help reformatting used ibook

[testdrivevideos]

just bought a used ibook. old owner's ID is still there... don't have his password. but i do have the system disks. can't i reinstall a clean system and make an identity for myslef?

 

[Makosuke]

Yes, you definitely can, and it's what you should do.

Put in the restore disc, restart (or power up) the computer, and hold down the "C" key. It should boot from the restore disc, and you can then just select "erase and install" under the options on the install screen.

Or, if you prefer, you can first open up Disk Utility (it's in one of the menus in the installer), reformat (and partition, if you're so inclined) the drive from there, then install using the installer.

If the "c" key thing isn't working for you, you should also be able to use the startup manager by holding down the "option" key just after you turn on the computer; a list of options should appear, at which point you can insert the restore disc and select it to start from. Here's Apple's page on the topic:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106178

 

[testdrivevideos]

ibook format help

thanks!

worked like a charm.