I can't get past a log in screen on a 10.4.11 iMac. Help!

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Level 1

4 points

I can't get past a log in screen on a 10.4.11 iMac. Help!

We have a number of new staff members at our school. one of them wants to use a 10.4.11 imac that is connected to a Promethean board. The computer has a generic login screen that no one knows the verification information for. I created the new user in our 10.4.11 file server, then tried his login ID on the computer; it was rejected. Awhile back in an Apple discussion forum, I learned a hack for getting past initial login screens on imacs if the administrative ID password is forgotten. That always works, but DIDN'T this time. I am at a loss what to do now, other than reinstalling the operating system on the 10.4.11 imac workstation. Any suggestions? Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks

Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Aug 7, 2014 1:24 PM

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Answer 1

joe_73

Level 3

705 points

Aug 14, 2014 11:44 AM in response to Technician7

Hello Technician7,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

To reset the administrator password on the computer please follow the steps in the article below.

OS X: Changing or resetting an account password (Snow Leopard and earlier)

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1274

Have a great day,

Joe

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Answer 2

Technician7 Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 14, 2014 12:18 PM in response to joe_73

Thanks. Your reply is appreciated. What finally worked was i located an installation disk that did work. The machine acted like it wasn't recognizing ANY CDs until we found one that did work (a 10.4.7 disk). 10.4.2, 10.4.4, and 10.2.1 disks were not recognized whatsoever using Control-C on startup.. I tried every key combination on startup (about 10) without success also. Control-S on startup DID call up the code screen that allowed me to try the hack that worked on several other machines in the past, but not this one. I am learning a lot about the Mac 10 OS as the building has about an even split of Mac 10.4.x and Windows 7 workstations. Most of my past experience was with Windows buildings.

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