Windows Password Problem

Hey guys gotta little problem thats getting to be a little annoying...

Im running Windows XP Pro with all the recent updates and such and havent been having any problems at all with the computer. Beings that its my computer I keep it password protected cause I dont need anything wrong happening to my computer because of little ones and such.

Recently my computer has been acting up a little bit..

When you first log into the computer, your password will work fine without any problems. But it seems that after about an hour of the computer being on.. if you use the "Winkey+L" feature to temp log off your side of the computer back to the login screen, your password wont work anymore and you cannot log back into the computer.

It does this with everyside on the computer. Even if you dont put a password on the side, it will ask for one and fail no matter what.

It only does this when the computer has been on for a little bit though. If I restart it. Login and then temp log right away, Im able to log back in no problem.

But after about 30-60minutes of the computer being on, the passwords just fail from that point on.

Anyone know how to fix this without reinstalling completely? Or if theres a fix for this? Thanks in advance guys.

- Wiccaan

Might be a corrupted user file, or else a hardware problem. Create a new user, and see if the same thing happens. You can export the old user account, and then import it into the new user after things are working OK. If they keep working the same, you can rule out hardware issues.

Are you using the Windows screen saver or do you have something else installed?

It does it to any user on the computer.

No screen saver used because its my personal computer, no one else uses it.

Its not a hardware issue either, been running windows for a while now on this computer, havent upgraded any hardware for about a year now, and even when I did, I reinstalled Windows.

The problem only happens after about an hour of the computer being on and then just stays like that, so if the computer ever some how returns to the login screen, the passwords wont work at all. But if you restart the computer, the passwords are fine.

Im not sure why it works that way.. but I dont see what would make it do this. I dont run any programs that mess with passwords and such so I dunno what would cause this error to happen. I havent seen anyone else with this problem either.

My moms computer runs the same windows as mine, beings that I used the same disc I ruled out the version of my windows being curropted since her computer is working fine. (Although its a piece of crap and barely works itself but yea..)

Dunno though.. anyone else got a suggestion? Or fix? (without reinstalling again...)

Its not like this has to be fixed right away, I usually just leave my computer on all the time and never log off so its not that big of a deal, its just annoying if I temp log by mistake or something.

You could have a virus changeing the details in the SAM file.
Then when you restart it might put it back the way it was.

You can try a windows reinstall (not a format + install windows). The windows CD has a repair feature where itll only reinstall the necessary files windows needs.