messed up account

[Harold]

I thought I was reconciling one of my checking accounts each month. I have a printed copy of each monthly statement starting in March, 2009 when I started using Gnucash. 

After a recent lightning strike that took out my pc, printer, modem, router, and other things, I have recovered the details of the checking account and it has entries that look up to date (as in August, 2011). In trying to make sure that this account was OK, I noticed that the last time that it shows that it was reconciled was end of September, 2010. 

I decided that the only way to straighten it out was to go back and reconcile each month until I get it up to date. The balance showing in the account doesn't match what the statement says should be the starting balance for October, 2010.


Is there a shorter or quicker way to reconcile this account?

How do I get the Gnucash account balance to be equal with the statement beginning balance for October, 2010?

Thanks,
Harold