Hielp hielp...

Feeling a bit like a girl in a pink coat and, for reasons that were never adequately explored, a leather flying hat, I have been in distress with Ubuntu on my HP laptop. The same install on my breadbox found my 3G modem instantly and it was downloading updates within minutes of being plugged in. On the laptop, it's asking for a password. There is NO password. A quick look on the interweb revealed that I am not the only one to have this problem, but the answers/fixes really didn't help me. I guess I need to read more. This isn't a major problem, because I am exploring the Linux route with the knowledge that it will probably need more participation from me.