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Q: I Want to reset my PRAM

I Want to reset my PRAM every time I go to Command Option P & R it gives me A BIG FAT LOCK with a place to login? Which I never gave it a PRAM setting how do I change it?

os x mountain lion 10.8.4, Other OS, MAC OS X 10.8.4

Posted on Jul 1, 2013 10:23 AM

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Q: I Want to reset my PRAM

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  • by mende1,

    mende1 mende1 Jul 1, 2013 10:26 AM in response to ZanGoghDesigns
    Level 10 (93,329 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 1, 2013 10:26 AM in response to ZanGoghDesigns

    You have to disable firmware password. The only way to disable firmware password is to start in Recovery, and if you don't know the password, you can't start in Recovery. Reset the SMC > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

     

    The only way to disable firmware password if you don't remember this firmware password is to take the Mac to an Apple Store or reseller

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Jul 1, 2013 10:47 AM in response to ZanGoghDesigns
    Level 7 (30,400 points)
    Jul 1, 2013 10:47 AM in response to ZanGoghDesigns

    Log into a Admin account on the machine and open your Applications/Utilities folder and launch Terminal program.

     

    Paste this line in, press enter and enter your admin password, you might be lucky and not have to open the machine.

     

    python -c “print ”.join(chr(int(c, 16) ^ 170) for c in ‘`sudo nvram security-password`’.split(‘%’)[1:])”

     

    This should hopefully give you the firmware password, so write it down.

     

    Reboot holding command and r keys down and under the Utilities menu is the firmware reset, so use the password and unlock it.

     

    Now reboot and the reset PRAM should work.

     

     

    If not then your going to have to remove one memory stick from the machine, reset the PRAM 5 times in a row by holding it down for 5 chimes, then shutdown the machine and reinsert the RAM, then boot normally.

  • by Jonathan Payne1,

    Jonathan Payne1 Jonathan Payne1 Apr 26, 2016 7:27 AM in response to ds store
    Level 1 (44 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 26, 2016 7:27 AM in response to ds store

    LOL - I sure hope it's not THAT easy to get the firmware password! Otherwise it ain't much of a password, is it!?

     

    For me I get "security-password": (iokit/common) data was not found.

     

    And I just set my firmware password after having to unset it so I could do a PRAM reset.

  • by Courcoul,

    Courcoul Apr 26, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1
    Level 6 (14,193 points)
    Apr 26, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Jonathan Payne1

    That's cause the thread dates back from a distant age when cats still roamed the OS X landscape and Macs could still be cracked open. It is a very different world nowadays.