getting pass the admin password?

hello. i am not sure under which forum i should post this query but...

i have recently recovered my stolen laptop. it had been taken to a pawn shop. now that i have it back i cant's get pass a passworded screen. it won't allow me to access the desktop or anything so i can't get to my 'start' page. i am sure that i am not interested in anything that is currently stored on it so i was thinking that i may have a chance to start all over anew by installing a new windows xp, memory, and...
would changing the hard drive wipe off the old stuffs and at least get me pass the passworded screen? it looks like windows 2000 is currently running on it. i tried putting my xp cd in the cd drive to maybe install over the 2000 but nothing happened.
can anyone advise me what i need to do to bring my laptop back to life.

 

Yep! Clean installing XP will be like starting fresh.

 

so... would you have any suggestions about how i can accomplish the clean install. i mean, i placed the windows xp cd in the drive, shut computer down and then turned it on again but it still came back to that passworded screen. is there another way to 'clean install"?

 

Here ya go:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316941

You need to boot to CD.

 

You could always just get root?