recovering lost passwords (mac os 10.3)

[Bill McGonigle]

On Dec 5, 2004, at 11:19, Steven C. Peterson wrote:

> i just bought a mac off  ebay and it came with out any disks and all 
> locked up, i know about the command + s to boot to single user mode

You probably have an open-firmware password set.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106482

So you need to reset the PRAM/NVRAM.  Like Michael said pulling the 
battery will often work.  You didn't mention which model you got but 
most of them have a reset switch on the mainboard (desktops) or under 
the keyboard (laptops).  It's a little round black surface mounted 
switch about a quarter inch in diameter.  Hold it down for 1-8 seconds 
(model variations) and it will clear the RAM where the password is set.

> the seller speilaize in off lease computers and want $130 for a copy 
> of os 10 for it.

If this thing has no disks you'll need a disk and an OS.  As all Macs 
come with the OS I suspect any machead would be happy to copy the OS 
that came with that model for you.

-Bill
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