I REALLY hate to keep bothering you people with this, but...

[SkyBell]

Once again, I am in need of more PC help.

Basically, I recently bought a Dell OptiPlex off of ebay to replace my dead HP Pavillion. It arrived today, I got it all set up, downloaded all the programs I wanted, and everything seemd to be working great.

Then I leave it alone for half an hour. I come back, and it's off. Well, that's a bit odd, but not a big deal. I turn it on and try to log in with the user account I created. No dice. I try over and over but it doesn't work. So I log in with the old account name and password. What a surprise, it works. But none of my programs or documents are there. Darn.

So, I change the name and password again, and restart, and it does it again.

What is causing this and what can I do to fix it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MacDawg]

Wow, that's bizarre Cassie!

I wish I could help because you are always so helpful, but I don't have a clue.
I'm sure someone will... hang in there... I know it sux

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[Gray-Wolf]

Just guessing here, A Cmos battery problem?

 

[SkyBell]

Just guessing here, A Cmos battery problem?

That's my guess, but I'd rather make sure that is the problem before opening this thing up.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

You can verify that too, change the date, then do a restart. See if it holds the date.

 

[SkyBell]

Well, it has always kept the right date AFAIK.

 

[bigandy]

Are you talking about a Windows username and password?

Unless it's a BIOS password it's unlikely to be a battery issue.

If you're talking about a Windows user/password, login with the old details and see if you can see the new username in the system - either under Users in Control Panel, or under Documents and Settings on the C drive.

If it's powering off it's either overheating or suffering from a dying PSU.

 

[SkyBell]

Are you talking about a Windows username and password?

Unless it's a BIOS password it's unlikely to be a battery issue.

Yes, it's a Windows user and password thing.

If you're talking about a Windows user/password, login with the old details and see if you can see the new username in the system - either under Users in Control Panel, or under Documents and Settings on the C drive.

Nope, no trace of it. What bugs me is I installed a few programs on that account, and none of those programs appear to be on the drive anywhere.

If it's powering off it's either overheating or suffering from a dying PSU.

Well, it's only happened once so far. It might have been in sleep mode, but I had to press the power button to get it to do anything.

 

[bigandy]

Nope, no trace of it. What bugs me is I installed a few programs on that account, and none of those programs appear to be on the drive anywhere.

Well, it's only happened once so far. It might have been in sleep mode, but I had to press the power button to get it to do anything.

The system could have been on standby - but did it do a POST test and full boot to come back up? If it didn't get you back to the same state, it was a cold boot.

There is the possiblity of more than one partition, and more than one install of Windows on the box. It's a more likely thing seeing as you've installed programmes etc and they've disappeared (which is something that doesn't happen much). You can check for other disks and partitions using Comptuer Management's Disk Management module:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools

in Computer Management, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Control Panel > System will also show you boot volumes (IF this instance of Windows is the one in control of the system's bootloader) under the Advanced tab, and Startup and Recovery. There's a drop down box that might have more than one entry.




From here, I'd just cut my losses and reinstall. It's always faster and more interesting than working out the problem

 

[SkyBell]

The system could have been on standby - but did it do a POST test and full boot to come back up? If it didn't get you back to the same state, it was a cold boot.

OK, well then I'm pretty sure it was a cold boot.

There is the possiblity of more than one partition, and more than one install of Windows on the box. It's a more likely thing seeing as you've installed programmes etc and they've disappeared (which is something that doesn't happen much). You can check for other disks and partitions using Comptuer Management's Disk Management module:

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools

in Computer Management, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Control Panel > System will also show you boot volumes (IF this instance of Windows is the one in control of the system's bootloader) under the Advanced tab, and Startup and Recovery. There's a drop down box that might have more than one entry.

Well, there's two partitions, but one is just 39 MB so I wouldn't imagine that would hold another version of Windows.

From here, I'd just cut my losses and reinstall. It's always faster and more interesting than working out the problem

If only it were that easy. Reinstalling isn't really an option for me, sadly.

 

[MacDawg]

I hate to ask Cassie, but was this considered a reputable seller?
Could you contact the seller and ask about the issue?

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bigandy]

Well, there's two partitions, but one is just 39 MB so I wouldn't imagine that would hold another version of Windows.

Not so much.

If only it were that easy. Reinstalling isn't really an option for me, sadly.

Missing the discs?



I would ask you to post the console/event logs but Windows never puts anything useful in them.

*continues to think*...

 

[SkyBell]

I hate to ask Cassie, but was this considered a reputable seller?
Could you contact the seller and ask about the issue?

Woof, Woof - Dawg

As far as I can tell, yes, he was a reputable seller. Good feedback and all that.

This computer was obviously taken from a busniess environment, there are some network drives that are showing and everything, plus some software I don't need, but I don't really think that's a big deal.

 

[MacDawg]

As far as I can tell, yes, he was a reputable seller. Good feedback and all that.

This computer was obviously taken from a busniess environment, there are some network drives that are showing and everything, plus some software I don't need, but I don't really think that's a big deal.

Perhaps their IT department put some kind of protection on it to prevent new accounts

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bigandy]

A reinstall sounds like a sound option. Businesses lock all kinds of crap down.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

A system restore, or factory restore? Can you do this?

 

[SilentGreg]

A system restore, or factory restore? Can you do this?

Agreed. Cassie, if you are comfortable with reinstalling Windows, do it. It's highly recommended that Windows be reinstalled every six months as the installation begins to suffer from "Windows rot." Since the machine was bought on eBay, if I had to guess the operating system was not reloaded as the old user name and password are stored on the machine.

 

[SkyBell]

I can't reinstall, I don't have the original disks. (Trust me, if I could have reintsalled, I already would have. )

 

[SkyBell]

I think I may have found something.

Everytime the computer turns on, there's a program that loads in the...uh...place where the clock is, and the icon looks like a wolf. After sifting through the C Drive, I've found what it is. It's called "Faronics Deep Freeze". Here's a link. Could this be what is causing my problems?

EDIT: actually upon closer inspection of the website, I am almost positive this is the problem. if so, I need to find a way to get rid of it, so um, if anyone could help with that it would be most appreciated.

 

[toolbox]

Cassie, you can remove this through add / remove programs. Is the system running Windows xp?

you can go start and run, type msconfig. Select startup.

In here you can disable programs from launching.

If you want i am happy to remote into the machine, using single click VNC if that is needed.

 

[SkyBell]

Cassie, you can remove this through add / remove programs.

Nope.

Is the system running Windows xp?

Yep. XP Pro.

you can go start and run, type msconfig. Select startup.

In here you can disable programs from launching.

Interesting. I'll try this and get back to you.

 

[SkyBell]

Well, as far as I can tell, it's not listed within Startup. Thanks Though,

 

[toolbox]

Cassie i will download it and install onto on of my test rigs here at the office, i will post back when i have found out how to nuke it off

here are the instructions

9. Deep Freeze is installed on my computer. I would like to uninstall it. How is this done?

Disable Deep Freeze before uninstalling it.

To disable Deep Freeze:

Hold down the shift key and double-click the Deep Freeze icon. Alternatively, you can press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+F6.
Enter your password and click OK.
If you have not yet entered a password you should be able to click OK without entering a password.
The Boot Options dialog is displayed. Select "Boot Thawed" and click OK. This will disable Deep Freeze on the next reboot.
Reboot your computer. After the computer reboots, you are ready to uninstall Deep Freeze.
To uninstall:

Locate the installation file you used to install Deep Freeze on your computer. By default, the name of this file is called "DF5Std.exe" for versions 5.X and "DF6Std.exe" for versions 6.X.
Run the installation file (DF5Std.exe or DF6Std.exe).
Select the option to "Uninstall"
Deep Freeze is uninstalled and your computer is rebooted.

 

[Rhosfelt]

It is definitely that program that is messing with your system, and the business environment it came from.

There is no way to reinstall windows? You do not have ANY discs lying around to do so? I know I wouldn't touch a system now-a-days without taking a fresh custom install. Then again I also do them for other people to get money so I am a little picky about running windows

I am pretty sure that a reformat is the best and easiest option for you. Sorry

EDIT: WAIT! I may remember something! Forgive me if it doesn't work, my memory maybe hazy as i've only encountered this problem once, but you may be able to shift + right click on that bear/wolf icon and get to an uninstall tab after entering in your password.

Let me know if I am right!!

 

[SkyBell]

Cassie i will download it and install onto on of my test rigs here at the office, i will post back when i have found out how to nuke it off

EDIT

Installed it

1. I turned my computer off without prompting, geez thats promising.
2. I have a screen shot there is a service that is running upon startup. You will need to go to start run and type msconfig again.

You should see a services tab. Click that and then select hid all microsoft services. The service you need to untick should be at the top of the list

here is the screen shot

You can uninstall this, download the installer again, it just gave me the option to remove it But you have to disable the services first

Wow, thank you so much for doing this. How do i get the uninstaller? All I see for downloading is an "evaluation copy" thingy.

EDIT: WAIT! I may remember something! Forgive me if it doesn't work, my memory maybe hazy as i've only encountered this problem once, but you may be able to shift + right click on that bear/wolf icon and get to an uninstall tab after entering in your password.

Let me know if I am right!!

No, sorry, nothing.