[otrs] resetting root password

I finally gave up on Turnkey OTRS. I took a fresh Ubuntu10 machine and got the "source" install. I got the thing up and running (kind of) I know that when it asked me for the root password I typed the right thing. I cant log into this thing via the web. I tried root, admin, otrs To no avail. I clicked on "forgot password" but that wont help because there is something wrong with the mail setup. Am I "bricked" again? Is there ANY salvage? Its taken me a whole day to get this far and I REALLY DON'T want to wipe the machine and start all over. How can I ssh into the machine and use the shell to set the web password for root ?