What Do I Do With My G4 If I Forgotten Password

[dre501]

I Have Recieved A G4 From My Late Aunt But Now Cant Get Into Mac Osx Or Even Get The Cd Out Of The Drive. Is There Anything I Can Do Because I Dont Stay Near Any Mac Dealers And I Would Really Like To Use The G4. Please If You Know How I Can Get Passed The Password Let Me Know.
My Email Is <removed-by-moderator>

[kc0arf]

Hello,

I removed your email address as it is against policy to have questions here, and answers sent off to you. Please keep answers on-site, so that the next person with the same question can see the answers.

It also helps reduce spam.

To answer, you have a G4 computer with OS X installed on it. If you have the System CD stuck in the drive, and it is working, I think there is a way to change the password with that CD.

To be honest though, unless you need to access your late aunt (sorry to hear that by the way, deaths in the family are hard to deal with), you should format that drive, and start it cleanly over with your information. That is the best way to eliminate ghosts and other crumbs from previous users.

Christian

[yellow]

kc0arf is correct on both accounts.

To get the CD out of the drive, either boot holding down the mouse button until it ejects, or wait until it boots and click the eject button on the keyboard.

You can reset the admin passwords with the installer CD/DVD. You can see how to here.

And, you really should consider initializing the drive and starting from scratch.

And finally, you can always pull the hard drive from it and pop in a fresh new one. I suggest not putting anything larger then 120GB unless you know that the model is a Quicksilver '02 or later.

[dre501]

thanks alot for the help but for some reason i cant get the cd that is in there out. any ideas on getting it out. you can hear it wants to put it out but does not. thank you
dre

[kc0arf]

HEllo,

Good to see you again.

There is a TINY hole along the CD-ROM drive that you can put a paper-clip into and use that as a mechanical ejection device. Your pin will be pushing a lever to mechanically pop the disk out.

IF that doesn't work, you could have something really mechanically wrong in the drive, and your only avenue then is to remove the CD-ROM DRIVE, and that is not an easy procedure. UNless you are trained, the iMac is a closed case computer. Meaning don't open it, as you risk breaking something.

Christian

[dre501]

thanks alot Christian i have heard you can do that but did not see any little hole. i suppose i just over looked it i will check this evening again.
you see i need to get the cd out in order to reload mac osx to get passed the password and start with no history on the lap top

dre

[dre501]

:lol: I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS FORUM BECUSE IT IS VERY HELPFUL TO SOMEONE LIKE ME THAT IS NOT TO TO GOOD WITH ALL THIS STUFF. YOU GONNA BE HEARING FROM ME VERY OFTEN ABOUT MY G4. THANKS AGAIN
:cool:

[dre501]

I Checked And My Laptop Does Not Have A Manuel Ejection Hole. Any Other Ideas.

[yellow]

Yes, as noted previously:

To get the CD out of the drive, either boot holding down the mouse button until it ejects, or wait until it boots and click the eject button on the keyboard.

Also, boot holding down option. Once you get to the blue screen, and you have a cursor, eject with the eject button. It looks like the icon in the following image, and it's on the upper-right-hand of the keyboard.

[IMG]http://www.glnd.k12.va.us/resources/macosx/dock/eject.jpg[/IMG]