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Best Buy Never Gave Me Admin

D

Dev2

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 5, 2008
7
0
I live with my sister in Ireland, during the summer she bought a MacBook Pro with 10.5 from Best Buy. It was a window model and she was able to get a substantial discount. Anyway she brought it back to Ireland and I showed her that she didn't have admin access because Best Buy still had the password.

She rang Best Buy who basically said bring it down to us. She explained how we live in Ireland and that would be a problem. They then suggested she take the laptop to an Apple Store in Ireland and get them to fix it and they would reimburse her on proof of receipt.

The most convenient Apple store to me is undergoing renovation and honestly I don't have the money to able to shell out even if only temporary.

I have a 10.5 install disks and and an Ubuntu 9.04 i386 install DVD (downloaded and burned with Disk Utility)

I tried erasing and reinstalling with just the 10.5 disks but the password remained! I assume this a safety mechanism or something for stolen laptops.

Anyway my new plan was to reformat using the Ubuntu disk and reinstall 10.5. I can't boot from the Ubuntu DVD even by holding down 'c' during the startup dong.

Thanks,
 
Use the boot discs to open disk utility and wipe the hard drive clean
then reformat the hard drive and reinstall os x like you would for a new hard drive
 
I followed your instructions till I noticed a reset password utility above disk utility. It allows you to select user (user or admin) and type in a new password.

I assume this did the job. What is the best way to check? I tried messing around in system preferences with the lock buttons but that only needs the user password.

Maybe I should try using sudo? I don't know any terminal commands that need sudo. I don't want to change anything either.
 
Dev2 said:
I followed your instructions till I noticed a reset password utility above disk utility. It allows you to select user (user or admin) and type in a new password.

I assume this did the job. What is the best way to check? I tried messing around in system preferences with the lock buttons but that only needs the user password.

Maybe I should try using sudo? I don't know any terminal commands that need sudo. I don't want to change anything either.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it did the job. If you want a sudo check just do,
Code: 
sudo ls
(Lowercase L then s)
Sudo can be applied to any command, not just ones that need administrator rights. Also, when unlocking System Preferences items, that can only be done with an administrator account so's really enough to tell you. You can also look in System Preferences > Accounts and see if the user is tagged with Standard or Admin.
 
The problem here? Don't buy anything Mac from Best Buy... Ever.

People seem to experience alot of problems from the workers. They don't get the install disks, they don't get the correct model type, etc.
 
the problem goes deeper with Best Buy laptops . they use a program called deepfreeze to lock down the system. you need that username and password also to unlock the system or every time you reboot it will go to the original configuration.
 
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