Have I killed my Ubuntu 14.04.3 trying to recover password and get Grub to work?

Question

Been happy Ubuntu convert since late 2013 when paid to ditch Win8 and install Ubuntu. [Ubuntu 14.04.3 on HP Compaq CQ58]

Like many others forgot my password
For me that happened after lappie lay idle for some time in disassembled state due to having to replace a part. I was able to do that though - bit of a victory there. Using flatmates' machines imt - v. generous.
Read so many things, tried so many things to sort this out.
This is where Linux is a challenge.
Did the below stuff and have just - it seems - turned my machine black with a blocking password problem for good measure.

Have been all over this site and the net to find the answers.
None had the full answer for my situation.

No password - so the type of access that I needed to my lappie, to be able to change things to fix up my forgotten password - a bit of a circuit there.

Also no GRUB access, poor terminal skills
Haven't been able to crack GRUB access at all.

SPECIFICS
Forgot password
Only access is via v limited Guest account - useless in this situation
After all those "its eazy peazy" answers that didn't work for me
Here is what I learnt if you are stuck

• You will need access to the backend
• Access and fix it via grub takes a few steps only - looks easy in lots of the answers for this issue, IF you can get Grub to show up
• Holding down 'Shift' not working on my Ubuntu only system
• Grub has by default been turned off - not sure why
• If no GRUB, next best is said to be create a bootable version of Ubuntu on a Live USB stick
• So first, get a USB stick with more than 2GB space, wipe it clean - shift your files somewhere else. If you select "Move to Trash" and don't immediately then empty the Trash folder, chances are that your USB will show up as not being empty at all. Will look like it, but not register as being empty when you start to try to set it up as a bootable USB stick .
• Reformat the USB to be FAT / FAT32 - can be read by all OS's they say. I used a thing on Mac > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility for that
• Then you need the Ubuntu .iso that matches your system.
• After downloading .iso you can't just put it onto the USB stick - it won't work. It has to be done using Easy CD Creator or UnetBootin or similar. This puts the .iso on the stick in a way that is accessible in a bootable format. The boot stuff is added onto the .iso using the software just named.
• So you then turn off your computer. Insert the USB, and turn on the system.
• For it to now work, you must have checked the BIOS for the order in which your computer goes looking for the operating system (Ubuntu, OSX, Win etc)
• For me pressing ESC key got me into the backend - "pause startup" words appeared bottom lhs of my screen then opened up options. F10 is the one you want.
• Click across to 3rd or 4th tab that gives you the option to enter the BIOS
• Use down arrows to highlight it, then press enter to get into it
• Find entry that says Boot Order or similar - again down arrows to choose it, then enter to access the options. Choose USB as first device. Use F5 and F6 to move USB up to top spot - booting from USB will happen first then.
• So you've set USB to be first - you have your FAT / FAT32 formatted stick with a bootable version of Ubuntu or whatever on it.
• Your computer is off, you have inserted the USB stick - USB2 is good, USB3
• Bootup and it should work
• On mine it did, I can see two disks on bottom lhs of screen - one is smaller ie your USB and the other is larger ie the hard drive. You now have ready access to all the folders on your lappie hdd. But no users at all, just a clean blank intro screen. You can use the Terminal in USB bootup to go further

And that's where the wheels fell off for me
Got lost in there, used sudo this and that as suggested. Not really knowing what i was doing. Ended up with hundreds of lines of stuff about Grub as I tried to find out about how to access it/set it to work Ended up not being able to close terminal so had to power down.
Getting desperate now after days, and some nights - booted up again with ESC pressed. Tried a few things in backend - eg a place there to set passwords - so did that at both locations fingers crossed. Just caused me to have a loud sound and had to enter 'admin' the generic word I was trialing with. Then could not disable that.
Also tried a few things I had come across in my reading - eg set Legacy Mode to on even tho i warns you things might break. Turned Secure mode off.
And then Voila!
Released from my problems because machine is now not working at all! Ohhh mama.
What's your answer? Please. Anyone?

Answer 1

Welcome to AskUbuntu Maia!

Looks like you messed up your BIOS. The BIOS password is NOT the Ubuntu password. Your first priority should be to reset your BIOS to its defaults. (Pressing Esc after starting the machine you should look for something like "Reset Settings to default" or "Load Default Settings" in your BIOS.) It will likely request the BIOS password you set. After that Ubuntu should boot again.

If you can't provide a password that BIOS will accept then you should get your BIOS flashed. You likely won't have the necessary equipment for external BIOS flashing, so your best bet would be to ask around your local computer shops whether someone can do that (they will need the exact model number for your laptop to tell whether they can flash it). It shouldn't take them long, but I'm not sure on it's pricing nowadays and the equipment might be rare enough that they might need to contact official / semi official HP repair shops which means that this endeavor might take a week or more.

If you can get to the point where Ubuntu boots, you should be able to reboot and use your live USB to boot into a system where you can run commands with sudo.

There you only need to modify your laptop's /etc/shadow (your HDD will be likely auto-mounted by the file manager, unless it's encrypted). Now you will need to look for your username and just delete the characters between the first and second :, it is important to only delete those characters (failure to comply renders that account unusable until repaired). Eg.:

You will have something like

username:$6$XXXXXXXX:<lots of other characters>

the XXXXXXXX will be numbers and letters and you should only delete the $6$XXXXXXXX part so it becomes

username::<lots of other characters>

This will remove the password from your account in Ubuntu and you will be able to log in. So reboot without the live USB and you are done.

After that (if you wish) you can set a new password by issuing passwd from a terminal.

Hope this helps, and you can get your system working again!