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Question

No username appears upon startup! What do I do???

by Apr 20, 2013 8:42AM PDT

I have a netbook and when using it one day, not plugged in, it went on standby due to a low battery. I had noticed the battery was low but there was some work I was wanting to finish off. I have had this happen before and it doesn't shut of completely normally just goes to sleep and if you press power again it will come back on briefly normally giving you enough time to power off correctly. I therefore turned it on, saved some work I was doing and then it went on standby again so I switched it back on quickly then shut it down properly. However, the next time I went to use it I forgot it had been low on battery so I switched it on an it powered off without even starting fully so I found the adapter and plugged it in and from here I have not been able to use it outwith safe mode as no username appears and nowhere for me to enter my password. from online help I have tried:
Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL (x2) to bring up some background logon screen. I've been advised that the username should be admin, administrator, username, the username I have previously and the password should be admin, password or the password I would normally use. I have tried numerous combinations of these with no success.
Having failed with this the next thing I tried was to enter the comp in safe mode and from there set up a new username via control panel. I was unable to do this as from control panel it would not allow me into the user accounts screen. A pop up appears restricting me from it and on clicking OK a blank section appears in the window.
Next thing I tried was sorting the issue with registry editor. From the user list folder I set up a new DWORD value, named it Haggis which was my username and set the value to 1. I then restarted the computer and still I arrive at the logon screen and the only option I have at this point is to basically switch it off again.
I have also tried a system restore to no avail.
Can someone please help as I have things on it I do not seem to be able to find and locate from safe mode. I was going to transfer them onto an external hard drive so at least I had those files but nothing could be located! I assume it was linked to the low battery on off issue hence why I included that at the start to better diagnose the issue.
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Brian

Discussion is locked

5 Posts
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Answer
Have You Tried?
by Forum moderator Apr 20, 2013 9:11AM PDT

Boot into Safe Mode.. At the login page, choose the "administrator" login (or type "administrator"), then leave the password blank and press the "Enter" key.. If you've never created a password for the hidden "administrator" login, then the computer should start.. From there, you should be able to give your original username a new password.. Unfortunately, it's entirely possible that your original user account is corrupted because it shut down incorrectly.. If that's the case and you can login from the administrator account in Safe Mode, then simply create a NEW account, with a new user name, give it admin rights, and login normally using the new account.. Once there, you can copy the files from your old account, into the new account.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Unable to do that
by brian_haggis88 Apr 25, 2013 12:08AM PDT

When I boot in safe mode there is no login page a popup apears saying if I continue I will be using the computer in safe mode or alternatively I can boot system from last restore point. If I continue to boot in safe mode it take me straight to desktop. I've went into control panel > user accounts but a popup appears stating 2the group name could not be found." and when I click continue it leaves me with a blank window. So I cant even set up a new user account and not even sure how to check if I have administrative powers. Any suggestions?

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One Last Possibility
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Apr 25, 2013 1:11AM PDT

It would be nice to know the make and model of the netbook and which operating system is installed on the netbook.

If the computer starts into Safe Mode desktop, then access a "Run" line ( Start-Run on XP, or Start-Search-Run on Win7), then type "CONTROL userpasswords2", then click on OK.. It may allow you to open the "User Accounts" window a slightly different way.. If you see the screen, then click on the "Add" button and create a new admin user.

If that doesn't get it done, try restarting the computer and immediately start pressing the F8 key, once per second till a selection screen loads. Once the screen loads, use the up/down arrow keys to select "Last Known Good Configuration", then press the "Enter" key.. Follow the prompts and allow the computer to restart.. Hopefully it will restore the computer back to when things were good.

If that doesn't help, then visit the computer manufacturer's website and check for the correct F-key to access the recovery partition.. Performing a format and recovery is your best bet if none of the other options gets it done.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Almost worked
by brian_haggis88 Apr 26, 2013 12:57PM PDT

Hey thanks for the help Grif. I managed to boot in safe mode, open user accounts through the run program, I got through the setup entered a name, password and set the level of access (which was only Standard user or Restricted user) and when I clicked on Finished another similar pop up appeared stating "The user account could not be added because the following error has occurred: The group name could not be found." I had attempted this as a Standard user so I thought I would give the Restricted user a bash just incase but this time a different pop up appeared stating "The user Brian could not be added because this user already has permission to use this computer." Any ideas?

Oh and the make, model and OS is:
Asus EeePC 1005HA
Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
SP3

P.S. I actually have two of these netbooks thankfully and with each of them (when they both worked) I have to press F2 to start the thing or else it just stays at some sort of startup bios page. As well as this I always have to reset the time and date as every time I turn it on it goes to 00:00 01Jan20023 or such like. I know this is a side track but is there an easy way to fix this that I'm blind to or should I open up another thread for this? I got the netbooks from an IT department that was getting rid of old laptops and stuff they had accumulated and the proceeds went to charity so not sure if its something they've done when fiddling about with it or not but your help and advise would be greatly appreciated.

Brian

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As To The Time Problem And Maybe Other Issue Too
by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Apr 27, 2013 10:02AM PDT

...You need to replace the CMOS battery.. Your statement about the computer being an "old laptop" and leftover from the IT department means the machine probably has battery issues.. Instructions and videos for replacing the CMOS battery are in the Google search link below:

Google Search for "asus eee pc 1005ha cmos battery replacement"

And old CMOS battery will cause the clock to read "bad" time and it causes the BIOS to reset each time the computer restarts. Start by performing the battery replacement and see if it fixes the issue.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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