[SOLVED] Password

I upgraded to 12.04 LTS on my laptop several months ago. After a bout in the repair shop, they sent it back with there own password, so i changed it in 12.04. Now it will not recognize my password and the dots do not match the number of characters I used for the new password.

Am I completely locked out? I can not even update my original installation.

Can I download and install 12-10 and redo everything including the password?

Spike