Computer Logging on

[Bazile]

I've put this question in Technology , but no responses so far .
I'm desperate for some help , mainly because my daughter needs to do her homework which she needs to research

On my home computer there is a username for myself and my daughter .

My daughter has a password to enter when she clicks unto her username
I have never had a password - i simply clicked unto my username and was able to get unto the system .

Now all of a sudden , when my daughter tries to get unto the system - after entering her password , a message comes up stating that ' the system cannot log you on now because the domain
YOUR-BY3NR533HT is not available '

Also when i click unto my username , it's now asking for a password - even though I have never had a password on my username .

We have Windows XP

Does anyone have any ideas as to what's gone wrong .
Any help would be greatly appreciated as to how we can get unto the system

[Rickpad]

Have you tried to go into "user accounts! in the control panel and removing all user passwords then start again. As systems administrator you should be able to do this. Hope this helps.

[society]

...but why this sudden change in the system, and both consciously did nothing to change the system?

[Old_Geezer]

Why ? Who knows ?

Could be simple corruption of something, which hopefully some resetting of stuff, like passwords) might sort out.

Might be a component gone awry. Maybe got too hot or something ?

Or could be malware/virus related stuff the AV/Firewall failed to prevent.

[Old_Geezer]

I sppose the £1,000,000 question is whether you can get on to do anything at all. If you can then you can possibly restore the PC state from an earlier time, or worst comes to worst, reinstall the operating system

[Bazile]

That's the problem - I cant get on to do anything

[Vagrant]

Try this:
Turn it off.
Turn it on.
Press F8 (you may have to do this several times).
A menu will appear - choose the option to boot into safe mode.
Log in as Administrator.
Use Start -> Control Panel -> Users & Groups to try to reset the passwords.

[Old_Geezer]

Is it alway F8 ? I seem to recall PCs that needed delete pressed, or was that the CMOS menu ? In this type of situation I always seem to end up rebooting umpteen times trying each F key in turn.

[Vagrant]

It's always F8 to get access to safe mode in Windows XP - other hidden menus need other keys.

[Bazile]

Thanks

I'm not very computer literate - so please bear with me

Do I press F8 while the computer is booting up or wait untill it gets to the screen where it is asking for a password ?

When I log in as administrator , wont it ask me for a administrator password ?

[Old_Geezer]

As it is booting up. It's too late if you get to the password screen.

A PC account may have a password set up, or not. Whether it is an admin account doesn't change this. The hope is that as owner or admin or something, you can just get in without a password.

[Vagrant]

Press F8 as it's booting - the exact time to press it is difficult to explain (and do) so you might have to press several times and try several times.

By default, the XP Administrator account has no password. It's possible someone could have put a password on, but hopefully not.

[Bazile]

I've done the above and got to the administrator screen - but it is also asking for an administrator password .

Is the only alternative now , to use the recovery discs ? - if yes would I need to put the discs in before switching on the processor , for the recovery discs to work ?