Tech Support Guy banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

XP help-- logged off by accident!

811 views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  pinntech 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I'm not pc savvy at all so this message comes with a tad bit of panic!

My mother accidently hit "log off" instead of restart using windows XP. Now she gets a blue screen that says "Welcome" on the left and my family's name with a chess board icon on the right. There's a button on the bottom that says "turn off family computer". We cannot get to the desk top no matter what we try. We can only shut it down. We think she hit log off-- since it's a family computer we never use this function. Can anyone tell me how to get back to the desktop? (she's quite upset because we're not sure what happened exactly, and not sure what to do)

ANY help or suggests are welcome! Thanks much!
 
#3 ·
What happens when you click on YOUR FAMILY'S NAME next to the chessboard or on the chessboard itself? If her account is not password protected, it should log you into Windows and bring you to your desktop. If her account is password protected, you have to enter the password in the area provided.

Also, what operating system are you using? XP HOME or PRO?

Give me the information and I will see what I can do for you.

Shane
 
#4 ·
Hi Shane,

when she clicks on my family's computer and/or chess piece, it says loading personal settings, and then quickly it says logging off...

I'm assuming we're using XP home, as it's our family computer-- no business use.

The only button that seems to work, is the shut down family computer button-- when we shut down or restart, it always goes back to the blue welcome screen, no desktop, no other options that work.

I think there might be a password involved-- and we don't know what it is, as we never log off, we always shut down. What else do you need to know?

Anyway, any help you can give us well be greatly appreciated!
 
#5 ·
Try talking to the Company you bought your computer from, they should be able to provide you with tech support about this problem.

I had a similar problem in the past and I got the company who sold me the computer to send me a CD of Windows XP. Once I installed the CD into my computer, shut down, then restarted my computer, I followed a quick setup wizard and I was back to my desktop.
 
#6 ·
thanks for the suggestion, but Dell's tech support is awful! My mother spent a good hour on the phone trying to explain the problem-- and she did very clearly and calmly with a great deal more patience than I would have-- only to have the person on the other end not only NOT fix the problem, but disconnected her even after my mother requested a number in case that happened, which the person assured her would not happen (and therefore did not give her the number)!

I think we'll try again tomorrow with the phone support-- but until then, anyone else have suggestions?
 
#8 ·
Ok.. it is always worth a try on Windows XP HOME...

Boot your computer in SAFE MODE
Do this by tapping F8 when your computer begins the startup process.

Once in SAFE MODE, go to START -> CONTROL PANEL -> USERS

In USERS, check to see if the user listed has a password protected account. I highly doubt that there is an issue with a password, otherwise you would not get as far as you have been getting.

Also, while in USERS, you might want to create a new account and give it ADMIN rights.

One more question... Did your mom possibly change the NAME of the original account? I.e. most computers come with an account setup like DELL USER or something. Did she go in there and rename it? Just curious, I have seen this cause problems in larger networks with authentication.

Of course, reboot the pc and see if you can login with your mom's account or the new one you created.

Hope it helps a little....

Shane
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top