Mac Issues

[rudy-Diiriye]

Bought my first mac system --Ibook today for $100.00

from a swap meat. It was passworded & it took me an hr to break the password!!

 

All i did was hold the mac key + s to pass the desktop and ended up in a unix shell. there I change the password & it was so easy!! nnd they said it was hard to hack a mac...lol.

 

is any mac users aware of this??

[rudy-Diiriye]

A lot of people buy used Macs, and they often run into the problem of not knowing the admin password, so here is a way to get around not knowing the admin password on Macs.

 

To reset your OS X password without an OS X CD you need to enter terminal and create a new admin account:

 

Reboot

Hold apple + s down after you hear the chime.

When you get text prompt enter in these terminal commands to create a brand new admin account (hitting return after each line):

mount -uw /

rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone (FYI-no space between /& .Apple)

shutdown -h now

After rebooting you should have a brand new admin account. When you login as the new admin you can simply delete the old one and you’re good to go again!

 

WARNING:

DONT DO THIS ON YOUR SYSTEM IF YOU L OST YOUR PASSOWORD SINCE THIS INTENDED ONLY IF YOU WANNA DO A FRESH NEW CONFIGURATION. OTHERWISE, U WILL LOSE ALL YOUR DATA YOU HAVE STORED ON THE COMPUTER!!

[rudy-Diiriye]

On a mac os x , how do I access the bios?

 

There is no BIOS. PowerPC based computers instead have OpenFirmware.

 

Alright, few search strings in google and I found this. I hope its of any use to you. Btw Mac OS X rocks!

 

A lot of people these days appear to be under the impression that Macs have a BIOS, which is unfortunate because they actually have something much better - Macs have OpenFirmware. This is true for G4 Mac Minis, PowerBooks, iBooks, iMacs, eMacs, and Dual G5s… I could go on and on.

I got most of this info from experience and the Apple Developper Connection - if you’re not a member yet, sign up, it’s free.

 

You can get into OpenFirmware using this key sequence:

 

CMD-OPT-O-F

 

In detail, this means using two hands, holding “command”, “option” and “f” on the left and “o” with your right hand. Do this while booting your computer and you well hear two chimes. At the end of the chimes you will be greeted with an

 

On my G4 Mac Mini, for example, I can hold down the power button for roughly 10 seconds and I will hear the chimes - this should work for iMacs as well.

 

The OpenFirmware prompt that looks like this:

 

ok

 

0>

 

Congratulations, you’ve accessed your “BIOS” you switcher!

 

Now that we’ve passed this glorious milestone, we have some work to do. After all you came here for a reason right?

 

Some useful commands that save me time and time again, and enable reparation of the G4 Mac Mini:

 

Boot your Apple computer using the default boot device:

 

0 > mac-boot

 

Boot your Mac using the inserted CDROM at the yaboot directory for linux CDs:

 

0 > boot cd:,installyaboot

 

To eject a CDROM from your Mac:

 

0 > eject cd

Source(s):

http://blandname.com/category/bios/

 

This is accessible by pressing Command-Option-O-F at startup. Newer Intel based Macs have EFI (extensible firmware interface), which is not really directly accessible.

 

If on an Intel based Mac you also have Boot Camp installed; when in an OS besides Mac OS X, the computer will run a BIOS emulation in the EFI; once again, not really user-assessable.

 

You may be able to do whatever you're trying to do in the UNIX terminal, in Utilities.

 

For the record, the Command key is the one with the little cloverleaf on it. And on Ibook it it has the drawing of an apple.