reset passwords

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reset passwords

I bought a Power Mac G5 (dual 1.8g G5) new with Tiger installed. I had the intention of using it for audio multitrack recording and bought an expensive Motu interface but soon found out that OSX 10.4 Tiger was no longer supported by Apple and would not allow many audio programs to work properly. When I took the mahine to the Apple Store to upgrade to Leopard they refused to even look at it.

I packed it away as I had other things to do rather than get angry all the time about Apple's shameless lack of support.

Now I have unpacked it and purchased a Leopard disc online (NOT snow leopard) but am unable to install it or do anything as I have long forgotten my passwords.

So, how can I reset my admin and other passwords on this machine!

I have the Tiger discs but when I try to boot to them I just get the password prompt. What am I doing wrong?

Thank you.

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.3) , dual g5 1.8g, 2.5g ram, 75g hd,+

Posted on Jan 23, 2014 11:30 AM

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Answer 1

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BDAqua

Level 10

238,925 points

Jan 23, 2014 1:08 PM in response to GeorgeInJax

Hi, it sounds like you set a Firmware Password, if you boot holding alt or option key & see a lock in the middle, that's it.

Boot up while holding the Option key down until you see the boot manager, do you see this...

Firmware password protection in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1352

It would block usage of all the startup keys, like C, N, T, D, CMD+s, CMD+Option+p+r, CMD +v, Option boot will show a lock, and Shift, as well as booting from anything but the Hard Drive.

Force Removing Password Protection

1) Add or remove DIMMs to change the total amount of RAM in the computer.

2) Then, the PRAM must be reset 3 times. (Command + Option + P + R).

http://www.securemac.com/openfirmwarepasswordprotection.php

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