Boot to CD Problem

[Max Sulzbacher]

Hello, I have a very frustrating problem. Recently I acquired an old craptop, designed to run Win98, but is running Windows XP Professional. The last user of the laptop set up a password on it, and I have no idea what it is.
The first trick I tried was to restart the laptop in Safe Mode, and log into administrator. No go. Then, I decided to go with NTPasswd (http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd). After purchasing a 5 disk pack of CD-RW's, I burned the utility to the disc and attempted to boot from it. I did indeed go into the BIOS and set the main boot drive to the CD, and even screwed around with the other settings, and so far, when powered on, at the top of the screen, it says
Checking boot disk... for approximately 15 seconds, then says Not bootable disk and defaults to the next boot device. I have checked the boot disk on other computers, and it does indeed work, so it's no problem with the disk.
Specs on the craptop:
Bios: SystemSoft MobilePRO BIOS Version 1.01 (2482-00)-(R1.30)
SystemSoft Plug-n-Play Bios Ver 1.17.01
Processor: 700MHz Pentium III with MMX
Ram: 196,608kB
HD: 20gb
Chipset: Intel 440BX/440ZX

I'm thinking that
a) the CD Drive is borked
or
b) the BIOS is too old to read El Torito boot structure
Dunno.
If anyone could help, would be greatly appreciated.

[Geek-9pm]

Welcome!
Computer Hope is the number one location for free computer help.
The forum will help everyone with all computer questions.

This is your fist post and you are asking how to get around a password on a Windows based laptop. Current  forum rules do not allow detailed information on how to do this.

To review past articles on this subject, go to the search box in the upper right area of this page. Type in:
password reset
and press enter key and you will see a list of recommend articles.

BTW: Buying a old laptop made for Windows 98 is not a good investment.

[Max Sulzbacher]

The laptop was free, so it's pretty much a nonissue, however I guess I could take my post to another forum. Thanks

[Max Sulzbacher]

Fixed anyway. CDROM cable was jenked out of the socket.