iBook G3 Clamshell stuck on student mode.

Question

iBook G3 Clamshell stuck on student mode.

The long story: Around 2006 my old elementary school was starting to get rid of their old 1998 to 2002 iMac G3s, iBook G3s and eMacs in favor of some of the newer iMacs at the time. For some reason my teacher decided to gift a few of us students some of these ancient things (iBook G3 Clamshells) but I never really took interest in using mine until now and had it stored in my attic for a while. Now that I have managed to pay 5 bucks for a new charger and adapter I finally turned the thing on since 2006 and discovered one big setback about his thing.

Getting to the problem: I'm stuck on student mode (conveniently the password was 123 on the screensaver lol) and all I can do there is play Sloppy Sokoban 1.7 or look at some of the older education programs on it! When my teacher gave me mine it didn't come with anything but the device itself and now I need help to get the thing set to teacher mode which requires a password (everytime I press the change password button it stays on the password page no matter what) I have long since forgot or at the very least get this thing a factory reset but I can't figure out a way in student mode because almost all the options to do so won't do anything or it'll say only the admin can access them with certain privileges or something along those lines.

Once again this is an iBook G3 Clamshell running on OS 9.2 and I would like to reset the password on it through any means or backdoors possible and any help would be gladly appreciated.

iBook, Mac OS 9.2.x, Clamshell model built in 2000.

Posted on Aug 24, 2016 5:25 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 24, 2016 5:56 PM in response to Nonstopmaximum

You will need a copy of the original software install discs that came with the computer so you can erase the drive and install a fresh copy of the OS. You will need to search on eBay, Amazon, and Google to find the discs needed as Apple no longer provides them.

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Answer 2

Aug 24, 2016 7:44 PM in response to Kappy

Alright, I see a few for sale on ebay right now but before I buy some are you absolutely sure there is no other way this can be done?

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 24, 2016 10:58 PM in response to Nonstopmaximum

You need to erase and install. You can only do it this way. I'd give you instructions but quite frankly I haven't used System 7 for so long that I don't quite remember.

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Answer 4

Aug 25, 2016 2:34 AM in response to Kappy

One last thing. Should I get any other important discs that I don't know of at the moment and are these the discs i'm looking for?

http://m.ebay.com/itm/322214470841?_trksid=p2352135.m2548.l4275&_mwBanner=1

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Aug 25, 2016 3:07 AM in response to Nonstopmaximum

I don't know. What is the model identifier for yours? Do you know? Does what you have meet the description given in the listing? I have no way of telling you. I don't wish to steer you to a wrong purchase.

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Answer 6

K Shaffer

Level 8

36,010 points

Aug 26, 2016 11:24 PM in response to Nonstopmaximum

The discs shown here by the seller's description, are for a white iBook G3 600-700MHz model

So they would probably not work in an older Clamshell early colors iBook G3 (300-366-466)

On the other hand, depending on which colors iBook G3 you have, options exist if you had

some vintage hardware (such as external drive, other install discs, or knowledge of how to

use a utility from CharlesSoft to extract specific bits from installer CDs & DVDs for re-use.

I'd found, some time ago, the MacOS9.2 version from iBook G4 install grey disc could be

extracted or just copied out of the computer; this is not a dual-boot model. And used to

boot an older MacOS computer. The iBook G4 was OSX boot, but had Classic in it.

The basic Classic OS9 once liberated from OS X, could be used as OS 9 Boot in old G3.

For testing purposes only. It worked for me. Also some eMacG4 software kit CDs worked

to install OS X 10.3. and MacOS9 on iBook G3 500 (white) directly. Orphaned software kit

from dead eMac was re-used as a test to see if the drivers were all there. They were.

I see in the sales page you linked to, the seller says they will help find other software if you

need something different than the item in that page. -You would need to correctly identify

the computer if you were going to try & get 'original Apple media' that shipped with yours.

Or, retail CD-based install-restore systems that could be used in your iBook G3 clamshell.

Assuming it may not have a Combo optical drive. If it does, then DVDs may work OK.

Good luck in this quest! 🙂

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