Installed Norton, now can't log in (Vista)

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

Man of Honour
Joined
5 Dec 2003
Posts
21,063
Location
Just to the left of my PC
Someone at work has handed me a laptop (Acer Travelmate 5320) from someone else for me to fix.

So I have some garbled second-hand information passed through two people who aren't experts. Which means it might all be wrong.

They can't log in and are absolutely sure they're using the right password. This apparently happened after installing Norton. They had some other security software on before and can't remember what it was.

I initially thought it was the old Norton/McAfee conflict, but it isn't that or isn't just that.

I was going to log into safe mode to look for the other security software and disable it, but I can't log in using the password they gave me. I get the standard incorrect password message. They're still absolutely sure it's the right password, which they were using without problems before installing Norton.

Looking online, I can find some references to this problem but no solutions.

It doesn't help that I've never used Vista, but I probably have a better chance of success than the method they used, which was punching the laptop.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't get a Windows disk with it, so I can't try a repair from that. Repair from the F8 menu is password-locked, apparently by Acer.

Any suggestions? Apart from punching the laptop :)
 
Backup documents, wipe and reinstall. Bin Norton and replace with Microsoft Security Essentials :). Is the laptop 64bit capable? If so I could help, my Emails in trust :).
 
Last edited:
I can't wipe and reinstall - no original Windows Vista DVD (I'm still using XP) and who knows where the laptop vendor's recovery disk is? He wants to keep Vista, so I can't put XP on it.

I could use a LiveCD and get documents off...if I knew which ones he wanted to keep. He's currently doing paratrooper training somewhere, so he isn't around. I don't even know him. He probably wouldn't know where he'd saved them anyway.

It's either a repair or a total wipe without backing up, really.
 
Have you tried resetting the passwords by using a bootcd such as ultimatebootcd i'm sure there is a windows password reset tool on there that works with Vista....
 
Angilion said:
I can't wipe and reinstall - no original Windows Vista DVD (I'm still using XP) and who knows where the laptop vendor's recovery disk is? He wants to keep Vista, so I can't put XP on it.

I could use a LiveCD and get documents off...if I knew which ones he wanted to keep. He's currently doing paratrooper training somewhere, so he isn't around. I don't even know him. He probably wouldn't know where he'd saved them anyway.

It's either a repair or a total wipe without backing up, really.
Click to expand...

I have a Vista Home Premium OEM cd you could borrow, simply reformat with the serial key on theCOA. I would still reformat, but create an image of the current install so I could revert back should anything happen. you could also recover all the documents from the hard drive image :).

EDIT: See post below
 
Last edited:
Fonz-Valo said:
Have you tried resetting the passwords by using a bootcd such as ultimatebootcd i'm sure there is a windows password reset tool on there that works with Vista....
Click to expand...

There are eleventy-ten billion different "Ultimate Boot CD" online. Well, perhaps I exaggerate a little :) I haven't found one that can reset passwords, but I have found an iso for something that claims to be able to.

For added annoyance, I didn't get around to replacing my semi-broken optical drive. It is now DVD-only. It wasn't bothering me...until I wanted to burn some CDs. And I didn't get around to picking up some more blank DVDs either, so I'm running low on those. I thought I had another spindle, but apparently not.

It's a conspiracy! Or maybe just lack of organisation on my part.
 
bledd. said:
run this live cd to find the Vista passwords..

http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/download.php?type=livecd
Click to expand...

That could be very useful, thank you. The passwords are probably short, so it might find them in a reasonable amount of time.

That's assuming I've simply been given the wrong password, which is possible. Or someone might have changed the password and not told him, for a "joke".

There are some references online to a particularly badly done version of Norton breaking logging in entirely, even with the right password, but I'll try this password cracker first.
 
Ah, problems, problems.

I can't boot from a CD/DVD because the BIOS is password-protected (presumably by the laptop manufacturer, since the original owner wouldn't have entered the BIOS), so I can't change the boot order.

On the plus side, I've now got some useful utilities for my own computer.
 
You can reset the BIOS password by arsing with motherboard jumpers, or maybe even removing the BIOS battery for a bit. But that seems beyond the call of duty seeing as it isn't your machine.
 
Ratbag said:
You can reset the BIOS password by arsing with motherboard jumpers, or maybe even removing the BIOS battery for a bit. But that seems beyond the call of duty seeing as it isn't your machine.
Click to expand...

It isn't so easy with a laptop. With a desktop, I'd have done it already. With a laptop and without a manual, it's not so easy to find where stuff is without taking the laptop to bits. Besides, clearing the CMOS doesn't necessarily reset the BIOS password on a laptop - it can be stored seperately.

I'm going to hand it back and make sure that I get the windows password written down, in the correct cases, from the person who owns the laptop, as opposed to being told it by someone who they told it to. Hopefully it'll get me into safe mode, from which I can fix things.
 
It won't normally have been set by Acer, what's more likely is that during the initial install 1 of the steps may have been to set the password. So you need to ask the owner, maybe show them what a BIOS screen looks like to jog their memory else I'd just give the thing back and tell them without their help you can't help them.
 
Take the hard drive out, connect it to a different computer. Boot from the Hirens boot cd / other disk of your choice, remove the admin password (loads easier than brute forcing it). Put hard drive back in.

You can almost certainly remove the password manually instead, I don't know the process for doing so though. Taking the drive out is pretty much compulsory if the bios is locked and none of the F keys let you boot from disk. Hopefully it's sata and not the weird mini pata thing some older laptops use.
 
Try pressing Esc when booting, some motherboards will give option on what to boot from?
 
I got some new information today (back at work). They'd only told me the first 6 characters of an 11-character password. So I suppose they were more than half right :) Turns out it was third-hand information - the owner told someone a few weeks ago and that person told the person who told me. So it's surprising that even half the password was there.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and offers of further help. It was useful to me - I've ended up with some useful boot discs.

Now that I can log in in safe mode, run autoruns and suchlike, I can sort it out when I have some time, tomorrow evening. I spotted at least 4 pieces of spyware just from a very brief look at the startup list - the owner admits to clicking on pretty much everything that appears and downloading pretty much everything on offer.
 
sorry for the copy/paste, but do this

try this

bledd. said:
disable system restore
remove your 'av'
run ccleaner slim http://www.ccleaner.com/download/builds/downloading-slim
run nod32 trial http://www.eset.com/download/free_trial_download_int.php
run mbam http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php
run spybot http://fileforum.betanews.com/download/Spybot-Search-Destroy/1043809773/1


still screwed?
run combofix http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix


following this, stop going to bad sites etc

use firefox http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/
install this addon for firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865

when firefox opens following the restart, tick the 'Easylist' subscription
Click to expand...
 
I use Avast!, Spybot, Ad-aware, Crap Cleaner and Firefox with NoScript and Better Privacy. Plus a firewall, of course. I know how many processes I usually have running (and what they are) and I check every now and again to see if any more have appeared. I check autoloading processes every now and again with Autoruns. I also don't click on everything and download a dozen toolbars.

But it isn't my laptop.

Although I have been downloading the bloated version of Crap Cleaner and just not installing the toolbar, rather than downloading the slim version (which doesn't have the toolbar). The download link on the site menu doesn't show the slim version - I thought they'd stopped doing it a number of versions ago.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the owner of this laptop will have allowed everything through the firewall, if indeed they have a firewall up at all, because the "Allow this program?" dialogue boxes were irritating them. The malware scans are going to be interesting. I'm even wary of installing Avast! to replace Norton antivirus, because you have to re-register Avast! after 30 days and I don't know if they'll bother.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom