Password problem!!!

C

coldchillin

macrumors newbie

Original poster

• Jan 17, 2004

• #1

I bought a Mac on ebay months ago, and for a while, all it did was sit and collect dust. Now, I would like to start using it.

When I bought the computer, it was just the tower. No software, no cables. Just a tower, the parts inside, and osX 10.2 installed. Here is my problem. When the person who I bought it from, installed the OS, they made an admin account, with a password. Now... when I try to install anything, it says I need a password.

What I want to know is if theres anyway to bypass it, hack it, crack it, remove it so that I can reformat the harddrive, or install software??!!

 

S

sethypoo

macrumors 68000

• Jan 17, 2004

• #2

There is a way to reset the whole system, but I forget what the key strokes were.

Try contacting the seller of the system, he may be in your eBay feedback area. Find his email and drop him a line.

 

C

coldchillin

macrumors newbie

Original poster

• Jan 17, 2004

• #3

I tried to get ahold of him. :-\ no luck. I need to get by it, or to have a way to reformat the harddrive. 😛
I got OS X Panther cds to install, but it wont let me install w.out a password

 

Duff-Man

Contributor

• Jan 17, 2004

• #4

Duff-Man says....if you boot from the panther CD (hold down the "C" key) there is an admin password reset in one of the menus. If you are just going to install panther, and it is the full install disk, not the upgrade "up to date" package you should be able to do and "erase and install" anyway and then its like a fresh system and you can set up your account(s) the way you like....oh yeah!

edit - here is the apple doc for pw reset: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61945

 

MoparShaha

Contributor

• Jan 17, 2004

• #5

I think you're going about installing Panther the wrong way. Don't put the CD in when the computer is on, and click the installer. That's why it's asking for the password. What you should do is put the CD in, and simply restart the computer holding the "C" key. Your machine will boot off the CD, without asking for a password. I'd recommend doing a clean install, reformatting the HD.