XP Passwords, This sucks - please help

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by wesmorris, Dec 17, 2004.

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  1. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    Stryder, how the shit do I get around this problem.

    I did a clean install of xp pro, spent three days installing programs, tweaking, etc.

    Finally got to a comfy point.

    I don't remember exactly what I was doing that caused the system to become unstable, but whatever... it needed rebootage. Whatever it was, I wasn't terribly concerned with rebootage, as it seemed routine.

    (Edit: I just remembered what I was doing. I was using a form a coworker created. Every attempt to save it resulted in "disk is full", as it seems to do every time with the macros running. in design mode on that form (it's a .doc from office 97, just some checkboxes with macros running behind them) it doesn't do that, but when it comes up it's not in design mode and won't let you save it. Maybe it's the "protect" feature acting all jacked up somehow. Regardless, a few times of doing that caused some error that made me want to reboot, so... )

    I rebooted.

    Now I can't log in.

    I'm on a domain, I can't contact the domain controller, yet I can ping the machine by name from another computer on the network.

    I found a bootdisk that supposedly allows me to blank the administrator password, but it mounts the disk as "read only".

    The administrator account is "locked out", though I didn't lock it out myself. Maybe it was locked by a bunch of password failures, I don't know. There are no other accounts set up on the local machine.

    I'm the domain admin BTW, yet cannot access the machine.

    Without being able to access the machine, I can't fix it.

    I can't gain access to the disk to erase the sam.exe and sam.log files.

    My attempts to reset the password via the boot disk say they work, but don't do anything. After using the utility on the boot disk to blank the password I tried administrator with a blank password and no luck.

    I'm running out of options.

    Should I try adding that disk as a secondary in another xp machine? I figure security won't allow it..

    My data is on that disk.

    I spent three freakin LONG days tweaking that bitch just right, wiping it is not cool at this point.

    Suggestions?
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2004
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  3. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    What message do you get when you try to join the domain, Wes?
     
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  5. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    cannot find domain server

    though I CAN ping the machine, so it's not like it's on the wrong subnet or something.

    I tried to log onto it via net use or something and got the result "a trust relationship cannot be established between the server and the machine" or something like that.
     
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  7. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    Lemme go back in our client files - sounds suspiciously familiar to something we went through a year or so back... I was not the tech, but I'll see if I can dig it up.
     
  8. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    thanks man, this is killing me. I almost threw the freakin thing through the window last night. argh!!!!!!!!

    BTW,

    So it's obviously not the cable.

    I tried throwing another net card in it, just to be sure, but of course I can't load drivers for it... though XP will automatically find them.. but it never gets past logon, so I don't think they are loaded, so I'm still through the original card.

    then again, since it's holding an IP, it probably isn't the card either. (duh wes). pardon, I'm just going through all the possible causes I'm aware of, but obviously it's not one of those.
     
  9. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    it looks like the only way to get in is to hack the pw somehow. well, I suppose that or figure out how to make it talk to the domain controller again... but that doesn't seem to work. I'll look on the server and see if I can kick the PC from teh domain and bring it back in.
     
  10. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    Which is where I was heading...
    Our issue was different ("network path cannot be found").
     
  11. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    Okay so I did that. It's NT server BTW. When I double click the PC name after haveing added it back to the domain, it tells me "the trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed".
     
  12. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    Can you get a command prompt on the workstation?
     
  13. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    no, that's the problem!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

    For whatever reason, the administrator account on that PC is locked out and the domain passwords dont' work. I can't log into the bitch, period. Without being able to log into it, I can't get a command prompt. The stupid thing won't even let me log on in "repair" mode from the install disk.

    I do a "net view \\wes" on from the command prompt on another pc and get "system error 5 has occurred. Access denied".

    Also, I think I've tried every f8 option on that PC and all of them want a login to the local machine, which of course, I can't do.
     
  14. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    Stymied.
     
  15. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    I'm with that. It's pissing me off too.

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  16. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    PM coming your way in about one minute.
     
  17. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    I failed to mention that I've got another domain controller on the same network, and it's windows 2000 server. I'm starting to suspect that the problem somehow involves active directory something or other.

    It's hard to explain why the config, but we are planning to migrate to the 2000 server once I figure out how to administer the damn thing. I needs training.

    Regardless though, I can't figure out what could have caused this besides a corrupted password file on my machine, or some conflicting share somewhere causing a password reset on my particular machine, which put it in conflict with teh password list from the domain... why doesn't the admin account work though? ack!

    I wish that stupid boot disk think worked like it said! it ssays is wrote it, performs teh required scandisk after - as if it's written somethign to the disk, but then it still doesn't work.
     
  18. Kunax Sciforums:Reality not required Registered Senior Member

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    you can move the HD to another pc, erase user/password files put it back and login with blank pwd, or reinstall depending on how desperat you are

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  19. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    well, I've considered that, but I assume (from experience) that the drive won't let me see it in another machine (it's NTFS) without providing the username and password that don't exist.
     
  20. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    Another PM.
     
  21. Kunax Sciforums:Reality not required Registered Senior Member

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    eh your suppose to put it in as slave not as primary master, i have done it a few times, works like a charm, but its a hack and slash solution.
     
  22. wesmorris Nerd Overlord - we(s):1 of N Valued Senior Member

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    I may end up trying it.

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    It's a last resort, but I'm getting pretty close.

    I figured out that my boot disk thing wasn't working because there wasn't a clean shut-down. I left it scandisking but had to come home for loonsh because I was freakin hoongry. Hopefully it will work fine when I get back from loonsh. Hehe. Oh sheez I'm optmistic.

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  23. goofyfish Analog By Birth, Digital By Design Valued Senior Member

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    No luck with what I sent you?
     
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