I CAN NOT GET ON MY POWERBOOK G4

[MACNEWDSU]

Help right now I have a Powerbook G4 1.25 Ghz, 512Mb, 80 GB, DVD
Paperweight. If I wasn't so embarrassed & didn't need it so bad, it might be funny, if you really sharp nice guys can help me, maybe I will laugh later. I sure hope so.

Were I am at? I can't get past the logon screen. I have no idea what the password is and I have no system disks. The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home. I have always had my password automatically entered when logging on, I am the only user.
I was messing around in admin. To set up a cable modem - I didn't like the PIC on my logon screen so I started to changing things and fell asleep when I woke up it was off I think maybe the battery ran out of juice. I plugged it in and fell back asleep. Then today, I turn it on and the password no longer enters it self and the one I have always used won’t work. Help! Please tell this new DSU it is easy to fix. WELL I HAVE SIX MORE DAYS BEFORE I GO HOME WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IN BORRING PODUNK TOWN WITH OUT?
I HOPE THEY HAVE A MAC RETAILER HERE THANKS A COUPLE LITTLE PLACES IN THE PHONE BOOK. I HAVE A LOT OF MY WORK ON THIS THING.

 

[vraxtus]

Help right now I have a Powerbook G4 1.25 Ghz, 512Mb, 80 GB, DVD
Paperweight. If I wasn't so embarrassed & didn't need it so bad, it might be funny, if you really sharp nice guys can help me, maybe I will laugh later. I sure hope so.

Were I am at? I can't get past the logon screen. I have no idea what the password is and I have no system disks. The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home. I have always had my password automatically entered when logging on, I am the only user.
I was messing around in admin. To set up a cable modem - I didn't like the PIC on my logon screen so I started to changing things and fell asleep when I woke up it was off I think maybe the battery ran out of juice. I plugged it in and fell back asleep. Then today, I turn it on and the password no longer enters it self and the one I have always used won’t work. Help! Please tell this new DSU it is easy to fix.

Oh boy that sucks.

Well without the CDs you're not going to be able to get into the comp... and even then you'll most likely have to reformat to get past the login screen lockout...

 

[stevehaslip]

This sort of thing is there to stop people doing exactly what you are trying to do! I cant think of an easy way to beat it. You could start the powerbook up in firewire target disc mode. That way you could retrieve all your stuff off it before you reformat. But you'll need another mac and a firewire cable. I dont think you could use a network cable because that would require some input from your powerbook which obviously is impossible. This is why I have 2 user accounts on my powerbook, one with a password that i will NEVER forget, the admin account. Anyway i think that linking your mac together with another mac is the best thing that i can think of.

 

[Manzana]

I can't get past the logon screen. I have no idea what the password is and I have no system disks. The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home.

yeah, ok...just give back the powerbook to it's rightful owner

 

[dotnina]

The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home.

So why all the panic?

 

[Mr. G4]

Help right now I have a Powerbook G4 1.25 Ghz, 512Mb, 80 GB, DVD
Paperweight. If I wasn't so embarrassed & didn't need it so bad, it might be funny, if you really sharp nice guys can help me, maybe I will laugh later. I sure hope so.

Were I am at? I can't get past the logon screen. I have no idea what the password is and I have no system disks. The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home. I have always had my password automatically entered when logging on, I am the only user.
I was messing around in admin. To set up a cable modem - I didn't like the PIC on my logon screen so I started to changing things and fell asleep when I woke up it was off I think maybe the battery ran out of juice. I plugged it in and fell back asleep. Then today, I turn it on and the password no longer enters it self and the one I have always used won’t work. Help! Please tell this new DSU it is easy to fix.

If you are close to an Apple Store, just take it there and ask one of the Geniuses to reset it for you. They will do it for you...no questions ask (that what they told me last time I visited the one in Emeryville, CA).

 

[MACNEWDSU]

JUST WAIT TILL THIS??????

yeah, ok...just give back the powerbook to it's rightful owner

 

[Elan0204]

You can use the Mac OS X CD to reset the password, and then get back into your computer without reformatting. Assuming of course that something more serious isn't going on besides you forgetting your password. Once you get new OS X discs, then you will be fine, but unfortunately there isn't much you can do until then. You should be able to access your files, however, using firewire disk mode as discussed above.

 

[EminenceGrise]

You could boot to Single User mode (Command-S at startup), and try to recover from there. Unfortunately, this would require a bit of NetInfo black magic that I don't happen to know off hand. Also, if the NI database has any existing problems with corruption, etc. (and it very well may, from your description of events leading up to this), you could make things very much worse. My advice is to take it somewhere that has a Mac OS X install disk, or wait until you obtain one. If the machine does have a lot of important work on it, this is the safest way to go.

In future, I suggest not using any part of the autologin business - for exactly the reasons you are now painfully familiar with - or alternatively, if you had lost the Powerbook in working order, anyone who found it would have access to all of your files. It's not hard to come up with a good 8-10 character password that you won't forget, and it only takes a couple extra seconds to log in ths way.

P.S. If you really want to try fixing things from single user mode, a quick search on Google with the appropriate terms will lead you to the info you want.

 

[FuzzyBallz]

I have no idea what the password is and I have no system disks. The airlines lost them on my previous trip. They will be ordered when I get home. I have always had my password automatically entered when logging on...

How interesting, you never had to enter the pw when login, but it's suddenly required this time. And coincidently, you forgot the pw... sounds real fishy.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Don't touch stuff that you don't know what it does. Ask Google, it will tell you. Aside from that, everyone here has had good advice.