Upgrade 10.4 to 10.5 password issue

[michk]

I purchased and installed Leopard 10.5.6 on my older G5 tower, upgrading from 10.3 or 10.4, I don't remember which. Regardless, the install went fine, but upon restart it is asking me to login as a guest, myself (name), or other. I have never had to login when starting up and have no idea what password it is asking for.

I've tried two support articles from Apple, neither of which worked. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1543 and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1400?viewlocale=en_US)

I tried to sign up for Apple Support, just to be able to talk to someone, but you must enter your S/N, and when I do it says it's invalid, even though I re-typed it several times. Frustrating to say the least.

Thoughts? I'm really stuck here, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ihabime]

I purchased and installed Leopard 10.5.6 on my older G5 tower, upgrading from 10.3 or 10.4, I don't remember which. Regardless, the install went fine, but upon restart it is asking me to login as a guest, myself (name), or other. I have never had to login when starting up and have no idea what password it is asking for.

I've tried two support articles from Apple, neither of which worked. (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1543 and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1400?viewlocale=en_US)

I tried to sign up for Apple Support, just to be able to talk to someone, but you must enter your S/N, and when I do it says it's invalid, even though I re-typed it several times. Frustrating to say the least.

Thoughts? I'm really stuck here, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

It's the password you set up when you installed OSX on the G5 originally, you probably had auto-login turned on, so it never asked before.

Certainly you've had to type your password when installing a program or running a system update, accessing your keychain for internet passwords. It's the same password.

I'm guessing your G5 is older than 3 years, so the serial number won't work for signing up for applecare support.

The 2 articles you mention are the only ways I know of to reset the OSX password, neither of them worked for you?

 

[michk]

Thanks, you're probably right, auto login was turned on. I do know my password for installing software, which was my first attempt, but it would not accept it.

No, neither of the 2 articles from Apple worked either...

When trying to reset my password using the utilities menu it appeared to work. But it would not accept my 'new' password when trying to log back in after restarting.

Multiple attempts using the Single User Mode did not work either, I would just receive "invalid command" errors.

Good to know about the Apple Support only being available for 3 years, I'll stop trying to reenter my S/N number! Unfortunately, this leaves me with a computer I can no longer access and few options for help. Hmm, not sure where to turn.

 

[Cromulent]

Thanks, you're probably right, auto login was turned on. I do know my password for installing software, which was my first attempt, but it would not accept it.

No, neither of the 2 articles from Apple worked either...

When trying to reset my password using the utilities menu it appeared to work. But it would not accept my 'new' password when trying to log back in after restarting.

Multiple attempts using the Single User Mode did not work either, I would just receive "invalid command" errors.

Good to know about the Apple Support only being available for 3 years, I'll stop trying to reenter my S/N number! Unfortunately, this leaves me with a computer I can no longer access and few options for help. Hmm, not sure where to turn.

Just reinstall OS X from scratch, shouldn't be too hard. Just make sure you backup your e-mail and stuff.

 

[michk]

Just reinstall OS X from scratch, shouldn't be too hard. Just make sure you backup your e-mail and stuff.

I wondered about that, but 1) I can't backup anything now because I can't get into my computer. I know I should have done it beforehand...hindsight 20/20. and 2) I've never reinstalled old OS software after upgrading to a newer version. I wasn't sure if trying to go backwards would cause unexpected problems because 10.5 might have changed things in ways 10.4 could not account for??

 

[ihabime]

You might be able to get access for backup with target disk mode, or booting from an install on an external.

Even though you can't get Applecare, you can still get repairs and advice from the genius bar or other local Mac dealer, not sure what it would cost for them to backup your info or reset your password though.