HELP! Changed password and now am locked out!

[powerofthekiwi]

Ok - before I get flamed - I know what I'm doing on my Pbook and have been working on macs for 10 years, I am however stumped...

Yesterday I switched my password; went to accounts, typed in my current, typed in a new, and typed in the new password again. When I closed my Pbook and opened it again I was prompted by my login (it is set up to ask for a password when woken from sleep or from startup - I'm careful ). When I typed in the new password it did not work. I have tryed my old password, any other password I might have used, doing it with the caps lock on, and everthing else I could possibly think of. When I restart I am prompted by the login. My comp has locked me out!

I'm sure I didn't type in the wrong password twice, and nothing seems to be working. What can I do to get back into my pBook - this is really important!

set up in sig - running 10.3.6? (maybe .5, its the newest version I just forgot where we are!)

 

[jxyama]

obviously, the first order of business is to try, really, really hard to remember the password...

failing that, i'd at least recover the HD contents by using target disk mode. it will override any and all permissions/passwords. of course, you'll need another panther-enabled mac...

after that, i'd call apple. even if there's a way to override the password, i am not sure if i'd want something like that posted at MR - i mean, then whoever reads this post will be able to break into any Macs, no?

 

[powerofthekiwi]

Yeah good point - I do have another mac that I can transfer my files to, but that is away from school... Jeez I'm really not gonna looking forward to clearing my HD but it looks like that might be the case...

DAMN!

 

[jxyama]

do try calling apple. i'm fairly certain there's a way around this, especially since it doesn't sound like this is a root account/password and you didn't use filevault...

 

[WCat]

Easy. Just boot from your original install OS X CD (hold down the "C" key while booting with the CD in the drive). When you get to the first install screen, look for the menu item in the upper left corner you can pull down. One of the selections is to reset your password. No need to go further in the install process after that, just reboot without the cd and use your new password.

Cheers,

WCat

 

[powerofthekiwi]

ah jeez! I figured it out and was hurrying here to get credit and someone beat me to the punch...

Got it fixed! Thanks guys! One note - if you need to do this. It reset my password, but not my keychain password. I had to delete my old keychain and make a new one, so just so you know you'll lose your passwords (ironic huh?) and nothing else

ty for the help guys

 

[jxyama]

Easy. Just boot from your original install OS X CD (hold down the "C" key while booting with the CD in the drive). When you get to the first install screen, look for the menu item in the upper left corner you can pull down. One of the selections is to reset your password. No need to go further in the install process after that, just reboot without the cd and use your new password.

Cheers,

WCat

can't believe i missed that. good work. i'm glad it worked out...

 

[JiGGm]

when pressing c at boot with disk in, how long does it take to get to the setup menu? Because mine looks like it hangs at the white screen with the apple. it flicks and the apple screen re-appears but the apple image is fragmented in the upper left hand corner.

 

[timnosenzo]

when pressing c at boot with disk in, how long does it take to get to the setup menu? Because mine looks like it hangs at the white screen with the apple. it flicks and the apple screen re-appears but the apple image is fragmented in the upper left hand corner.

It takes a while to boot up--it has to load everything from the CD-ROM. It also depends on how fast your system is.

 

[JiGGm]

its a imac G5 with 512 mb ram and a 1.8 ghz processor

 

[Mechcozmo]

its a imac G5 with 512 mb ram and a 1.8 ghz processor

If it takes more than 10 minutes, you have issues. It can take around 5, but it depends...

And you can reset a Keychain password too, BTW. There is an option to do that, I forget where... it is there, though. I know it.

 

[JiGGm]

well, something isnt right then ;(
Its been on for a half hour. We might try using someone else's disc, that might work. ionno.