Performed an Archive and Install and now my Admin password doesn't work

Question

I talked to CS this afternoon per an issue with iTunes and was instructed to perform an Archive and Install.
I just got done running both discs and the computer seems ready to go. When I click on my user name (I'm the admin) my password no longer works. We have two other users on the computer (neither have been set up with a password to access the accounts) but now the computer is asking for one.
I'm typing my password correctly.
Does the computer reset to a generic password?
Any help would be appreciated!!
Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi Kathleen,
Does the computer reset to a generic password?
No, it most likely means that there was a disk problem, you can generally prevent... well, let me give you my whole spiel since we're here...
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.
The usual reason why updates fail or mess things up, or things don't load/run, is if Permissions are not fixed before & after every update, with a reboot... you may get a partial update when the installer finds it doesn't have Permissions to change one obscure little part of the OS, leaving you with a mix of OS versions.
Some people get away without Repairing Permissions for years, some for only days.
If Permissions are wrong before applying an update, you could get mixed OS versions, if Directory is the slightest messed up, who knows!
If many Permission are repaired, or any Directory errors are found, you may need to re-apply some the latest/biggest updates again, or even do an A&I if you have enough free disk space.
At this point it's not unlikely to undo the PW problem, but will prevent fiture problems.
If it still doesn't work, go back to Step 2 above & lok for Change Password in the Menu bar.
We have more if that still doesn't do it.