Hello-
I’m having a similar problem as woody-

I installed Verizon security suite yesterday and did not remove the MacAfee software security as I should have- (had no clue that had to be done) I just let it install and walked away. Came back and it asked me to restart the computer because the scan was successful.
Well the computer never started again- it froze and froze no matter what I did, safe mode etc…, and various ways-
Tried to repair by having an xp pro cd boot up,
I get to the part where it asks about the admin password and keeps stating its invalid-
The password I use is the same one I used to log on when the computer started in the past so I thought that was the admin password- is there another one?
When I try to repair after the xp pro boot up asks to install xp and then I try to look for the prior installation of windows’ xp home in the c drive- it does not show up-
Does that mean it’s totally corrupted? I am so pissed off at Verizon- they offer no help on this-
Please help
Thanks
Tony

Hello rocchetta,

At the admin password section just leave it blank and hit enter. This should let you continue with the repair.

I tried that and it still wont go further in it then states invalid password all 3 times then I re-try and the same happens

Is there any other user in that pc or only Administrator?If there is i can help you finding Administrator's password but because it is a kind of hack i don't know if it is permitted to do this here.

Hello d34thero I can answer one of your questions

BIOS or Operating System's passwords are there for the purpose related to Security and Privacy to protect the legitimate owner of a machine. While there are many locations on the Internet that might help you learn about managing passwords for a machine's BIOS or Operating System, we at G2G do not assist in what amounts to hacking past a machine's Security and Privacy safeguards.

rocchetta I believe you are trying to do a repair install via the recovery console? Geeks To Go have a self help guide for repairing which will help you. Please read this post by admin

I think i missed that "Security And Privacy".I didn't say the hack because i was sure that you try to fix everything with the legal way and not with the illegal like me.I understand.

Thanks guys
I ended up disconnecting the hard drive and copying the files to another computer
I then re-formatted the drive and its all good now-
The hard drive was corrupted it did not see the previous windows xp home insatllation -so I decided to take it out and copying the important files-
now I installed xp pro and it runs really good-
the only proble is I could not figure out how to grab the outlook e-mails and copy to the -reformatted drive