Please forgive me as I know very little about computers. I have a Dell Optiplex GX100 which I obtained from a friend of the family and it has been revamped to like new condition. I am running Windows XP. Up until now I have had no problems
with it. Here is my issue, hopefully someone can help me.
I have a system password set up so that after the Dell screen loads it directly asks for my password, which I can usually enter with no problem. However when I tried to get on it a few days ago I couldn't.
Here is what happened... I attempted to open several applications to no avail.
I recieved an error message no matter what I did. So I tried to restart by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del and even that would not work so I manually restarted. Well when I tried to enter my password it was like I wasn't doing anything, like the keyboard wasn't working, but it is working because when I press the Caps Lock key it lights up the indicator light, and when I hit Enter it says invalid password. I tried restarting the computer, checking all cables, but nothing will work.
Someone please help!

Welcome to the forum nhurta1 :wave:

It sounds to me like the default password may have been reset in some way. I would try entering all the common passwords (admin, 0000, administrator, password, etc). It could also be as simple as leaving the password field empty and pressing Enter?

A last resort would be to remove the CMOS battery to reset your bios. Hopefully someone else will be along soon with a better idea though

What happens when I remove the CMOS Battery? Is everything deleted, including the OS? I am willing to try anything, but I don't have a backup disk for Windows if that would be deleted