PowerBook G4 Locked Firmware

[Catman8976]

My 500Mhz PowerBook G4 has its firmware locked under an unknown password, due to being bought second hand, that refuses to let the computer boot off of the HDD which has Tiger and OS 9 on it and off of a Firewire target. What I need is a way oy getting it into a state where it actually boots and the firmware isn't locked.

It does boot into its Open Firmware and Boot Picker and can not boot off of a CD (also a CD is trapped in the drive).

All help is appreciated

 

[eyoungren]

Shut down, pull out a ram stick. Turn the Mac back on and reset PRAM (repeat 3x). This will get you to the login screen.

Shut the Mac back down at the login screen (assuming single user login is not active, otherwise, just shut it down from the Apple menu) and then replace the ram stick.

Boot as normal.

 

[Catman8976]

One problem, it doesn't take any key commands other then "option" and "Cmd+Option+O+F".

 

[RogerWilco6502]

I forget if this is a model that has a PRAM battery, but if it is you could always perform a little surgery to remove the battery just long enough. Idk if you want to go down that route though, as taking these PowerBooks apart seems like they might be a hassle.

If they don't have a PRAM battery (like the iBooks don't), you can remove the battery with no power attached.

Idk if this'll work, as I have no experience with these models. It's just my first inclination.

 

[DearthnVader]

1. Remove the Battery.
2. Disconnect the power adapter.
3. Remove a stick of Ram.
4. Reconnect the Power adapter.
5. Power on the system holding Command+OPT+P+R( If the system boots, power it down, however if you hear more than one boot chime, you are done, the nvram has been reset, and the password has been cleared. )
6 Power down the system.
7. Disconnect the Power adapter.
8. Add a stick of ram back to the system.
9. Connect the Power adapter.
10. Power on the system holding Command+OPT+P+R( Wait until you hear three boot chimes ).

It took all ten steps for me, when I removed a stick of ram and tried resetting the nvram, it didn't work, just booted my startup disk. However when I added the ram back to the system and powered it on, I was able to clear the NVRAM and get rid of the Firmware password.

 

[Catman8976]

I have done that multiple times, the computer does not have its PRAM reset by the command.