windows 2000 nightmare

[andgo]

please, somebody, help me....

first, let me say that i know very very little about computers (read: idiot)

now here's the problem, which is very similar to another predicament i read about here, but with a slight twist: i bought my computer at a business liquidation auction (1st mistake)... it has windows 2000 professional edition on it and when it boots up, asks for a password for 'kevink' (who i have grown to hate)... when i try to logon as 'guest', i get a message that says ' your account has been disabled...' or something like that... i have drunkenly attempted to guess poor kevink's password to no avail... i have done all of this because i want to load windows XP (which i bought, thank you very much) from CD, but cannot... and therefore need to get into windows to 'uninstall' 2000, no?

in attempting to load XP from CD, i changed the boot sequence (?) in the BIOS (?) screen to load from CD first, but nothing happens... i even changed the 'primary something' to CD-ROM and it seems to recognize the 'NEC 3000 something' device that i have, but, of course, i get some other error message, as i'm pretty sure this is not something i was supposed to do... when i attempt to load in 'safe mode with command prompt' i still need a password...

since i'd really just like to lose all of the data on the computer anyway, last night, i unplugged the hard drive from the motherboard and popped out the little 'watch' battery on the motherboard for about a half hour... like clockwork, windows 2000 loaded and asked for kevink's password and i made a drink... I’m pretty sure that if I’d done this to my old computer, I would have lost everything – instead, I just got it stolen – woe is me – anyways, all of these things i have tried have been suggestions/advice/shady insinuations that i have found on message boards/websites/scraps of paper in the street... i would really appreciate any real help, if there is any to be had... at this point, i have changed everything back to the way it was when i got the computer... and if buying a new hard drive is the easiest/quickest/smartest way to solve the problem - I'll do it... thanks in advance

[degsy]

Welcome :)

Clearing the CMOS/BIOS will only clear a BIOS password.

The passowrd you have is the Win2000 Login Password.

What you need to do is to boot the XP Setup, then repartition and format.

If you still have problems booting from the XP CD then you can create the XP Boot Floppies.
http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

[andgo]

thank you and sorry to be so clueless, but do you think the "Quick Boot Diskette" (from bootdisk.com) will work for me, or do i need the 6 disks? And I guess the other question is, once i am able to load XP, will the CD-ROM work? Is it possible it's just been 'disabled' somehow for network security issues or something, or do i need a new one? thanks again

[andgo]

okay, now i'm really having fun... is there a way to download the XP bootdisk(s) to floppy disks? when i tried to do this through the microsoft website, i just get a message that the file is too large (4.9mb, or something like that) for the disk, it will not save onto several disks... (when i tried the link from bootdisk.com, it just kept hanging (?)) or, is there somewhere i can get/buy/rent the bootdisk(s) on floppy disks? (in short, i cannot boot from cd and cannot get into windows to get on the internet to download on that computer) please and thank you...

[degsy]

when i tried to do this through the microsoft website, i just get a message that the file is too large (4.9mb, or something like that) for the disk
If you cannot boot from the CD then you need to download the file to the desktop and run it.

[andgo]

because i do not have the windows password, i can not get anywhere in the computer to go online... i can download on another computer, but not the one i'm having problems with... is there anywhere i can get the file on floppy disk?

[Spider]

Just some stuff I noticed in this thread:

If you push the F8 key at one second intervals while the computer is starting
select Safe Mode and use the username Administrator
and leave the password slot empty. It should log on.
i get a message that says ' your account has been disabled...'
That Windows 2000 was installed to log on to a Domain Controller (DC) so your going
to have to install Windows 2000 fresh using the install options of...
- delete partition
- create partition
- format file system = NTFS
i changed the boot sequence (?) in the BIOS (?) screen to load from CD first, but nothing happens
your copy of Windows 2000 is not legitimate. You'll need a real Windows 2000 CD.

[andgo]

thanks for the help - i'll try using "administrator" in safe mode - as for the 'copy of windows 2000 is not legitimate' - i don't have a copy of windows 2000 - i am trying to load xp, which i bought from best buy - so it better be legitimate!

[Spider]

If your bios boot sequence is set to boot from CD_ROM first then what you should see
on your screen is right after the post report of the devices (hard drive and cd-roms)
to boot from CD press any key and then five dots will count out one at a time.
You have to press any key on the keyboard to get into the CD boot before the fifth dot shows.

So it's the bios setting plus a key push from you to boot to the CD.

[andgo]

a million times thank you - was able to logon as 'administrator' in safe mode (i knew there was a trick that we morons didn't know)... and, then was able to boot from cd! amazing... thanks again

[Spider]

a million times thank you...i knew there was a trick
Your welcome.

As humans we MUST win over those dang-blasted computer things. ;)