I really have no idea what's running - I picked it out of a junk pile.
The password box pops up, as a dialogue that says "Enter password for
Macinto.", and a text entry box. I assume that the "Macinto" is a
truncation
of "Macintosh". The time time I try, it says "Enter password for
Appli(cations)". After the third incorrect password, the machine does a
shutdown, and I can press the Restart button on the screen.
This is what it is doing, it is showing the icons
on the bottom of the
screen during boot, even while I hold the shift key down.
I wonder -- do you have At Ease running? What does the password window
requestor look like?