Winderrs halp, plox.

[.name//Technomancer]

Yes, your friendly neighborhood Technomancer is asking for tech help. ._. For good reason.

I'm an expert on, you guessed it, Linux.

Recently, I've come into acquisition of a Windows XP SP3 machine. It's a little baby thing, a Dell Latitude 110L. It's been modded somewhat, having been under ownership of my sister for the last four years.

It was purchased off of eBay in mid '06, and kicked up to a gig of RAM with few mods thereafter. It's been through Hell, this thing: a cat has knocked a bowl of milk onto the keyboard, completely killing all key usage until just recently during a hardware diagnosis, it's had the screen replaced twice, and it's been through more batteries than I care to remember.

So, here's the issue: we're fairly certain, as a family of nerds, that this is a hot laptop. Reason being that it's admin functions are accessible, but restricted. Software and patches are allowed, as well as system-wide changes, but anything that had to do with unlocking the Admin side of the laptop was inaccessible. It took time to backtrack through various system protocols, but we ended up unlocking the admin system temporarily.

The problem: We found a minimum of sixteen Tracker files on this machine: Keyloggers, screen-tracking, P@P video services, remote protocols, and remote access programs.

The Solution: We had two choices: either buy a new HDD for it, which was inexpensive and relatively easy, or do what we do for a living, and load a legitimate Windows XP installation disc and force a reinstallation. This failed, so we turned to our Pirate roots, and reformated the HDD, then loaded XP onto it again. This was successful.

The issue now: The system will not boot. Period.

The Dell screen will prompt, showing hardware being started/loaded/ect... the CMD will show for a split second, then the screen runs black. No functionality presents, aside from CTRL+ALT+DEL, which restarts the booting process. During the boot, I am able to access SYSBIOS. This is where a second problem persists.

The Admin password is still enabled from the previous horrors pre-reformat. No "default" passwords work. No known passwords work, and worse yet, all system functionality cannot be altered until a password is found. This means I cannot correct the boot sequence, and thus, I am sitting on a dead laptop.



Any Window experts out there? :l

If a "default" password exists, it would make my life a lot easier.



Q: Wait Technomancer, why don't you just throw your awesome-cool I.R.I.S. OS on it? D:

A: Honestly, I need this laptop with XP on it for two reasons: I need a legitimate version of Windows to pull copies of driver data from for cross-compatibility for I.R.I.S., and for general compatibility. And honestly, I don't think this machine could handle I.R.I.S. The system file is a third the size of it's pitiful 40G HDD, and it requires some serious muscle to keep it running, which this thing just doesn't have.

Q: So wait a second, you're going to start using Winderrs now?

A: Informally, yes. STFU. I don't like the idea, trust me. :l

Q: You're the "Technomancer" though. You fix it!

A: That's not a question. Plus, while I am indeed a self-proclaimed Technomancer, my fields are limited to Linux and it's various off-shoots, homebrew cellphone OS', and slapping hardware together. Windows is outside of my vast knowledge. I know some about it, but sadly, only a fraction more than your average computer user.

Q: lol u suck

A: I know, just give me the default password or an alternative method to resynchronizing the booting sequence.

[Cat333Pokémon]

I think I may know a solution. You could tryflashing the BIOS, which involves wiping the BIOS and installing a fresh copy.

Download BIOS here:
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/R109482.exe

Instructions to install here:
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...os.htm#1106461

Of course, if it asks for the password before reading the CD or floppy, you might be out of luck. If so, sorry for getting your hopes up.

You could also try opening it and resetting the chip itself, like this guy in this helpless video:

[Jaredvcxz]

This also sounds like a job for a new HDD or another installation.

[.name//Technomancer]

We figured out the problem. :3 It was a lot more simple than we had realized.

I simply said "To the recycle bin with Windows!" and dumped it. I has Mint on it nao. :3 Works alright.