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hey my macbook white unibody is coming up with a dark screen that is telling me to restart, how do i get rid of it?

I actually have a couple questions.

I bought a used Macbook 2009 unibody that still has snow leopard. It recently has been coming up with a darkened screen telling me to restart.

My first question is how do i get rid of that? Next i don't no the computer password (luckily its not required to get on the computer or applications) is there a way to change it? Can i wipe the hard drive, its full of personal files? lastly if i download mountain lion, will it wipe the hard drive or get rid of microsoft office?


- Adam

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 25, 2013 3:33 PM

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13 replies

Sep 25, 2013 4:55 PM in response to adam7836

You need to contact the vendor to obtain the password as well as the original install disk. There is little you can do without it.


It sounds like you are getting kernel panics. These are usually hardware related, often due to faulty or loose RAM modules.


What is a Kernel Panic?


http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742


and http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1892?viewlocale=en_US


http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/technotes/tn2002/tn2063.html


More details here:


http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html


Useful articles on how to avoid and eliminate kernel panics here:


http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10344626-263.html?tag=mfiredir


http://www.macworld.com/article/2027201/how-to-troubleshoot-a-kernel-panic.html# tk.nl_mwhelp

Oct 8, 2013 7:50 AM in response to adam7836

If you press the C button when the computer is booting with the CD already in the drive, you should get the OS X installation Window. From there you can click on the section next to the Apple which will say Installation Wizard or something similar to that. Much like it would say "Safari" or whatever window you have on top. There you will see Disk Utilies and you can click on that. Select your macbook hard drive and then click on erase, it will then give you the steps you need to follow to wipe the drive and install OS X over. However, if you do this, you will loose Microsoft Office so if you were wanting to keep that, it's going to wipe everything off the drive and make a fresh installation of Snow Leopard for you.

Oct 8, 2013 8:05 AM in response to adam7836

Put the DVD in the computer and restart while holding down the C key.


That will boot the computer, and you can run the installer. When the installer runs you will be asked to select the language. Do that and the next screen you get will have a full menu bar.


Go to Utilities in the menu bar and select Disk Utility.

A new window will open, that hard drive name will be shown on the left.

Select the drive, and click the Erase tab.

When the erase is done, quit DU and continue with the installatiion.


When that is done the computer will restart, and you will have to set it up entering your name, etc. etc.

At this stage you also create your own password.


Good luck.

Oct 8, 2013 8:17 AM in response to adam7836

With 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 put your install DVD into the optical drive (CD/DVD drive) and reboot. Be sure to either use the disc that came with your Mac, or, if you installed a later Mac OS X version from disc, use the newer disc. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the "c" key on your keyboard (or the Option Key until the Install Disk shows up) until the apple shows up. That will force your MacBook to boot from the install DVD in the optical drive.

When it does start up, you'll see a panel asking you to choose your language. Choose your language and press the Return key on your keyboard once. It will then present you with an Installation window. Completely ignore this window and click on Utilities in the top menu and scroll down to Reset Password. After resetting the password use Startup Disk from the same menu to choose your hard drive for startup and restart.

With 10.4, 10.5 or 10.6 if you don’t have an install disk check this article. http://www.macyourself.com/2009/08/03/how-to-reset-your-mac-os-x-password-withou t-an-installer-disc/

hey my macbook white unibody is coming up with a dark screen that is telling me to restart, how do i get rid of it?

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