how to restore my Powermac to its original settings

Boot your computer from the CD by holding c on your keyboard on startup. This will open up the install application automatically. Install Snow leopard by following the steps. This should completely wipe all of your settings

Just one slight addendum: if it is a PowerMac G5, then it will not boot from a Snow Leopard (10.6) disk. You will need Leopard (10.5), or Tiger (10.4). However, the instructions given by buth#4 will be the same no matter what operating system disk you use. Also, check the "Erase and Install" option to wipe your hard drive and install the OS onto a clean disk.

cheers

Richard

I have a related question. I'm giving my 2004 PMac G5 to a relative and have already erased the hard drive. This PMac came with OS X 10.3 (Panther) installed. I would like to put OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger) on it for my relative, but not create a user or admin account, so she can do that fresh. My Tiger install DVD has 10.4.6 on it. Assuming I can boot the G5 from the Tiger install DVD and install 10.4.6 without using the original Panther DVD it came with, is there any way to then run the 10.4.11 combo updater from a disk image without first creating an account? Or should I just burn a DVD of the combo updater on another machine (a Mac Pro running Snow Leopard) and give her that DVD to run once she has created her own admin account? Thanks for any help.

If you want to update it to 10.4.11, you can use this method to start afresh, the old account you created will be there, but I find it useful to have a backup admin account for emergencies...

Reset OS X Password Without an OS X CD...

http://theappleblog.com/2008/06/22/reset-os-x-password-without-an-os-x-cd/

Admin Hack...

http://www.hackmac.org/?q=node/4

Starts up like the first time you buy a new Mac, but after filling in all that info again, you should have access to the computer and the other Users & files will still be there... give the new User a different name than an existing one.

Thanks, BDAqua, but since I don't want there to be any accounts at all on the PowerMac when my relative starts it up, I think I will just put the 10.4.11 updater on a DVD for her to run once she's created her own account.

BTW, re:

Admin Hack...

http://www.hackmac.org/?q=node/4

a note on the hackmac.org post says this:

We suggest not attempting this procedure on machines running 10.4.x due to crash reports.

Just FYI.

Thanks, yes, the CD idea sounds good.