MAYDAY

[jimmyz78]

:sa: I HAVE A DELL INSPIRON E1405 LAPTOP AND IT SHOWS OTHER USER AND WHEN I CLICK THE ICON IT REQUIRES A USER NAME AND PASSWORD THAT IT NOT HAD BEFORE AND I CANT GET IT TO START WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND CAN I FIX IT? :sa::sa::sa::sa::sa: IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING I NEED HELP PLEASE

 

[richc46]

Welcome,
This may help
Rapidly hit F8 during boot. Then choose last know good configuation. Then hope it works

If that does not work, can you get in with safe mode and get to system restore, to go back before the problem?

 

[Lorien]

Hi jimmyz8,

Welcome to Vista Forums!

Did you by any chance install Microsoft Steady State? That's known to add the Other User account. If so, note this in your next reply as it may change what we need to do. Is Other User the only logon option available? Do no other user accounts show up? Was this your account name before "the change" or is this new and does your account name no longer appear at startup (or how did you normally login before this problem started)? Is the problem that you can't access the system using this Other User account or that it's the only option presented and you can't access the system at all? What happens it you hit CTRL-ALT-DEL on this screen - nothing or does it bring up a box with a blank username and password so you can enter your normal account? If it does nothing, then skip to the next paragraph. If it brings up a box, enter your normal user account information and try to enter your account. If you don't use a password, just enter the username and leave the password blank and enter and see if that works.

If last known configuration Using Last Known Good Configuration as recommended above by Richard doesn't work, then try a System Restore (also recommended by Richard). Here's how.

Do you know when this problem began? Try a System Restore to a point in time BEFORE the problem began (and give it a few days). To do this you may need to enter safe mode as you did to get to the Last Known Good Configuration above. Here's the procedure: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/76905-system-restore-how.html. Be sure to check the box to show more than 5 days of restore points. If the first attempt fails, then try an earlier point or two. NOTE: You will have to re-install any software and updates you installed between now and the restore point, but you can use Windows Update for the updates. Use the recovery disk if the system prompt doesn’t work. The recovery disk works a bit different from the above procedures but if you follow the prompts from the System Restore menu option with the above information you should be able to restore with no problems.

If you don't have a Vista Installation disk or a bootable recovery disk with repair options, you can make a bootable Recovery Disk using http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/ along with burning software like: http://www.snapfiles.com/get/active-isoburner.html and, of course, a blank CD (perhaps made on a different computer). To boot to the CD you may need to change the BIOS to make the CD-drive first in the boot sequence. To do that, wait for the screen that tells you the F key to push to access the boot menu or boot setup. Push it quickly. Make the changes, save your work, and exit. Put the CD in the drive and reboot. When prompted, push any key to boot from the CD.

If this doesn't work and you can boot into Safe Mode, go to Start / Control Panel / User Accounts and see what is listed. Click on manage other user accounts (and enter an administrator password if prompted) and see what accounts show up as available on the system. Is your normal user account there? Is your normal administrator account there? Is the Other User account there? Try creating a new Administrator account and see if it allows that - give it a password.

Now access the built-in Administrator account and enable it. Here's the procedure: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67567-administrator-account.html. Now reboot and see if the new Administrator account you created and the built-in Administrator account show up as options. If so, then click on the built-in Administrator account and fix the problems with all the other accounts.

If these new accounts are the only ones to show up (with the Other User account) and you can't access your normal accounts, then login to the built-in Administrator account again and try changing the logon method to require a username and password (rather than presenting a list of options). This may allow you to access your normal accounts. Here's the procedure: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/89812-logon-username-password.html. While hopefully not a permanent solution, this should at least get you access while we work on identifying and resolving the problem.

This could be caused by malware. While in Safe Mode with Networking (or normal mode if you could access it with the built-in Administrator account), download, install, update, and run a full scan with Malwarebytes http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and delete anything it finds.

Let's see where that leaves us. Please report back the results of everything you tried and what did or didn't work (and any error messages you got word-for-word) and please answer any questions asked. What we do next depends on how things turn out with what you try here.

I hope this helps resolve the problem or at least helps us identify the problem or find a temporary workaround.

Good luck!