old school mac problem

[benjamin1254]

I have a power mac 5500/255 with a mac os 8.0 operating system on it. I recently got it as a gift for free by a person who desided to move over to a pc. Well, When i got it i was warned that the pc had password lock down on it due to the previouse owner. The computer never came with a OS install disk. So my question is how can i get past the passwords on this computer since i dont know them and the person that owned it before me doesent know. Any help at all would be wonderful becasue i want to be able to get passed all the clocks on it. I cant realy do much without the passwords. thanks!

 

[slooksterPSV]

Where does it ask for a password, cause I'd say try to zap the pram.

 

[Brooke_69]

msn messenger @school

my friends and i have tried so hard 2get around the blocks on our school computers which are pc'. does neone no a website that i can access from a school computer that the block system wouldnt no of? if so u can e-mail me @ babe_1_99@hotmail.com, thanks a lot.

Brooke

 

[slooksterPSV]

Brook, start your own thread please. And I do know of one, but I can't think of it.

 

[jackieonasses]

my friends and i have tried so hard 2get around the blocks on our school computers which are pc'. does neone no a website that i can access from a school computer that the block system wouldnt no of? if so u can e-mail me @ babe_1_99@hotmail.com, thanks a lot.

Brooke

To get past most websense do this


type in www1-00.inserthere.com just do this "1-00" minus the quotes

there you go

 

[slooksterPSV]

Hey answer me first, where does the password popup for you to enter it at?
E.G. when I turn on the computer, when I access programs, etc.

 

[benjamin1254]

when you go to run certain programs or the cd-rom drive it denies access to them. I try to even play mp3s on the old mac and it wont even let me do that. I can only access a limited number of programs. It is sorta angering me a little bit..

 

[emw]

when you go to run certain programs or the cd-rom drive it denies access to them. I try to even play mp3s on the old mac and it wont even let me do that. I can only access a limited number of programs. It is sorta angering me a little bit..

Can you boot off of the CD drive? That is, hold down 'C' while rebooting with an OS CD. I know you said it didn't ship with one, but you can download old systems from

http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html#system

and then potential boot off CD or floppy and reformat the drive.

 

[stoid]

You could put in a new HD, though without OS install discs I don't know how you'd use it then.

 

[benjamin1254]

Can you boot off of the CD drive? That is, hold down 'C' while rebooting with an OS CD. I know you said it didn't ship with one, but you can download old systems from

http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html#system

and then potential boot off CD or floppy and reformat the drive.

ok i went to the link but i dont understand this .bin file format... i understand the .img format becasue it is mainly used for burning raw data to a disk. but... when i tried to look for my os... i was definitly confused. understand its been a long time since i have used a mac. havent used one since i was in 3erd or 4th grade.

 

[MacNut]

if I remember correctly, The 5500 series as well as my 6500 originally boot with system 7.5. That would be the easiest way to restore the system, than if you want upgrade to 8.6 as it is the most stable os to run that machine.

 

[Edot]

Hmm... I don't think OS 8 had anyway of assigning a password since there was nothing like a "user" for the computer. I think that came around in OS 9. So I am guessing that a third party program was installed to lock the system down. I would try holding down the 'Shift' key when booting up. This will turn off the extensions, maybe this will disable the third party software. I know it sounds too easy, but the shift key solution works for far too many things. Then you can look through the HD>System>Extensions folder and try to find the culprit. I would suggest sorting by kind and looking for something non-apple. With out sitting at the comp I can't give you more than that. Do you know who made the password software? You could try to find the company on the internet, maybe the have a solution.

Good Luck!

 

[emw]

Hmm... I don't think OS 8 had anyway of assigning a password since there was nothing like a "user" for the computer.

I believe OS 8 used a "simple" system preference that assigned a password to the hard drive. No password, no access to certain functions - it wasn't user-based. The only way around it that I've found is to reformat the hard drive by booting off another CD.

 

[emw]

ok i went to the link but i dont understand this .bin file format... i understand the .img format becasue it is mainly used for burning raw data to a disk. but... when i tried to look for my os... i was definitly confused. understand its been a long time since i have used a mac. havent used one since i was in 3erd or 4th grade.

You may also try a local Mac dealer (a service shop, not something like CompUSA) to see if they have a CD you could use. Apple has made System 7.5 and below freely available, so they might have the CDs available. This would be easier than downloading and decompressing everything.