Override Acer password screen or start in safe mode

Hope someone can help here. Have an Acer PC that had been in my step-father's insurance office. It's build date is 9/21/05. AMIBIOS says 08.00.09. Intel Pentium 4CPU, 3.00 GHz, Speed 3000 MHz, Coun1, System Memory 480MB (in case you needed any of that! LOL). Anyway, a woman who worked for him used this puter and I can't get past the sign on screen because I don't know her password. No way to call and ask because of bad blood there (argh), so I'd like to override it or to start in safe mode. I tried F8 on startup, but it didn't work like it does on my Compaq. Hit ALT/F10 to try and get into Factory Restore setting menu, but it didn't come up. Would like to reset to the original build date or restore system altogether (?) if necessary. Any ideas how? Thanks for any info forthcoming. :confused

 

http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/.

 

Thanks Novice! Downloaded and wrote CD program on the site you sent the addy for. Also printed the instructions. Looks terribly complicated, but am willing to give it a shot. Wish me luck! :confused Will let you know how it turns out.

 

You're welcome and best of luck! :major

 

:crybaby

No go Novice. I put the cd I burned into the tower and nothing registered on the computer. I have gone through every section of the setup I can find trying to tell it to read from the CD and it won't. I changed the password for who can change settings, but still can't get rid of this other person's password. Also, it shows the domain names available as either her name's computer, or the insurance agency name where it was used. If I go under the first, it won't accept my newly set password. If I go under the second, it says that domain is not available. I'm lost. Working offline and have to change my keyboard, mouse and power cord between my puter and the screwed up one every time I go to work on it. Argh. Isn't there some easier way to crack through her password. The instructions from the download you sent are like reading Greek for me. Help from you or anyone else would be soooooo appreciated. Thanks!:wave

 

Generally alt + f10 will get into some Acers, but you have to press them as soon as the logo comes up- also you often need the password........
What model is it? p4-running XP ?/

 

You could always do a clean install using a Windows disc.

 

Thx Bak and zD. I don't know what model it is. It just says Windows XP Professional and OEM Software on the side of it. There's some number taped to the monitor, but I'm not sure if it's the model. As for a disc - unfortunately, I don't have one. When my SF closed his office, everything was in a state of confusion. I tried the ALT F10 command and got nowhere with that one before. I would just like to find a way to restore it to the factory settings at this point and start over. Argh. I've never had such a problem in trying to start a puter in safe mode. I don't know why I can't get to it on this one. Any other suggestions are very much welcome and appreciated. :>)

 

You could try Acer
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

 

Or, you could use Ubuntu instead of Windows.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

 

Thx Bak, will do.

 

Thx zD, what is Ubuntu?

 

It's a different operating system. Instead of using Windows xP you could use Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Ubuntu is a Linux distributuon

 

Ezmerlada,

How did you burn the program that I linked to? If burned as a data CD then I can understand the problem. This is an ISO file and should be burned with something such as this, which will produce a bootable CD, http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html. The boot order will have to be changed in BIOS to boot from CD first, if it isn't already set that way.

I've always had success with this program and its results!

 

Hi Novice. OK, I did all that and still got nowhere. Called my B-I-L who's pretty much a puter guru but in another state (otherwise I'd have him come over and do this! LOL). He said the problem is that the puter was part of the intranet at my SF's office and therefore cannot do anything on its own because it was a secondary part of that system. Even with the CD burned properly, I couldn't get it to read and it would eventually go back to the page of asking for the woman's password and under the domain of the ins. agency. My B-I-L said to take the hard drive out, put it in my own tower as a slave and I'd be able to see what's on there or what needs to be installed/reinstalled. I'm not bad at this, but I don't feel confident enough to start messing with things from that puter in my own. I need mine in good shape as it's also my business puter. Oh well, will look for someone locally who can conquer this beast and hopefully make it usable for my Mom. Thanks to you and all for all the suggestions and support. If this brought up any other ideas, I'm glad to hear them. Thanks again. :wave