password

I have never saw this before. I have had an old, outdated, yet
perfectly good working c500 compaq. I don't remember the model, but
lately, something happened while my niece was using it. she is a
young little tot, and only goes on the computer to use the paint
program. Well, one day, it wouldn't let her on the computer at all.
At bootup, you see a graphic resembling a key. If the wrong password
is pressed, it shows an "X" between the key, meaning that the key is
not complete You get three chances to enter the right password, or
it crashes the system, and you cannot do anything but reset the system
and try again. I don't know how the password was put in. It's
anyone's guess how it got in there, or what it is.

Does anyone know any info that would be usefull to me to enter the
right password? Can i reset the password?

any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks!!

Is this a password displayed by Windows after it has started up, or is it a BIOS
CMOS password before Windows even gets a chance to load?

If the former, you can down load Pettar Nordahl-Hagen's free password cracker to
remove the Windows password.

If the latter, I'm not sure what a C500 is, but if it is a desktop computer,
open up the chassis, unplug the wall current, remove the coin-sized C2032
battery, and let the computer sit for maybe an hour. This should be enough
time for all the motherboard CMOS information to lose its electrical charge and
become in-valid. Thereafter, insert the battery again, power up the computer,
and wait for it to determine that the CMOS settings are bad. Then enter the
CMOS setup menus, reset everything to defaults, and the system should be good to
go.

Notebook computers often require vendor-authorized service and proof of
ownership to reset passwords... Ben Myers

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:46:50 -0700, wrote:

>I have never saw this before. I have had an old, outdated, yet
>perfectly good working c500 compaq. I don't remember the model, but
>lately, something happened while my niece was using it. she is a
>young little tot, and only goes on the computer to use the paint
>program. Well, one day, it wouldn't let her on the computer at all.
>At bootup, you see a graphic resembling a key. If the wrong password
>is pressed, it shows an "X" between the key, meaning that the key is
>not complete You get three chances to enter the right password, or
>it crashes the system, and you cannot do anything but reset the system
>and try again. I don't know how the password was put in. It's
>anyone's guess how it got in there, or what it is.
>
>Does anyone know any info that would be usefull to me to enter the
>right password? Can i reset the password?
>
>any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks!!

On Aug 13, 6:20 am, Ben Myers <ben_myers_spam_me_...@charter.net>
wrote:
> Is this a password displayed by Windows after it has started up, or is it a BIOS
> CMOS password before Windows even gets a chance to load?
>
> If the former, you can down load Pettar Nordahl-Hagen's free password cracker to
> remove the Windows password.
>
> If the latter, I'm not sure what a C500 is, but if it is a desktop computer,
> open up the chassis, unplug the wall current, remove the coin-sized C2032
> battery, and let the computer sit for maybe an hour. This should be enough
> time for all the motherboard CMOS information to lose its electrical charge and
> become in-valid. Thereafter, insert the battery again, power up the computer,
> and wait for it to determine that the CMOS settings are bad. Then enter the
> CMOS setup menus, reset everything to defaults, and the system should be good to
> go.
>
> Notebook computers often require vendor-authorized service and proof of
> ownership to reset passwords... Ben Myers
>
>
>
> On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:46:50 -0700, sneeze...@hotmail.com wrote:
> >I have never saw this before. I have had an old, outdated, yet
> >perfectly good working c500 compaq. I don't remember the model, but
> >lately, something happened while my niece was using it. she is a
> >young little tot, and only goes on the computer to use the paint
> >program. Well, one day, it wouldn't let her on the computer at all.
> >At bootup, you see a graphic resembling a key. If the wrong password
> >is pressed, it shows an "X" between the key, meaning that the key is
> >not complete You get three chances to enter the right password, or
> >it crashes the system, and you cannot do anything but reset the system
> >and try again. I don't know how the password was put in. It's
> >anyone's guess how it got in there, or what it is.
>
> >Does anyone know any info that would be usefull to me to enter the
> >right password? Can i reset the password?
>
> >any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks!!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

i meant an Intel Celeron 500 mhz when saying "c500". Thanks for the
info!! I will for sure try it and i hope it works!

thanks again!

Rick