Resolved PC sometimes requires logon and password, other times not

I'm trying to help a friend out via e-mail. He has a ~4-y.o. PC with WinXP Home. Here's his description of his problem:

"As background, I do not shut down my computer at night. I believe it goes into hibernation. When I try to open it in the morning I get a message essentially saying, the computer is locked out and requires a password from the Administrator to unlock it. This happens every couple of months or so.

"I don't have a password and never needed one to start the computer. But at these times it will not let me in. The only way I can start is by pulling the plug and rebooting. Then it works just fine.

"I have McAfee and PC Doctor installed to make sure I stay out of trouble. They seem to be doing their job.

"Any idea of what is causing the lockup? I'm wondering if there were attempts of intrusion into my computer and the lockup occurred as a protective measure. "

My e-mail answer to him was that leaving his PC on for long periods, especially unattended, is not a good practice in the long run. It might be OK overnight or even for a few days, but eventually things build up, memory gets allocated and not released, etc. I asked him what's the problem with shutting down for the night and rebooting in the morning. So far, he hasn't given me an answer.

I told him not to pull the PC's plug, but when he sees that screen asking for a password, to just press the Enter key on the keyboard. His password, in effect, should be "nothing. "

I told him that the only thing I know of that would cause this problem is if he accidentally presses the Windows logo key and the "L" key at the same time. This locks the keyboard and requires the entry of the Admin password, if one is set. In his case he hadn't set any, so just pressing the Enter key should have got him past the request.

I told him that to get rid of the password prompt once and for all, when he's in his PC's normal operation to click on Start > Run, then in the Run dialog box type control userpasswords2 and press Enter. In the User Accounts dialog box he should make sure there is no check mark at the left of "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" then click on the OK button, and that should do it. So far, no response on that.

Finally, I told him that leaving his PC turned on around the clock means it's open to the Internet for all that time. He didn't mention if he has a firewall as part of McAfee or PC Doctor, but I said I hope he does, and that I wouldn't leave the machine on overnight. My rule of thumb is, if I'm not going to be using it for over a half hour I put it into hibernation, and if overnight I shut it down and boot it up again in the morning.

His short reply to me (so far) is that he's tried hitting the Enter key when asked for a password, but that didn't help. He had to crash out of Windows, and then reboot. Why it's not consistent is a mystery.

He said he'd get back to me with more. Until then, does anyone have any ideas as to what's going on and how to correct it? Thanks!

Frank D

 

Good suggestion, in my opinion.

It might be going into a deep-sleep mode.

You should try changing the CMOS battery (you, not him, unless you could guide him through it).

The difference is probably that although he has an "administrator" user account, which doesn't have a password, the major Administrator user account might have a password.The Administrator password can be set when installing Windows.

A test might be when you boot into Safe Mode. Look at what user accounts are there and if passwords work (or are not required). That might give you some insight to user accounts and passwords, but you will still need to investigate why the system goes into "deep-sleep" mode and asks for the Administrator password (not his blank user account password).

Matt

 

Is he using a screensaver?

If so it's worth checking that "On resume, password protect" is not ticked.

 

Mattman and Wildfire,

Thank you for your replies and suggestions.

I have finally gotten in phone contact with my friend and we have (I hope) solved his problem, which was a learning experience for us both.

Here's where I didn't go far enough: when I said "click on Start > Run, then in the Run dialog box type control userpasswords2 and press Enter. In the User Accounts dialog box he should make sure there is no check mark at the left of "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer" then click on the OK button, and that should do it." -- that didn't do it. What I should have added is this: with the check mark still there, click on your User Name to select it, then remove the check mark. Then in the next dialog box that opens, click on OK without entering a password in either of the two locations. Those last two steps are critical. Too bad they're not obvious. If we hadn't gone through this procedure multiple times, we wouldn't have discovered them.

He has rebooted twice since then and all is well, with no prompts for a password. Of course, even though this makes him (and me) very happy, it doesn't explain the variability of his original complaint.

I'll cross my fingers and mark this thread "Resolved." If there are any further repercussions I'll reopen it. Thank you again for your help.

Frank

 

Good work. Thanks for letting us know how you did it.

 

Glad to be of help after receiving so much from this BBS!

Frank

 

lockout computer

I had to give a password to sign on and don't know how it happen since I didn't have to before..NOW with you instructions I followed them and unchecked the box, so now I won't have to put in a password to sign on...THANKS

 

You're welcome! I'm glad that our investigation was useful to you. That's why I like this BBS. It keeps on giving and giving.

Frank D