Vista - Recovered from boot sector corruption - now can't login

Last week something caused corruption of the boot sector on my hard drive and
I was unable to start up my system (Vista Ultimate 32bit).

I ran the Vista Recovery process and picked the option that fixes startup
problems. The first time it didn't help, but I ran it again and now the
machine boots up except for 2 things.

The login screen is at a very low resolution so maybe my graphics driver
needs to be reinstalled.

I'm positive I'm entering the right password, but Vista says its not correct.

I don't have a password recovery disk.

Does anyone know if there's a way I can login, or do I need to re-install
the OS over top of the corrupted one?

Thanks in advance.

"ALV" <ALV@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C9F23894-4949-444D-A95A-511CEAA164DF@microsoft.com...
> Last week something caused corruption of the boot sector on my hard drive
> and
> I was unable to start up my system (Vista Ultimate 32bit).
>
> I ran the Vista Recovery process and picked the option that fixes startup
> problems. The first time it didn't help, but I ran it again and now the
> machine boots up except for 2 things.
>
> The login screen is at a very low resolution so maybe my graphics driver
> needs to be reinstalled.
>
> I'm positive I'm entering the right password, but Vista says its not
> correct.
>
> I don't have a password recovery disk.
>
> Does anyone know if there's a way I can login, or do I need to re-install
> the OS over top of the corrupted one?
>
> Thanks in advance.

I've tested this to change the password; it provides a file you use to
create a bootable CD or floppy disk which you then boot from to change your
password.
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

-Paul Randall

It sounds like your HD is failing. Better make backups and consider that
you may need to replace it. As to the graphics driver, can't you adjust it
in video card settings? Right click on a free space on the desktop and
select personalise. Choose display settings. You may also have a video
control panel that you can select when you right click.

"ALV" <ALV@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C9F23894-4949-444D-A95A-511CEAA164DF@microsoft.com...
> Last week something caused corruption of the boot sector on my hard drive
> and
> I was unable to start up my system (Vista Ultimate 32bit).
>
> I ran the Vista Recovery process and picked the option that fixes startup
> problems. The first time it didn't help, but I ran it again and now the
> machine boots up except for 2 things.
>
> The login screen is at a very low resolution so maybe my graphics driver
> needs to be reinstalled.
>
> I'm positive I'm entering the right password, but Vista says its not
> correct.
>
> I don't have a password recovery disk.
>
> Does anyone know if there's a way I can login, or do I need to re-install
> the OS over top of the corrupted one?
>
> Thanks in advance.