Resting an Unknown Admin Password
From My:
Charles,
In your advice to Bill in [Need a
Password to Install Drivers], you stated that he needs to
reinitialize the hard drive to update his video drivers. I believe that
you can change the password by restarting from a system disk and choose
the change password option after quitting the installer. There are
instructions out there on how to do this.
Regards,
My
From Michael:
Charles,
In your 1/21 Miscellaneous Ramblings Mailbag, a reader named Bill
asked about needing the admin password to a G4 Mac he purchased from
eBay.
Your suggestions included contacting the previous owner for the
password or completely erasing the hard drive and reinstalling Mac
OS X. If contacting the previous owner is not an option, you do
not have to reinstall the OS just to reset the admin password. If
you already have access to a Mac OS X install disk, you can just
use the Password Reset utility that is included on it. Instructions can
be found in the following Apple Knowledge Base article under the
heading "Resetting the
original administrator account password".
Depending on how the system is set up, it may also ask you for an
admin password if you try to use the "Startup Disk" panel in System
Preferences to select the Mac OS X install disk as your boot
volume. To get around this, you can hold down the "C" key on the
keyboard during startup to boot from the optical drive.
Note: Since this is a PowerPC machine, it uses Open Firmware - and
(though not likely) the previous user could have also set an Open
Firmware password, which will prevent the system from recognizing
several boot option keys, including "C" (boot from CD/Optical drive).
Removing an Open Firmware password without knowing it is possible, but
a little cumbersome. First you have to physically add or remove DIMMs
to change the total amount of RAM in the computer. Then, the PRAM must
be reset (hold down the following keys during boot: Command + Option +
P + R).
I hope this information will help your readers.
-Michael
From Joe:
Hi Charles,
If it's the system admin password Bill needs, he can just change it
to whatever he wants by booting from an install disc, then using
Password Reset from the Utilities drop down menu. I think any OS X
disc will do - I think I remember doing this using a 10.2 install disc
on a Quicksilver running 10.4.
Feel free to forward him my email if you think it will help.
Thanks for the great website - I visit it just about every day!
Joe
Hi My, Michael, and Joe,
Right you all are. A bit of brain fade on my part, and
I've forwarded the correct information to Bill. I think I actually had
heard of that method of getting around the password block, but I have
never had occasion to use it myself and it slipped my mind.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Charles
Pismo Won't Enter Target Disk Mode
From John Black:
Hi, Charles,
On another issue, I have a question about my Wegener Pismo. As I think I've
mentioned to you, I put a Wegener G4 card in this
PowerBook. It works great, but I've been trying to connect the Pismo
via Target Disk Mode (TDM) to the BigAl so as to transfer files from
the Pismo. The Pismo won't go into TDM, though it will work the
opposite way and see the BigAl hard drive when the 17" PowerBook is put
into TDM.
On the Pismo I've tried multiple times to go into TDM, both by
holding down the "T" key and by selecting TDM in the startup disk
preferences panel. I've zapped the PRAM, run Disk Utility to repair
permissions, and reinstalled OS X 10.4. Nothing works, and I'm
wondering now if it could be the fault of the Wegener G4 card. Have you
experienced this issue?
Thanks for your help.
John
Hi John,
I haven't hear of this problem before. To check and
make sure, I just booted my Wegener G4 upgrade equipped Pismo into
Target Disk Mode by holding the T key down, and the bouncing T image
obediently appeared.
You seem to have covered all the usual bases in your
troubleshooting. One thing you might try is checking to see whether the
Pismo's firmware has been updated to the latest version. It's hard to
imagine that it hasn't, but I recall that when I had the first G4
upgrade installed in a Pismo, Daystar said to make sure the firmware
had been upgraded (it had).
I think version 4.1.8 was the last one. System
Profiler should give you the information on whether your machine has
been updated.
Apple
says:
"Firmware Update 4.1.8 includes improvements to
FireWire target disk mode, network booting, gigabit networking (on
systems with gigabit hardware), and system stability. This update also
adds support for additional security options which allow the Open
Firmware to be password protected."
Charles
Hooking a PowerBook 170 to the Internet
From Sasha:
Charles,
First off, my happy birthday wishes to the Mac. 25 years later, it's
still the gold standard.
Second, over the Christmas holiday, my uncle gave me his
father-in-law's old PowerBook 170,
and I've been trying to figure out how to have it on my home network
without me going crazy. I feel like a Fortune 500 exec circa 1992 when
I use the PowerBook. It's got the baud modem in it, but we don't use
dialup (even though many people I know in the rural part of northern
New York do). The whole thing is that I use the PowerBook as a word
processor, but the machines in my house that are floppy compatible are
giving me heartache. At least this PowerBook supports DOS compatible
floppies, so that's the least of my concerns.
So, I'm wondering if there is any way I could get this PowerBook
hooked up to the Web or if it's better just going on
eBay and getting a PowerBook G3 for $50? I know I would have to
upgrade to Mac OS 7.5 or even 7.6 for anything even decent for Web use.
It's right now running 7.0.1.
Best wishes as always,
Sasha
Hi Sasha,
Certainly the least hassle would be to buy a cheap G3
with built-in ethernet or AirPort support or whatever is compatible
with your non-dialup Internet service.
It is possible to connect these oldies to the Web. I
even had my old Mac Plus
Web-worthy for a while, but I'm very rusty on how we did it. System 7 I
think with some system add-ons.
There's some discussion of the topic here:
http://forums.macnn.com/70/older-systems-and-clones/64227/powerbook-170-imac-internet/
More info at Jag's House.
With a 170 your best OS would probably be System 7.5.5
or 7.6, the latter which supports
OpenTransport. Actually, the OpenTransport system bits will work with System 7.5.5 as well.
Charles
The Future of the $999 2.1 GHz MacBook White
From Liam:
Hi Charles
In your article you
say:
"I deduce that Apple will not want to continue the
manufacturing, parts sourcing, and inventory complication of building
two completely distinct families of MacBook indefinitely, so that at
some point - likely not far off - the plastic model will be replaced by
an entry-level Unibody MacBook."
I agree, and my suspicion is that either they have a pile of cases
to be used up - in which case when they run out they stop offering, or
that they have a contract for making the cases that allows for a
profitable product even with lower sales.
Cheers,
Liam
Hi Liam,
I guess great minds can think alike and still arrive
at mistaken conclusions. My timing of that column was impeccable -
not - being as Apple confounded my deduced reasoning by giving
the white MacBook a new lease on life with a major specification
upgrade.
Well, we were partly right in our reasoning in the
using the same CPU and graphics chipset in both the plastic and
aluminum MacBooks should result in some economies of scale and
parts-sourcing/inventory rationalization.
Charles
$999 MacBook Has Been Updated
From Lyall:
Hi Charles,
Was reading your article, and it would appear Apple have addressed
two of your criticisms almost immediately!
At some point in the last few days, the "White MacBook", as they
call it now, has 2 GB of memory as standard and Nvidia 9400M
graphics, and retains it's pricing. Apart from the use of DDR2 memory,
as opposed to DDR3, it would appear to be the same logic board that the
aluminum 13" MacBooks employ.
This surely makes it even better value!
Keep up the good work,
Lyall
Hi Lyall,
You are very kind. Yes, the publication of my column
and Apple's unannounced release of the upgraded white MacBook were
virtually simultaneous.
I agree that the value added has been substantial.
Charles
Affordable Dialup on the Road
From Sam
Hi Charles,
I recently purchased a lightly used 12"
PowerBook G4 for traveling. I haven't used dialup at home in years
(I wish you were so lucky!), but when on the road, I'm looking for an
inexpensive dialup provider that is pay-as-you-go but has no time
limits on the time that can be used. Any ideas?
Sam
Hi Sam,
I haven't used any of the on-the-road dialup
providers (my own ISP supports dialing in to their local numbers where
they have coverage), but you could check these services out (in no
particular order):
Charles
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