I need a Mac Geek

[Capt Quirk]

I recently bought an old iMac Blueberry G3, which had OS 8, 9, and 10 on it. While I was playing around with it, I tried booting into OS 9. It was password locked, and now I'm stuck there, unable to do anything. The guy I bought it off of wasn't the original owner, and I have no access to the password. I bought OS 10.2 to install, but no matter what I do, it always goes straight to the OS 9 password screen.

What I would like to do, is format the drive and install OS 10 fresh. Can anyone help me please?

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

You should be able to boot from the osx disc and just do a clean install.

 

[Capt Quirk]

"Should be" rarely ever applies to me though. I have tried holding X, C, and Shift, but it still goes straight to the OS9 password screen.

 

[Batutta]

Try zapping PRAM. Hold command, option, P and R on boot. This resets the startup settings. It should boot again, then try booting off the install disc by holding C on startup. You also might want to make sure the cable from your keyboard into your computer is good.

 

[Capt Quirk]

That did something. I wasn't getting the tones before, now I am and the logo starts as a folder with a question mark, then becomes the schizophrenic mac, then the smiling iMac... before going into OS9.

 

[moviemaker999]

hold command, option, O,L,D on boot see what happens.

 

[Capt Quirk]

hold command, option, O,L,D on boot see what happens.

I am but a man, not an octopus! Are you serious? That Control-Option-P-R was hard enough

I'm glad my PC only needs 3 fingers

 

[ugafan]

would changing the hard drive be a possibility?

 

[thekreative]

option?

option?

option key, .....to pick what partition or disk? give it a go.

 

[Capt Quirk]

At which point does it allow you to choose? The folder with a question mark, the schizophrenic mac, or the smiling iMac? How do I select it?

And a new HDD is out of the question. This cheap Mac has already exceeded it's budget.

 

[Michael T]

Try puting in the 1st install disk and hold down the c key and after booting go under the file menu and it should have a reset password function. Good luck.

 

[Capt Quirk]

That only works if you know the password doesn't it?

 

[Batutta]

If you don't care about anything on the hard drive, press T while booting up. You should see a firewire icon. Plug the computer into another mac and it will show up as a firewire drive. You can either delete the OS 9 system file, or from this mac, run the installer and when it asks select your mac to install to. Another option is to run carbon copy cloner

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

and simply clone the second computer's system to your mac.

 

[Capt Quirk]

I only have the one Mac, which is way more than I ever wanted in the first place. Is there a way to create a boot disk to format and install using a PC?

 

[Ming]

Try force quitting the screen saver application.

 

[Capt Quirk]

I have no idea what that means Ming.