xp home hangs at or during logon screen

[McMadman]

I don't have any access to the laptop with this problem. It seems to hang at the light blue screen with hd access, but nothing else seems to happen

At this point I'm not too sure what can be done to fix it short of a total reinstall, and even that can't be dealt with until later in the week.

Any suggestions as to how it could be repaired or if theres even any saving?

There was/is only one valid user account, so it was auto logging in as the main user just fine before.

 

[McMadman]

After trying to use the recovery cd (theres an xp pro disc, but not an xp home) it says invalid password which leads me to believe that the SAM got corrupted

Is a "repair" install possible when using an xp pro disc on an existing install of xp home?
Or what else can be used to correct this?