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I need help...

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by admin

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Ok, I dont know much about this system. My uncle passed away on Sunday Dec. 2. He had a system that was RAID (not sure what version 0,1,2,3,4). When I turn the system on it asks for a password for the Administrator account. **EDIT** The system is Windows XP Pro (not sure about SP as I cannot get on :()

We are trying to figure out when the last time he used his computer (he was found dead in his apartment we do not know how long he had been dead, the coroner wants to rule out foul play as nothing shows foul play so they are calling is a natural cause) but we as a family want to know when he passed away.

Ok so here is what I have found out about the system.

It is RAID it has 5 HDD and 4CD drives. When I start the computer it shows all the checks of the raid and Primary Channel and so forth. I thought I could go into the BIOS and change the startup device but it does not list any of the CD roms. It does show it as an option to change it but when enter the section it only gives me Disabled and None. I need help either changing, aquiring or deleting the password to get into the system. I have tried several methods gone as far as trying to boot from USB. Can anyone give me and ideas on how to get into the system. I cannot seem to access the files and do not want to take the hard drive out as I do not want to destroy the raid, do not know what he had on there :(.

Thank you in advance and sorry it is so jumbled it has been a rough couple of days

63 replies

by admin

this is to bump my post up sorry if it is not allowed but I am in a bind :-/

by admin

My brother in law went to the apartment to get any valuable items out before they could be stolen didnt think about the password and took the computer out.

by admin

He had cerosis (spelling) of the liver. We do not know when he died and the coroner will not do an autopsy as they are calling is a natural cause of death. All we know is that he was found dead in his apartment on Sunday at about 10pm by the local police. What do I have to prove to this site to get help.

by jamesrl

We don't know you. You signed up to ask a question.

We gets dozens of requests a week, generally from less articulate individuals, asking for similar assistance. We know that from the number of these, some of them, perhaps even the majority are trying to crack a system that was stolen, or hack their way into their friends system, or otherwise break in.

How we tell who is legit and who isn't? We dont' try to, its a guessing game at best.

My advice would be to find a local consultant who can help you.

Since the computer wasn't on, you have no idea from the compter when he died, only the last time he used his computer.

The coroner on the other hand has other ways. Dead bodies go through stages and if he knows the temperature of the room, he can make a pretty good estimate of when the event happened.

So why does it matter when he last used the computer? He could have shut it down and not used it for days. It can say nothing about foul play or not - thats nothing to do with how long he has been dead, thats inspecting the body with an autopsy to determine cause of death.

So no I am not going to tell you how.

James

by admin

The coroner is calling it a natrual cause of death there for not performing any testing on it or an autopsy. They gave us an esitmate of 3 days but were not sure.

As for what matters, it does not matter to you but it matters to my family. You just want to be a jerk about things. Why is it so hard to help someone in a time of need? I hope some day your family has to go through the same thing and they get told the same thing. I hope your family has a tough time trying to figure anything out about you as you seem to be a poor soul.

As for most of the people here, I understand they are trying to hack there way in. I could care less what you think this is a personal matter and I came here for help not to be lectured. I am not apart of the majority.

by tig2

We see a lot of questions like yours every day.

Take my advice below.Hold your family close. I can't imagine what you are going through.

You CAN force a Coroner's Inquest. But you need to have the autopsy results in hand to do so. They WILL do an autopsy as your Uncle died outside of attending physician's care. It's the law.

by scott_heath

You seek sympathy by wishing that someone suffers the same grief as you? I've been around a lot of grieving families as my wife has worked with cancer patients and families. Can't say I've ever heard of them wishing the same on anyone, including the bastards who come to the hospital rooms even as people lay dying to remind them that they need to send in some more money.

HINT: This is not a good plan.

ISSUE: Coroner's use very complicated methods to determine the time of death. I have a hard time believing they couldn't get closer.

IDEA: Pay for a private autopsy.

by w2ktechman

F.U. A-Hole

He explained things well, because he didnt help you are now attacking him? F. Off D1ckweed!!!

Why should we give a cr@p about it. You say the coroner says about 3 days, then what makes you think that the coroner is wrong? You need to know the exact time? Learn forensics or hire a forensic specialist to tell you more.

coming here asking how to crack a PW with a sob story isnt going to get you anywhere. I dont give a sh!t about your sorry a$$ at all. Nor do I care to show you how to crack into a system, for whatever reason.
You can however, take the system to a shop, or have a tech drop by and help out. Other than that, go the F**K away dumba$$. Get the F**K out of here, as you are not wanted with your stupid attitude.

Besides, if you were a netadmin as your profile suggests, you would not be asking that question anyway, so you really are not legit. Go home

by jamesrl

You asked for help and I tried. Not everything you said added up.

But now you wish my family ill? You have some freaking nerve. I have relatives a few miles away from you - maybe I should send some over to pay you a visit, seeing as you just wished them ill.

I gave you the answer - see a pro.

I am not trying to be a jerk, we have no way to verify your story, and frankly we hear sob stories everyday. Again we have no way to know whats true and whats not.

And if this is real and you are in pain, its no excuse to abuse my family. Apologise, or I will not let it go.

I have helped many people on this board with their problems, both computer and personal. The difference is that I got to know them, from emails and discussions before they asked for my trust.

James

by older mycroft

I take it you spent the other 48 hours trying to crack the password, eh?

Or maybe it took that long to spirit Colonel Mustard out of the country!

Decent try... but no cigar.

by admin

So why post that? No I have not tried to crack the password as I do not have the knowledge for that. He had alot of passwords written on several sheets of paper that we tried and nothing worked. Im not sure I like how this site is helping or I should say NOT helping.

by tig2

You just happened into the local crusty. But he's not far from wrong.

We get hundreds of requests to help thwart a password. Usually the querent is heaped with abuse.

See my answer below. That advice is the best.

My prayers to you and your family.

by jamesrl

We are not helping because we have no way to know whether your story is true or not.

If you are not telling the truth we are helping someone to crack a computer. We aren't going to do that. Many people here are in the computer security business.

Listen it still will not tell you a darned thing about when your uncle died. Only the coroner can do that. The computer may have been last turned off minutes before he died or days before he died.

And to be honest with you - what difference does it make when he died?

If the coroner says it was not foul play, I'd tend to believe him.

James

by older mycroft

[i]"I have not tried to crack the password as I do not have the knowledge for that"[/i]

My point exactly, that's why you come and posted here!!!

You expect us to do the dirty for you, on your behalf, for your 'dead Uncle'.

Look mate, if your Uncle was that benevolent he would have left a copy of his active password with someone of note. The poor bloke has only been dead for FOUR DAYS!

What is this incessant sense of urgency that I seem to be getting from you?

Perhaps he put the password in his Last Will & Testament - have you ever considered that?

Odd that you claim to have no knowledge of cracking passwords yet you know his system has five hard drives, four optical drives, and you know all about RAID set-ups (albeit not the one your Uncle preferred).

Why did you not just post that you wanted to obviate an Administrator password?

It is of no consequence to any of us whether your Uncle died by fair means of foul, when he snuffed it, or indeed whether he is in fact dead. He is a matter of heresay as far as we are concerned.

Wait for the reading of the Will.

It's probably been bequeathed to someone else anyway, so it's now a matter of probate.

You shouldn't be touching it at all!!!

by tig2

My family are in Rancho Cucamonga. I don't admit that often.

It sounds like you have been through the wringer. I can't even imagine what this experienced has been for you and your family. My prayers will be with you.

Take the whole setup to a professional. You are emotionally over-wrought there may be critical information on that computer that law enforcement needs to have. If you get in there, it may despoil the value of that information.

Speak with law enforcement to find out if they know of a service that does this work and can provide information in a manner that preserves chain of evidence. That may be key.

Good luck to you. I am so sorry to hear of your loss.

by admin

First let me say thank you for your prayers we are in need of them as this is an ungodly rollercoaster.

That was the first thing we did as we did not know what to do or what caused him to die. Once the coroner ruled out foul play and deemed it natural causes they told us there was nothing they needed. We just want to know for our piece of mind to see how long he had been laying there dead. The smell in the apartment was unbareable to the point we had to wear masks with vix vapor rub on the inside.
I have contacted a local computer store here in Rancho and they have told me $65 to have the password cleared. We are trying to find any which way we can to save money as we had to pay a hazmat team come in and remove alot of things that were deemed unsafe. I just want to know if there is a way I can do it myself as I have tried reinstalling windows but cannot get the computer to read the disc on startup as bios does not see the drives there :(

by tig2

The minute you mentioned the Vicks, I knew you were completely legit.

Pay the money. Make darned certain that you haven't been the one to touch the computer. Pay a pro and call it a day.

Even if all that is accessible is mundane, it will be worth this effort. If what is discovered indicates foul play, the pro is your expert witness.

I know how bad this sucks. But under the circumstances, you HAVE to farm this chore out.

My prayers are with you.

by wancona

If you re-install Windows, it will write over the drives. If you are not able to break an admin password, you are definately not able to look and see what was done before you re-installed windows

by scott_heath

A hazmat team? For a dead body? I don't think so. And it says your occupation is Networking\LAN Administration? Did you lie about that too? Because if it is your occupation, you know what RAID is. And no offense to TiggerTwo, but Rancho Cucamonga is the neighborhood they move to in the move Next Friday. Obviously it's real place and people live there, but this clown doesn't strike me as such.

Hey I could be wrong. But I don't think so. It smells like someone trying to get info they shouldn't have. I bet Beth could check the IP of the poster and tell us if they are in California. To bad it isn't attached to the post for us all to see.

by admin

As he was not expecting to die any time soon, although he should have had one. I know about the drives as the side panel is see through and I counted them. I do not know about raid setups not want to know. I know it is a raid setup as it says it on the startup details.

by admin

There was no sign of foul play and due to his medical history that was given to them they are saying it is natural causes.

And sorry that I am getting upset I am just nerve racked as since we have found out we have had nothing but troubles getting help from anyone.

by admin

I will mention that to my mom and see what the cost of it will be. Thank you for that bit of advice.

I say things out of anger because we are trying to get help and no one seems to even remotely try not even entry level trying.

by scott_heath

That you don't sound legit. Sorry.

I also have no problem saying that with a few well placed Google searches you wouldn't need us to tell you anything. That's as much help as you get from me.

by admin

You seem to be a person who would steer someone in the wrong direction to get more money out of them for more time spent on a job.

Also I have done google searches all that come up want you to boot from cd WHICH I CANNOT

by admin

try and install it to a different partition if possible if it tells me I will lose all data I will stop the process as we do not want that.

by admin

cleaned?/ I have no problems describing the feces that was spread all around the bathroom from him dieing. I have no problem telling you that there was blood from his nose (we think) smeered on the walls from him tryin to get to his bed. You do not have any idea what YOU are talking about. Check my IP address I will give you the damn address to my building.

208.57.101.244 is the IP!

by scott_heath

Because you can't make that up?

Here's my IP, 200.104.117.22

That's right, I'm in Santiago, Chile.

Look, if you are legit, pay the $65 and have someone unlock the password for you.

by admin

But it is a last resort as the hazmat team cost over 2000 for the cleanup.

by tig2

We get any number of folks that want help cracking a password. That isn't what you are asking. I know that. But the sensitivity is WAY high about that.

Please calm down. Please.

I know that this is a hard time. I know how much you must be hurting. Please stop. Put the computer into the hands of a professional- I will happily pay that bill for you- and just stop this.

Let go. Please.

by admin

If so I will give you the number of the shop I will be taking it to. That would be a great help but you do not need to. I will take your help if you are seriously offering but if not I understand. Sorry for being a pest it is just hard to deal with people (not yourself) that are so insensitive about what I am going through.

by older mycroft

Otherwise you'd have a HazMat team standing by at every abattoir in the world.

When you mentioned it I naturally assumed your Uncle was manufacturing crystal-meth at home!

Or had been into Chemical Warfare as a hobby!

by admin

When blood is involved and smeered onto the walls of an apartment it is considered hazmat. Please look it up. Hazmat does not just include drugs, it is the hazardous materials that may or may not hurt innocent people ie, neighbors that had no clue he was dead.

Oh and there was a layer of feces in about a 10 ft section of the apartment that had im assuming projectiled from him. Thanks for making me have to say that makes me feel so much better that he died in pain and suffered from it.

by tig2

I have been a nurse. Blood and feces ARE a hazmat issue.

Stick to what you know. If there were holes in this guys story I would have found them. I found my mother reading me the story from the local paper.

Stop being an idiot. I was on to this from the start. This happened and this poor guy is just trying to figure out what to do.

by tig2

But I hide in the Midwest.

They WILL call Hazmat if a body has gone more than 48 hours. 24 in the summer.

As I have already said, this issue should go to a professional shop. Given the circumstances, it is money well spent.

by scott_heath

My reference to Rancho Cucamonga was merely pointing to another coincedence. It just seems weird considering everything else.

And I will admit it is possible he paid for a hazmat or at least a "clean up" crew that handles this sort of thing.

In any case I think he needs to take it to a shop and stop posting here.

by tig2

I think he is just in pain.

Mom read me a story in the local- I think we are talking to this guy.

This is very for real. We need to be sensitive to the fact that his family is going through ...heck... just now. I don't know when the Progress Bulletin will get the story online- or even IF they will. But Mom is sending me the clipping.

As soon as I have another verifying source, I will post it.

You're right. The machine needs to go to a professional.

by admin

... please give me a time and place i would LOVE to make your acquaintance.

by scott_heath

I'm not a consultant or contractor. I don't charge people for anything. I post here to help out for free.

You'll have to pay someone to do it for you then, sorry.

by tig2

And this guy is hurting.

Work with me. The details are way too clear and not something you get from watching to tube.

He needs to use the pro he found in Rancho.

Stop with the pseudo profanity (incidentally, love you for not littering) and hear this. I think this guy is legit. Know the place, made some calls.

by w2ktechman

I just finished reading the thread. But it seems odd that he says he is a netadmin and does not know RAID, how to reset PWD's, etc...

Also, other parts of the story seem, well, a bit off. But ok, I will stop posting on this thread.

by admin

So i randomly picked something that is similar. I take care of my works comps, i am not certified and they know that I know the main basics of a regular system (what we are running here). As for a raid system NO CLUE as to what it is or what to do with it thought someone could tell me how to boot a cd with it if I knew that I could probably get it to work but I cannot get the system to recognize anything I give it USB, ZIP or CD

by scott_heath

...for TiggerTwo, I apologize if our skepticism got out of control. I'm not sure how I feel about everything you said, but she seems to think that you are legit and has made inquiries that make her feel that way.

Unfortunately, the only advice I can give you is to take it to a shop and have them look at it. The RAID config will make it complicated but they should be able to do it. There is no information we can provide you via the internet that would be productive.

by older mycroft

Sorry, but I just don't buy it!

Tigger might even be getting sucked in due to having relations living in this area, but what does the geographic location have to do with anything?

THIS remains a password crack question.

The unexpected death of a bloke with cirrhosis, the introduction into the postings of a HazMat team, a RAID configuration of either 0,1,2,3 or 4 from a non-tech user, what is going on here?

Why have we suddenly all become participants in an on-screen docu-drama?

I just don't see where REAL LIFE managed to get such a foothold all of a sudden, in what is a standard no-answer question.

by retro77

Not like he was found dead at his computer. He might have burned 4 copies of Adobe Acrobat Pro and shut the computer down. Hours later passing away.

Nothing on the computer is going to tell you how or when a person died.

Take the computer to a tech and have them recover any data for you. When my car breaks, I take it to someone that knows. I dont tinker with something I dont understand.

Good luck and sorry for the loss.

by admin

and what I have read online about raid. I do not understand the concept not what each of the numbers means, i just know they exsist. As for you not believing me at this moment I dont care anymore. You people are nothing but unhelpful, a simple answer could have helped not being told I am a liar. Makes me feel wonderful that people with human knowledge care not to help out someone in need. Thank you all for your help and for giving me such a hard time. I will be sure not to visit this site anytime soon and will tell anyone that I know not to use it as most of you are unhelpful. As for Tigger I do thank her for being the only one who can understand as to what I am going through. Those of you who do not believe me I will give you whatever you want to verify my story. Want to call my place of work and ask them fine by me. Want to check my works website for the location and address?? fine by me. Rather than asking to verify you all shot me down and told me basically to go to hell. Thanks I do appreciate it.

by tig2

I could have easily blown holes in this story. I called Mom. This has had some local coverage.

It is just tragic and real. The guy has been through something that none of us can guess at. Please stop.

I am waiting for the local to publish the story... assuming they ever do. Mom will send me the cutting and I will scan and publish it.

Leave this guy alone!

by mjd420nova

Most any Admin person has encountered large numbers of units that have required clearing of the password to access the info on the unit. That clears up that question. Over the past 5 years I have read countless threads with very much the same story and they have all gotten the same response from the members. Do not assume that we believe you nor should you assume that we suspect you as being a theif or hacker BUT we have not gotten any proof and can get no proof of what you say. I can give you a quick primer on how to get past this password problem but will not because of the ETHICS involved in doing so. Any computer shop worth even $5.00 will be able to do it for you but you must be prepared to provide them with some form of identification and confirmation of circumstances. Don't shoot the messenger. As I have said, we've heard some sob stories and worse.

by tig2

I have the name and number of the shop. I called Mom and she will try to meet him up tomorrow morning. Worst is that I will ring them with a card number.

This happened. Sometimes it is important to stop and consider that the outlandish is true.

He's trying to be smart about this. He asked for help in the midst of a very painful situation. Some of my peers have been... words. I understand and when he's beyond this, he will too.

I have gone to the point of calling California to the place this occurred. My mother was able to read the bit from the paper to me. I checked- no update available. Mom is sending the clip so I can post it.

STOP. He's been through enough

by tig2

Peer me with details. I want to know that this pain is out of your life. I just need to ring my Dad.

by admin

It does me a great deal to me and my family.

by older mycroft

Available in abundance here - it STILL does not detract from the essence of the original post.

Perhaps months back, when we all had the debate, the debate that I personally instigated, of [u]"Do we flame, or Do we take the blame?"[/u] we should have included the clause, [b]"But the inquiry will be taken as acceptable if some bloke dies in Rancho Cucumonga and the HazMat team is called in."[/b]

I hate to point out something that should be obvious but I am sticking to what I know. You , it would appear, have the advantage of a telephone link directly to the geographical location in question, and have had a newspaper article read to you. However, did the newspaper article include details of the dreadful time the relatives were having attempting to break into the poor bloke's computer?

I think not.

Perhaps across the great expanse of water that separates myself from you, there is some difference of opinion as to the meaning of a HazMat Team, and the criteria for their deployment.

As a nurse you should be aware that in almost all cases of death, feces is an inevitable by-product brought about by muscle relaxation. Sadly, we live out our lives closeted from the harsh realities of death. Only once you have witnessed death first-hand are you aware of the inevitable by-products.

So, we have a situation where some bloke did actually die and an article in a local newspaper.

None of which should be of any concern to the TR population, sad as it may be.

It still does not detract from the matter in hand - how to crack a password.

If I wanted to contribute to the work of the Samaritans, I would expect this type of posting on their noticeboard. Not on TR.

by maecuff

Sorry for your loss.

I've read through this whole thread and while I feel a great deal of sympathy for the poster, I have to agree that the proper answer is to take the computer to a professional to get answers.

I don't usually post to the 'how to I hack a system' threads, because it doesn't interest me. I think that NOT giving out that information is a good idea. Most of the people here have been consistent with rejecting those requests. So, if there is an exception made because someone has a tragedy, where is the line drawn? And what happens when a person does some research on a local tragedy and passes it off as his/her own to get the information they want?

It's been a good policy to just NOT provide hacking information. I believe it should stay that way, regardless of the story behind it.

With all that being said, I hope the best for you and your family.

by older mycroft

[b]Sorry Tigger and admin@, but pathos and empathy aside, both of which are...[/b]
Available in abundance here - it STILL does not detract from the essence of the original post.

Perhaps months back, when we all had the debate, the debate that I personally instigated, of "Do we flame, or Do we take the blame?" we should have included the clause, "But the inquiry will be taken as acceptable if some bloke dies in Rancho Cucumonga and the HazMat team is called in."

I hate to point out something that should be obvious but I am sticking to what I know. You , it would appear, have the advantage of a telephone link directly to the geographical location in question, and have had a newspaper article read to you. However, did the newspaper article include details of the dreadful time the relatives were having attempting to break into the poor bloke's computer?

I think not.

Perhaps across the great expanse of water that separates myself from you, there is some difference of opinion as to the meaning of a HazMat Team, and the criteria for their deployment.

As a nurse you should be aware that in almost all cases of death, feces is an inevitable by-product brought about by muscle relaxation. Sadly, we live out our lives closeted from the harsh realities of death. Only once you have witnessed death first-hand are you aware of the inevitable by-products.

So, we have a situation where some bloke did actually die and an article in a local newspaper.

None of which should be of any concern to the TR population, sad as it may be.

It still does not detract from the matter in hand - how to crack a password.

If I wanted to contribute to the work of the Samaritans, I would expect this type of posting on their noticeboard. Not on TR.

by tig2

No one gave him any information. All I was asking you guys to do was quit flaming the poor guy. I validated his story. How about letting it go?

I can't call the shop for a couple of hours. He had already called a shop, already spoken to someone there, was already planning to go down that path. All what we suggested that he do.

Get off the guy. He is doing the right thing. He just wanted some advice.

by older mycroft

Of the event, of the newspaper article, of his relationship to the deceased, of the old guy's ownership of said system . . .

You haven't validated anything.

Sorry...

by cmiller5400

Just think of it this way, would [b]YOU[/b] want to go in there and clean up the mess without hazmat suits? I think not. Not with Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS viruses possibly hanging around in the blood(Not saying that they were.) I know that I would not want to chance it.

Now to admin@, my deepest sympathies for your loss.

by tig2

i have been in touch with the OP and have confirmed the story. This is a real thing happening to a family. I for one am glad that this is a place that people can feel comfortable about coming to for help.

Now for the tough message- I understand that we all feel strongly about seagull posters asking for this kind of help. But lately it has gotten WAY out of hand. This kid was no seagull. Maybe he didn't understand why we feel as we do but he was trying to manage under the weight of some grief. Sometimes we do the wrong things when we're dealing with that.

As many of you may know, I offered to pay to have the machine dealt with by a professional. What you don't know is that the OP immediately sent me the details of the shop he planned to go to. I have had a reminder in my pc to call the shop when he planned to go there with the computer.

What you also don't know is that his family did not want to let me do this. They will still take the machine to the shop but are electing to pay for the work themselves.

I asking all of my peers to let this thread go to the oblivion it deserves.

We need to keep in mind that TR exists by page views. Anyone getting caught in toxic threads could reasonably decide that TR is not worth the bother.

Let this go.

by jamesrl

No one wishes my family ill and gets a free pass.

The OP chose to bring his family and their issues here.

You make your own choices and I will make mine.

James

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