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Lisamm00

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2013
7
0
I got a large amount of Best Buy gift cards for Christmas and decided to buy a 13 rMBP today. There was a good price on an open box. I opened the box and looked it over and it looked like new. I quickly checked the battery cycles and it has 1 battery cycle. Paid and left only to get home and realize that there's a password on it. I was quite upset because my schedule is crazy and having to go back tomorrow is frustrating. I called to find out what I need to do and the gal said to being it in and the geek squad would wipe it. She said that she wasn't sure when they could get to it and I'd have to check with them when I bring it but it could be 4 hours or a few days. What?! I told her that I thought that was absurd and she said she understood but that's how it goes. Should I expect quicker service? I sort of feel like they should just hand me a new one and not make me run back in two times for their error. What do you think?
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
Is it the login Password, if yes you could reinstall the OS yourself, or recover the password from recovery, press Command-R (Edit: at startup) to get into recovery, if this works you don't need to go to the store.

Erasmus, there are no Install disks with this machine.
 
Last edited:

Erasmus

macrumors 68030
Jun 22, 2006
2,756
298
Australia
Erasmus, there are no Install disks with this machine.

Good point.

Make yourself a System Install USB?

Either way, just format the sucker. Hold option during startup, and select the recovery disk. From there, you should be able to format the computer without using the password. Then make a System Install USB, or just let the internet system install thingy do its magic.
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
Good point.

Make yourself a System Install USB?

Either way, just format the sucker. Hold option during startup, and select the recovery disk. From there, you should be able to format the computer without using the password. Then make a System Install USB, or just let the internet system install thingy do its magic.

No worries.

There is a recovery partition on the HD, there is no need to make a bootable Installer disk.

BUT, I am pretty sure you can recover the password without reinstalling, isn't there a utility which you can choose from the Menu Bar?

Also, what if there is a firmware Password, if this is what he means with a Password reinstalling won't work!!!
 

Irock619

macrumors 68000
Sep 16, 2011
1,788
293
San Francisco, CA
Or just take it in to Apple and have them fix it. Just make sure to bring the receipt from BB so the genius doesn't think you stole it.
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
Password recovery also won't work I think, I found this on Apple's site and you need an AppleId for this to work and his computer is not set up yet with this.

OP, when do you need to enter the password, at login or when the computer boots, this is an important question.
 

monkeybagel

macrumors 65816
Jul 24, 2011
1,141
61
United States
If FileVault is not enabled, you should be able to get into it.

How did you see the battery cycles in the store? It was apparently logged in at that time. There may be a store password on it that they may remove for you if you take it to that store.

Try this article - it should apply to 10.8 as well.
 

Lisamm00

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2013
7
0
It's a login password, I guess. The computer boots and I can look around at things. I just cannot make any changes as it keeps prompting me for the password. It says owner, has a little eagle avatar thing then a space for the password. Sorry for being so clueless..this is my first MacBook.
 

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
It's a login password, I guess. The computer boots and I can look around at things. I just cannot make any changes as it keeps prompting me for the password. It says owner, has a little eagle avatar thing then a space for the password. Sorry for being so clueless..this is my first MacBook.

So, you get into the desktop, if this is the case it is not the login password, it is already logged into the User Account.

Why not reinstall the OS, hold the Command and R key when you start up, you'll get into the installer and choose the Macintosh HD, then click install, it will completely wipe the disk and starts from new.
 

Spikeywan

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2012
252
0
Have you tried just hitting the enter key when it asks for a password? A machine at work had me with this one for ages.
 

Lisamm00

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2013
7
0
I had to run an errand today that required me to be very close to best buy so I tossed it in my car and decided to stop in the geek squad guy said "oh it's our password from when went over it". He said the password is "password" then made sure that i could enter a new password successfully. I tried all sorts of simple passwords but I guess I didn't get simple enough! Thanks for all of your suggestions and replies I'm so glad it's fixed and I can get to really having fun!
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,031
7,872
I had to run an errand today that required me to be very close to best buy so I tossed it in my car and decided to stop in the geek squad guy said "oh it's our password from when went over it". He said the password is "password" then made sure that i could enter a new password successfully. I tried all sorts of simple passwords but I guess I didn't get simple enough! Thanks for all of your suggestions and replies I'm so glad it's fixed and I can get to really having fun!

So now you know Best Buy's passwords next time you want to mess with their display models. :D

Seriously, though, it sounds like you got a great deal. That's less than the price of the base rMBP and it doesn't seem like the machine got much use at all.
 
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