Computer locked

ok...a family member logged on the computer earlier today, and a window poped up that said 'Computer Locked, only admin can login'. When I tried to type in the admin username and password, the fields were disabled, so I couldn't type anything in. I have no idea why this happened, and was wondering if everything is OK with the computer. I couldn't do anything else on the computer, so I just hit the power button and it shut down properly. When I logged back on, everything seemed to be normal. Is this ok to happen?

I assume it's a windows box?

Maybe you had the screensaver on, protected with a password?

I had this once..... 2003 server

APC powerchute installed????

I attributed it to a memory leak....from a service using the admin account...

Hasnt happened since I removed the APC software

MLF

yes, its a windows box, but no, there aren't any passwords on the accounts.

no, I don't have APC powerchute.
So you think its a memory leak? Is there anyway to find out what program might have caused it?

XP home???

Any software or service running as administrator???

Whats the point of having user accounts...with no passwords.....

Are they limited accounts....or is everyone admin??

MLF

Hmmmm,

Did they try to enter a password. What you describe is what I would expect if you had set a limit on failed logon attempts, normally with a password.

Another possibility might be if they had somehow corrupted the user ID? that might be expected if the password was blank.

Of course, I am referring to using the "classical" logon rather than the symbols.

I would be inclined to leave it and monitor the situation.

:)

Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

Some of you need to go back to suspicion school....

Sounds to me like it could be a pop-up phish!!!! Fields disabled or not... Some people will still type the credentials and they can still be transmitted.

Just a suspicious old fart thinking... ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by phishphreek80
Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

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thats exactly what happened, except i couldn't get past it. I just tried it in my username, and It let me change the username and password, but when It came up initially, it wouldn't let me change anything.

This same exact thing happens within our domain. It only has happened on our XP machines so far ( have XP Pro and 2000 Pro clients). The username and password fields are "grayed out" (disabled) and the computer has to be rebooted before a user can log in. It doesn't happen that often, but it has happened enough that we Googled for a cause and solution. Nothing was found thus far to solve this issue for us. All of our users do have a password, and the computers will lock once the screensaver runs.

Well it only happen once for me.....after a series of thunderstorms and powerouts (over a week or so)

The APC was configured with the administrator account.....

I could still terminal server in though ......so was able to restart.

Removed the Power Chute software....and it hasnt happened again????

MLF

Quote:

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So you think its a memory leak? Is there anyway to find out what program might have caused it?

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You might take a look in the system logs?

I do recall this sort of thing when XP was quite new and there were issues with power saving, hibernate/sleep, and some hardware configurations.

Like I said, unless it is happening regularly, I would just put it down to "one of those things". If you cannot replicate or provoke the situation, your chances of finding its cause are zero.

:)

We got it rolling out patches sometimes but it was extremly rare. I was in charge of a PC parc of over 15000 computers and it only happened 3 or 4 times in a year. As far as i could tell it was linked, as has been said here, to either an unfinished shutdown or a hibernation.
Morganlefay you need to be really unlucky to get it on a server but the UPS can do the trick. :)

The server didnt actually lock....

Just the username and password fields were greyed out....so you couldnt access them....locally

Could still log in remotely......all services running...nothing in the logs u=other then the power stuff

I attribute it to the APC software using the admin account.....and with all the power outs that week.....it got .................confused :confused:

MLF