Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Resolved Mac Divestment

R

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Hello to all.

I have decided that, with the failure of the Mac sale on CL and in the Marketplace forum and prices all around decreasing rapidly on PPC Macs, the future or potential value of my PPC Macs ia almost non-existent. Because of this, I have decided to give them away and will do so after I install Tiger to all of them.

I will be doing this with:

17" iMac G5 1.9GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 80GB HDD with Airport, BT, and in pretty good condition considering the superdrive is not begin recognized or mounted and the appearance of 2 vertical lines on the left half of the display. I will also be including a MacAlly keyboard and mouse set along with it.

20" iMac G5 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD in excellent condition. There are no issues and everything works perfectly. It doesn't have AP or BT, but I will be including an Apple Pro(black) Keyboard and mouse set.

12" iBook G3 900MHz, 640MB RAM, 40GB HDD in excellent condition with additional top/bottom cases, extra keyboard, and of course the power adapter.

I was just wondering if there was any way to NOT give my information to register it so that I can just fully update them to 10.4.11 an then get rid of them that way. Thanks in advance for any help!

***Update***

It was actually pretty easy to not have to enter my information. The official owner of all of these macs will be Mr. Mac Owner from Anytown U.S.A. somewhere in California that has the 123 area code. pretty awesome.
 
Last edited:
At the installation screen where it prompts for your information, just press command-Q and select shut down. Then when the new owner gets it, they'll be prompted to enter their information just like a factory new Mac. I believe there's also a button to skip the registration part of it as well.
 
Intell said:
At the installation screen where it prompts for your information, just press command-Q and select shut down. Then when the new owner gets it, they'll be prompted to enter their information just like a factory new Mac. I believe there's also a button to skip the registration part of it as well.
Click to expand...

Would that start the machine up with the intro video? I've seen used Macs sold on eBay that boot up to the video, but always wondered how.
 
Intell said:
At the installation screen where it prompts for your information, just press command-Q and select shut down. Then when the new owner gets it, they'll be prompted to enter their information just like a factory new Mac. I believe there's also a button to skip the registration part of it as well.
Click to expand...

Hi Intell,

I did not know that it was that easy to do it. I went ahead and put in fake information though because I wasn't going to leave 2 of the Macs at 10.4.1. Plus, the 17" G5 won't boot into 10.4.1 since it was shipped with 10.4.2. It might have booted into it, but I didn't want hardware incompatibilities like I experienced when I did that with my iBook G4 a while back. So I did the fake registration for the 20" iMac and then used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the installation to the 17" and then to the G3. It worked no problem and now they're ready to go out the door.
 
On the Macs I would go a step further and run the following commands (explanation of what it does after the "//")..

Start up in single user mode (hold Command+S while powering on until you see white text over a black background)

/sbin/fsck -fy // Quick check of the file system, not essential but a good habit.

/sbin/mount -uw / // Mount the root volume

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone // Removes the .AppleSetupDone file. The file itself doesn't hold any info but instead is checked for, whether it exists or not, as the system boots. If it's found then the system continues to the login screen, if it's not found then it runs through the welcome video/Setup Assistant.

rm -rf /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb // Removes the database of user information

rm -rf /Users/"username" // Replace "username" with the short name of any users on the system. You can run (without quotes) "ls /Users" to determine what all names are present. This command removes the home directories for the different users.

rm /root/.bash_history // This clears out any history if the root account was enabled/used. Usually not necessary but doesn't hurt.

reboot // Shuts down the system and reboots.

Assuming these were all run you should have a Mac that has all of the software & updates you installed that will otherwise appear to be a new Mac when the new owner powers it on. These are the same commands I would run when finishing up the refurb process on iBooks and PowerBooks before checking them off as ready for sale.
 
Mr Rabbit said:
On the Macs I would go a step further and run the following commands (explanation of what it does after the "//")..

Start up in single user mode (hold Command+S while powering on until you see white text over a black background)

/sbin/fsck -fy // Quick check of the file system, not essential but a good habit.

/sbin/mount -uw / // Mount the root volume

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone // Removes the .AppleSetupDone file. The file itself doesn't hold any info but instead is checked for, whether it exists or not, as the system boots. If it's found then the system continues to the login screen, if it's not found then it runs through the welcome video/Setup Assistant.

rm -rf /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb // Removes the database of user information

rm -rf /Users/"username" // Replace "username" with the short name of any users on the system. You can run (without quotes) "ls /Users" to determine what all names are present. This command removes the home directories for the different users.

rm /root/.bash_history // This clears out any history if the root account was enabled/used. Usually not necessary but doesn't hurt.

reboot // Shuts down the system and reboots.

Assuming these were all run you should have a Mac that has all of the software & updates you installed that will otherwise appear to be a new Mac when the new owner powers it on. These are the same commands I would run when finishing up the refurb process on iBooks and PowerBooks before checking them off as ready for sale.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this! That's pretty awesome and I did not know that these could be done at all. That also makes it more fun for the next owner whoever that may be.
 
Mr Rabbit said:
On the Macs I would go a step further and run the following commands (explanation of what it does after the "//")..

Start up in single user mode (hold Command+S while powering on until you see white text over a black background)

/sbin/fsck -fy // Quick check of the file system, not essential but a good habit.

/sbin/mount -uw / // Mount the root volume

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone // Removes the .AppleSetupDone file. The file itself doesn't hold any info but instead is checked for, whether it exists or not, as the system boots. If it's found then the system continues to the login screen, if it's not found then it runs through the welcome video/Setup Assistant.

rm -rf /var/db/netinfo/local.nidb // Removes the database of user information

rm -rf /Users/"username" // Replace "username" with the short name of any users on the system. You can run (without quotes) "ls /Users" to determine what all names are present. This command removes the home directories for the different users.

rm /root/.bash_history // This clears out any history if the root account was enabled/used. Usually not necessary but doesn't hurt.

reboot // Shuts down the system and reboots.

Assuming these were all run you should have a Mac that has all of the software & updates you installed that will otherwise appear to be a new Mac when the new owner powers it on. These are the same commands I would run when finishing up the refurb process on iBooks and PowerBooks before checking them off as ready for sale.
Click to expand...

This is very helpful! I'll keep it in mind.
 
Well the divestment process has begun and it's going pretty well!!!

After a flagged and subsequently deleted post on CL, I was able to get rid of the 17" iMac, someone is already set to pick up the 20" iMac tomorrow, and now just trying to set something up for the iBook G3. I e-mailed someone that showed interest initially, but how knows what will happen with that.

But so far, so good!
 
The iMacs are gone!

The iMacs are gone! woohoo!!!!

Eyoungren picked up the 20" this morning and now it's down to the iBook G3.
 
RedCroissant said:
The iMacs are gone! woohoo!!!!

Eyoungren picked up the 20" this morning and now it's down to the iBook G3.
Click to expand...
Leopard 10.5.8 now installed and updated. Just a few things to do and I can turn it over to the family. Thanks Ryan!
 
RedCroissant said:
The iMacs are gone! woohoo!!!!

Eyoungren picked up the 20" this morning and now it's down to the iBook G3.
Click to expand...

cool thread.

a thought for you if you have no luck/leads on the ibook, you might try a 'senior center', lots of retired teachers who know/use/used mac would love to have something like that to use. it would make an epic email and solitaire system... :p best of luck.
 
4JNA said:
cool thread.

a thought for you if you have no luck/leads on the ibook, you might try a 'senior center', lots of retired teachers who know/use/used mac would love to have something like that to use. it would make an epic email and solitaire system... :p best of luck.
Click to expand...

Wel it's primarily thanks to you that I am able to do this at all! Before your awesome generosity, I was swapping parts and finding ways to uses all of the machines for different tasks because one of them couldn't do everything (as far as I/O, BT, AP..etc).

Now, the first machine that you gave me quite effectively replaced 3 machines. <-That in itself is awesome. The other one you gave me replaced my broken iBook.

As of right now, there is one person interested in it that lives in MD. I'm considering it, but just the shipping alone makes it not really free to the person getting it and that's kind of weird.

I had a BUNCH of fake interest on CL here and it sucked. I even tried selling all 3 of them plus all of the accessories for $150 total and that didn't even work.

But yes, that is a good idea and I'll check and see if that will work out. Believe it or not, charity is often refused around here.
 
RedCroissant said:
...I had a BUNCH of fake interest on CL here and it sucked.
Click to expand...

ain't that the truth. CL has to be the most frustrating site ever! they are like, i'll take it, be right over, nothing. :confused:

or if you ask to much, you're a thief, and if you ask to little, you must be lying and there must be something terribly wrong with it. :mad: nuts.

happy to help, glad it worked out well. best of luck.
 
4JNA said:
ain't that the truth. CL has to be the most frustrating site ever! they are like, i'll take it, be right over, nothing. :confused:

or if you ask to much, you're a thief, and if you ask to little, you must be lying and there must be something terribly wrong with it. :mad: nuts.

happy to help, glad it worked out well. best of luck.
Click to expand...

Well, this was a ridiculous demonstration of CL idiocy. I had been trying to actually sell the 17” iMac since before August, and this most recent ad was flagged and deleted. So I of course broke the rules and immediately reposted the ad but made it a little bit more antagonistic and contemptuous. Here it is:

I am GIVING AWAY my 2005 iMac G5. It's a 17" PPC iMac G5 with a 1.9GHz CPU, 1.5GB RAM(Max 2.5GB), 160GB SATA HDD, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Airport 802.11a/b/g, built-in iSight webcam, and running OS X Tiger(10.4.11) It comes with a third-party keyboard and mouse by MacAlly.

Someone on here flagged it because they probably didn't understand what "giving away" means. The ad also did not update properly to reflect my desire to "give it away" for free. It is free. Completely free. Quit flagging this.

This machine is more than capable of running OS X Leopard (10.5.8) and it did when I was using this as my main machine for airplay and streaming to my former AppleTV.

-Currently, the superdrive is not being recognized and is not mounting properly even though I used the superdrive to install the operating system.

-There are also 2 vertical lines on the screen in the left half of the display but sometimes are not present.

If you have any other questions relevant to this machine and its status and operability, please feel free to email me.

I will not ship this item and will only deal locally.

Also, I have already been receiving quite a bit of spam/scam emails and it's bothersome. The ad is still active so if you are interested in this item, respond under the assumption that the iMac is still available.

Any emails also asking questions when the answers to those questions are already in the ad will be ignored. I severely dislike telemarketers and spam email, and thanks to this ad, I am now receiving plenty.

If you have read all of this and are still interested in the computer, then please take the time to respond to the ad from a real email address with real contact information.

Thank you very much for looking and have a nice day/night.

Luckily, someone understood plain english and responded like this:

“Hey my name is '——' I'm interested in picking up the computer that you have, you can contact me at ###-###-#### please, I don't have any questions, I just willing to go and grab. Thank you”

That’s why they got the iMac. Perfect.
 
BaddestArvai said:
I wish you would be willing to ship. There are no ads in my area for power PC macs. :(
Click to expand...

Hello,

I actually am willing to ship it depending on the circumstances, but not through ANY contact I receive through CL.

There is a MR member that has essentially claimed it and just figuring out the financial side before committing.
 
RedCroissant said:
Hello,



I actually am willing to ship it depending on the circumstances, but not through ANY contact I receive through CL.



There is a MR member that has essentially claimed it and just figuring out the financial side before committing.
Click to expand...


Okay. Let me know if it works out or not. This is for the iBook correct?
 
RedCroissant said:
Correct. That's the only one that's left now thankfully!
Click to expand...


Would have loved to get my hands on that late model G5. I am trying to collect the last/best model of every PowerPC Mac made from 2003-2005. And it sucks when everybody in your area that has one is asking the price on everymac.com. I saw a guy asking $250 for his Mac mini G4...
 
BaddestArvai said:
Would have loved to get my hands on that late model G5. I am trying to collect the last/best model of every PowerPC Mac made from 2003-2005. And it sucks when everybody in your area that has one is asking the price on everymac.com. I saw a guy asking $250 for his Mac mini G4...
Click to expand...

That's because he/she is an idiot and thinks the Apple logo = $. Sometimes that is the case, but not with Minis that can't run Leopard (the same goes for iMac G4s in my opinion). Yes, they're pretty awesome looking, but if it can't run Leopard in my opinion, then I wouldn't buy it.

I always run into ads where it's obvious that the seller knows nothing about Macs and is absolutely not the original owner, but wants to play it off as though they are.

I almost bought a Power Mac G4 a while ago, but the seller removed the RAM, the AP card, and the HDD ("because of personal information"). And after all that, he was selling an "Apple Power Tower" for $300. NUTS.
 
RedCroissant said:
20" iMac G5 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD in excellent condition. There are no issues and everything works perfectly. It doesn't have AP or BT, but I will be including an Apple Pro(black) Keyboard and mouse set.
Click to expand...
AHEM…[clears throat].

It does now. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back