Sorry folks I mistakenly left out all the commands I ran, hope this makes more sense
,
Connect-VIServer esxihostname -User root -Password oldpasswd
Set-VMHostAccount -UserAccount root -Password newpasswd
Disconnect-VIServer esxihostname
The commands completed successfully,and I can still connect via powercli with the new password, but when I try to connect via console or web client, I get a wrong password type error for root.
Again sorry for the missing info, it was hectic at the time I posted earlier, and also I really appreciate all help,
Joe