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Level 1

24 points

How to overide Admin password please?

Trying to help a friend out with an imac A1207 running snow leopard, he bought it at a local auction and the seller powered it on and all looked well so he purchased but while taking it home, it got knocked against a wall and he thinks this caused the screen to show "in pieces" for when he got home and powered on it was only then he saw the screen with that problem. I need to reinstall the OS in "Safe mode" becuase whenever the system goes to the desktop the normal way we are seeing the shattered-looking screen so everything is in bits and pieces as the first screenshot shows so I cannot get to see the options of the boot disk to click on anything. In Safe mode the screen is normal but it is asking for the Admin password and my friend does not know it since he just bought it from an auction. Is there any way to overide the admin password so I can reinstall the OS or is there another way while in Safe mode to reinstall the OS without having to bypass the password screen please?

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 10:14 AM

75 replies

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Mar 24, 2013 7:50 AM in response to mikehende

If you have the graphics problem even when booting from the DVD then I guess it's a hardware issue, so getting an accurate diagnosis from a tech specialist is required. Good luck!

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 8:54 AM in response to Paul_31

Ok, thank you very much for trying to help! Till next time, regards.

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 10:58 AM in response to mikehende

Hey wait a minute paul, a local Mac tech just called me, he said he can get this unit to boot in normal mode just that the dvd won't play, can any of you or anyone else guys tell me how this can be done please?

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:10 AM in response to mikehende

...he said he can get this unit to boot in normal mode just that the dvd won't play,...

Not quite sure what you're asking - can you go over it again.

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:17 AM in response to mikehende

Oh, sorry for not being specific, here's the story. The imac is still in my possession, the owner asked me to look around for a local Tech here who does logic board repairs hoping they can replace the graphics chip so I made a few calls this morning and this one Tech replied that he can "disable certain drivers which will make the system boot normally without the problem but only you will not be able to play a DVD, otherwise everything else will function as normal". I am guess he's talking about about disabling certain "graphics" drivers but he wouldn't tell me exactly what or how to do it.

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:24 AM in response to mikehende

I'm no tech, I guess if a DVD drive isn't important it may be a cheap fix, but I'd be concerned it might be a bodge.

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:37 AM in response to Paul_31

Can you tell me what a "bodge" is please?

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:41 AM in response to mikehende

mikehende wrote:

Can I try creating a new user while in Safe mode?

That should be doable. Give it a shot, turn off autologin, and select the new user account. Let us know what happens.

Paul_31

Level 6

14,160 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:41 AM in response to mikehende

Not a proper repair, more a sticking plaster ::)

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:53 AM in response to baltwo

Since I was able to reload the OS from the original disk and that didn't solve the problem, would this user account change make a difference?

mikehende Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:55 AM in response to Paul_31

Agreed on the 'sticking plaster' but the owner prefers this approach as opposed to junking the unit since to replace the logic board will cost more than what a fully functioning unit like this is worth.

baltwo

Level 9

62,362 points

Mar 24, 2013 11:58 AM in response to mikehende

mikehende wrote:

Since I was able to reload the OS from the original disk and that didn't solve the problem, would this user account change make a difference?

If that was done w/o migrating anything and after erasing the internal HD, then it's a hardware issue caused by the knockiing it against a wall.

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 24, 2013 1:52 PM in response to mikehende

Since safe mode disables quartz extreme, mentioned in Paul's link, I can see how disabling that by removing drivers/editing plists/using quartz debug (free from developer.apple.com) might remove the shattered appearance... IF quartz extreme is used when booted from the install dvd (which I wouldn't have expected, but not found out for sure).

disabling QE won't affect the dvd drive & reading disks, but would likely stop 'dvd player' & various 'effects' & appearance aspects which rely on it, as well as some graphicsy tasks being slow.