Windows 7: 'The Fingerprint Reader Is Not Detected'. Massive Problem, Please Help

Ok, im not very computer minded, so this message may be brief to some....

I have owner and been using a HP Pavillion DV7 Laptop on Windows 7 Home Premium for nearly 6 months now. The computer has been great and worked well up until this morning.

A notice came up to do some updates, and once i clicked and computer restarted, I noticed my fingerprint reader no longer worked. I just get a message at first saying 'reading detector', then followed by 'The Fingerprint Reader Is Not Detected'. I had my finger sensor working fine daily up 2 this point.... its as if maybe a driver has been disabled or removed>?

Here's my problem... wtihout the sensor working, I have no possible way to get past user login screen. Its saying to type a password into box, but I cant for the life of me remember it, Im sure I never set one, as I knew the finger sensor would be easier?

Also I do not have any other accounts/usernames to enter into, and administator is not enabled....



anyone got an ideas?

I am essentially stuc at the login in screen, with no password or finger sensor. and I cant reset password as I get a message pop up saying 'This feature requires removable media'

Any help greatly appreciated.

I would guess this is a driver issue, so we need to figure out what is the driver. I checked out HP Finger Print detector and found this website -

AuthenTec Inc. Fingerprint Sensor Driver - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

Not sure if this is the driver, but it says it's only compatible with Vista and you have Windows 7? So possibly that's the problem?

Can you boot into Safemode without the machine requiring your finger print?

As much as anyone on this board would love to help, maybe hitting up HP to find out specifically what driver this device uses would be your first option.

thanks for very quick reply, I shall get a bit more on driver etc. info and message back asap

Thnks Sean

Can you boot in Safe Mode with Command Prompt or does that require a password as well. I forget. From troubles I've had before, I'd say it's drivers.

Hey thanks for reply.

by pressing F8 i can reach safe mode/command promt page, but once i click one It just takes me to the user login screen...

Yeh i fugured drivers too...just cant work out how it happened, as laptop & finger sensor has been working perfectly for close to six months now... and then all of a sudden the sensor can no longer be detected.

Is there a way of running an adminiatator account from boot? Can i set up an administator account withoung logging into my username?

My thoughts are that this worked because:

1) A Windows driver update wasn't current at the time of purchase
2) Fingerprint driver update not compatible with Windows 7

There is a questionable utility that helps bypass logon screens, but not sure if this would work with the fingerprint authentication.

Disclaimer - I've never used it so I cannot say it is 100% reliable and trustworthy.

You might want to bring this up with HP, your machine should have a 1 year manufacturer warranty before trying something that might break your machine/OS more.

If you have the Windows 7 install disc you can boot to the recovery console:

System Recovery Options

And configure the system to allow you to change your password at login:

Forgot administrator password? The Sticky Keys trick - 4sysops

Afterward, I suggest you uninstall the current fingerprint drivers and download/update them to the latest from HP directly:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html

Have you tried hitting enter without entering a password?

There is one possible way, which would be to access the laptop using another PC that had a fingerprint reader. I know it wouldn't be easy, but if you never set a password, you have to somehow let the computer read your finger. Or otherwise use some less than preferred way of getting in, like a rootkit or something like it. I don't know...