Vista help

I recently inherited quite a few computers from my Uncle who passed away along with a lot of hardware and software. I can type. I can respond sarcastically to posts on ATS. Hell, I can even create a few threads that people actually want to participate in.

What I can't do, is figure out how to start over on his computers. He has it all locked down with admin passwords and I cannot figure out how to get around this to wipe the computer and reinstall the software. I don't care if all information gets wiped off it as well as I have all the discs from about 97 to current. (1000's of discs)

It is Vista Ultimate. Anyone able to, or want to help me out?

Thank you in advance!

Start the computer when you see the black screen with the blue "DELL" on it hit F12 to access the boot menu. set the cd drive priority to 1st. save changes. then stick the OS disc in and restart the pc.

reply to post by zonetripper2065


Not a Dell. I believe it is a custom. Asus computer and when it usually says Dell it says American Megatrends.
I appreciate the help, just let me know what else you would need in order to help me out.

reply to post by superman2012


try the delete key instead

If there's a Windows password, it doesn't matter as long as you have the Vista disc to re-install Windows with. If there's a BIOS password, meaning a password before it even boots Windows, then that is slightly more difficult.

For a BIOS password, you need to take the left side of the case off (left side while looking at the CD/DVD drives). There will be a couple screws on the end of that case door that you take out and slide the side of the case off.

Then you need to reset the BIOS which will erase the password. First thing to do is make sure that the computer is off and completely unplugged from the wall outlet so that there's no power going to it at all.

There will be a watch-type battery on the motherboard about the size of a nickel:




Take it out as shown in the image and keep it out for about 60-seconds or so. Put it back in, plug in the computer and turn it on. There will be no more BIOS password.

As soon as you turn the computer on, depending on what kind of computer it is, you can hold down the DELETE key or F12 to enter the BIOS, then go to BOOT OPTIONS or BOOT PRIORITY and make sure one of the CD/DVD players are #1 before the hard drive. Then hit F10 to save and exit.

You now can put the Windows Vista disc into the drive and re-install Windows.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


When I try to reinstall vista, it asks for the password. When I try to format c: it says I need elevated...blah blah blah.

Can anyone give me instructions that my 6 year old would understand. That is how frustrated I am with it right now!

Edit: Free reign to be condescending/talk down to me with no back talk!


Are your instructions still valid? I will go try that tonight, and come back tomorrow...unless it works. Then I am going to become a mod (by bribery of course) and give you some applause and ATS points.

Originally posted by superman2012
When I try to format c: it says I need elevated...blah blah blah.

That sounds like you're trying to format C: when you're already in Windows. You can't do that. You should have the Windows Vista disc in the CD/DVD drive, start the computer, and then it will ask you to either "Press any key to Load from disc" or automatically start loading from the disc (as long as it's set in BIOS that way).


As long as there's no BIOS password, you don't need anything else to start loading Vista from the disc. Unless he's got some sort of encryption passwords on the hard drive itself. Then you probably should just go buy a new hard drive and re-install Vista.


Exactly how are you trying to install Vista / format C:, and what kind of errors are you getting exactly?

It may say something like "press 'some key' to boot from disk" if you have a disk in the drive when it's booting. But if it doesn't you need to do what zonetripper2065 said and make it boot from the CD drive instead of the HDD. Once you can get it to boot from the disk drive it will run the installer and wont require any passwords.

And my advice to you would be to avoid Vista at all possible costs... or god have mercy on your soul.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


When I restart it, the following screens pop up in order:






I just saw the edit to hit the "delete" key. I will go try that.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder

Thank you. At this point, I'm thinking about going back to my typewriter. Although, getting a thread started and getting responses from ATS members would be a lot slower!

reply to post by superman2012


Those screens are all OK. No error messages of significance there. If you have a messenger, we can do it by that. It would be quicker.

reply to post by _BoneZ_


I think I got it. Between everyones hints I have Vista (yuck, I know) loading right now and have formatted all the drives.

Thank you very much fellow nerds! If you ever need help with your comics, action figures, superman trivia, or just want to know how to make women roll their eyes at you (see previous) don't hesitate!

If any mods are on here, can you please applaud these personal heroes of mine?

Thank you all again, I really do appreciate it!

See ya on the survival forum!

reply to post by superman2012


Glad you got it working. Time for bed now.

I'll applaud 'em - as I came too late in the game to suggest creating an Ubuntu live install disc for a much fuller PC experience anyway.

12.04 with a few mods is perfect for older computers and makes Windows look like something Goodwill refused to pick up.

reply to post by Hefficide


Thanks Heff! Applaud the hell out of them...I can feel some of my white stressed out hairs starting to turn brown again!

You should look for something called "Ultimate Boot CD".
It contains several administration / rescuing tools, including the possiblity to reset the admin password of a windows system.

It's also completely free and uses only free and mostly open sourced tools.

btw, don't be afraid to read documentation that comes with it

There's also ophcrack (also free), a Linux startup CD that cracks all the passwords. There are also utilities to completely remove all passwords. All free. All that's required is a search....

Yeah, it should be a simple matter of hitting the right key for the boot loader menu or to enter bios to set the boot order.



Hold down the Delete key during the sequence you posted above to enter bios.
you should then see this screen,

use the arrow keys to navigate to the Boot menu, shown in that image.
you should then see this screen,


These screens are from the PDF for the exact model of your motherboard given the images you posted, so you can't go wrong.

Set it to boot to your DVD-Rom with the OS media in it, and it should, if you have a proper bootable installation OS, go for it.

Or download a live ubuntu distro and use that to wipe the OS. But you'll still need to boot from the DVD-Rom to install any OS after that.

You can also try pressing F8 to enter the boot menu process if all of the above doesnt work.

Or if you've gotten into skype with the offer above, that should sort you out either way!!

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
reply to post by superman2012

 

Glad you got it working. Time for bed now.

Ahhahha snap.. I should have known..

zing.

Oh well, back to the interwebs...

Originally posted by Hefficide

I'll applaud 'em - as I came too late in the game to suggest creating an Ubuntu live install disc for a much fuller PC experience anyway.

12.04 with a few mods is perfect for older computers and makes Windows look like something Goodwill refused to pick up.

The sad thing is, this mobo is better than mine, and I'm stuck with a limited socket type, with ddr3, so I can't get a new cpu because they're just not around, and I can't upgrade the mobo to oc the q6600 because they.. just aren't around.

nothing wrong so far though with a stock q6600 in that sort of hardware, the marginal leaps in overall power are not that great just yet to warrant me purchasing new hardware.

thats what I tell myself when the moths fly out of my wallet too!!