anyway I can bypass the log-on page? I have backed up all the data from the internal HD. I can access all the data on the internal HD from another computer. Is my only option to delete and reformat the internal HD, or are there any files that I can edit/delete to allow me to access my laptop without having to go through the log-on page? I would rather not have to reformat the entire HD and then spend hours/days rebuilding it. Any advice much appreciated. Thanks.

mombodog · Answer

If it is a NT password issue,   http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

noodle9270 · Answer

Thanks, Mombodog. I've tried two of the tools but still no luck. Don't know why. When I try to log on, it is still saying 'the specified domain either does not exist or could not be contacted'.

mombodog · Answer

Do a ctrl+alt+del twice at the XP log on screen and log on to one of the local user accounts, not the domain account.

mombodog · Answer

Usb cd drive, be sure 'Usb emulation' is turned On.. It is located in the 'Post Behavior' section of the bios. Be sure you are saving changes when you exit the bios.   'USB Emulation  NOTE: You cannot boot any type of USB device (floppy, HDD, or memory key) when this field is off.'       Do a F12 at the Dell logo screen at boot time, is there a usb cdrom listed? Select it and hit enter Message Edited by mombodog on 01-28-2008 06:44 PM

noodle9270 · Answer

Thanks again...tried that on the local account and still can't get through.

noodle9270 · Answer

yes.

noodle9270 · Answer

Yes, using F12 method, I selected the usb/cd option, but it seems to read the cd drive first then the internal HD (and takes me back to square one). So when I disabled the reading from internal HD, that's when I get the 'no bootable device' error.

mombodog · Answer

Have you tried another known bootable CD.   Do you have a usb floppy drive. You can get a set of floppy startup disks for XPsp2 here   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=535d248d-5e10-49b5-b80c-0a0205368124&displaylang=en   Then navigate to your CD drive and start setup.

noodle9270 · Answer

USB emulation is ON. When I change the boot sequence to read from the CD (and disable reading from the HD), I get error message saying no bootable device.

noodle9270 · Answer

Thanks for link. I have a USB CD drive. Have downloaded the start up disks and pointed the laptop to read from the CD, but still same no bootable device error message. Hey, mombodog, thanks for your perseverance!

mombodog · Answer

If you boot from the floppies, you don't have to boot from the CD, just navigate to the drive letter for the cd drive and run setup.exe.

mombodog · Answer

Did you try the F12 method? Message Edited by mombodog on 01-29-2008 03:17 PM

Windows General

Was this post helpful?