Users are gone!

[jokbum170]

HI all,
I'm trying to help a friend here...
XP Home seems to load up fine on his HP laptop, but there are no users at
the login screen.
CTRL+ALT+DEL gets the NT style name and password prompt, but the passwords
aren't accepted for the user or administrator (no matter what I set it to in
setup).
I've tried safe mode(s), same issue.
I can't start the system recovery because it asks for the admin password,
and doesn't accept it (separate issue maybe?).
Any suggestions?

[GX1_Man]

What happened prior to this problem? History is both interesting AND helpful!

[jokbum170]

Sorry, don't have much history.  It was apparently fine the night before, and at startup the next morning this happened....no downloads the night before or anything.

[jokbum170]

HP support is recommending removing the hard drive, backing it up and reinstalling windows xp.  
I'd at least like to find out why this happened, though as you stated, without a history it's very difficult.  
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate whatever you've got.  

Thanks.  

[GX1_Man]

Is this formatted with NTFS or FAT32? Can you boot with a Win98 boot disk? (www.bootdisk.com if you don't have one)

Is there a floppy drive? A CDRW? I ask in case there is data on there you may be able to get back.

[jokbum170]

should be NTFS - how to check?  I'm also at home now, so I can't check...

has both floppy and cd drives.

I don't know if it will boot with a '98 cd....

[GX1_Man]

If it will boot with a Win98 boot disk it is FAT32 and you will be able toaccess data to get it off if needed. If NTFS (if drive greater than 32 gig, this is likely) you will probably be SOL and just have to reformat and reinstall the operating system. I wasn;t clear if there was data on there you needed.