[twinturbo]

I am new to macs in general. I acquired 2 macs (one Imac G3, one Power Mac G4) from a business that went under and was auctioned off. Unfortunately anyone who worked for the company was long gone so I had no access to the passwords. Using the guest account on the imac running 10.1, I deleted a file (passwd I think), resetting the admin password. Unfortunately the power mac running 9.1 does not have a guest account and I have no access to the machine past the shell or login screens. I do have OSX Tiger as I intend to upgrade, but I have a myriad of problems which wont let it install (either the machine itself, the 3rd party ram, the 200GB Maxtor HDD, etc). So for the time being I just want to get into the OS 9.1 since I know it is already running, then worry about the upgrade later.

OK, I have access to the terminal and have navigated to the /etc/ folder. When I attempt to do a "rm passwd" it follows with "overwrite rw-r--r--" but I dont know what to do from there. I hit return and get "read-only file system".

A. Am I trying to delete the correct file, I cannot remeber if it was the one I did on the iMac but I think so.

B. Where do I go from here, (syntax wise), or what is the syntax to chmod the permissions on the file so I can delete it.

I'm so close, but its so frustrating. I'm pretty good with command line (dos geek in the 90's, cisco, some *nix), but all of the information I find deals with OSX which uses different commands or syntax.

Any help would be great! The last mac I used was in 5th grade (apple IIc).

Thanks all.

[anthology123]

There is no Terminal in OS9. If it is a white screen terminal, you might be in Open Firmware. There is a way to get out of that:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=30575

[Big Mac]

And the fact that is says read-only filesystem means you're booting into OS X's single user mode. You have to mount the disk if you want to do anything other than run fsck. The best course of action for you would be to get a hold of an OS X startup disc to reset the admin password, unless you think you can figure out how to do it using the command line.

[twinturbo]

I'm booting with the OSX dvd to get to the terminal. When I do reset password though, no drive is present to choose from, just the OSX DVD. When I look at the disk utility though it the drive is available.

[Big Mac]

If you're booting off the DVD, the OS X installer should start up. In one of the menus of the installer there's a command to reset the administrator password. But if the DVD is dropping you into the command line, something's amiss.

[twinturbo]

It is not dropping me to a command line, rather it starts installing and ends with an alert (stops installing). I can then choose to use disk utilities, network monitor, terminal, etc.

[twinturbo]

Ok, I think it wont let me pick the drive since it is OS 9.1 and it is looking to reset a pasword for OS X.

Here is my second option. I boot with the OSX CD and get to installation screen, then it gives me an alert: "This software cannot be installed on your computer...(reboot)...(startup disk)".

Here is what I know about the computer:

PowerMac 3,3
PowerPC G4 Processor
400MHZ CPU
1mb L2 Cache
256mb PC100 Ram (2x 128mb, matching, but 3rd party Centon brand)
Boot Rom 3.3.4f1
200GB Maxtor 6L200R0 HDD recognized as 128GB on ide channel with CD rom (tried all channels)
Formatted Journaled HFS+, partitioned: 1st 7.32GB, 2nd 121GB

Anyone know how to troubleshoot why OSX isn't loading?

Either solution I canwork from, but both are at an impass for me.

Thank you

[twinturbo]

sorry for the several posts, it was giving me errors.

[anthology123]

You should hold down the option key when you power up, and wait until you see what startup- disks it offers you. If you had an OS9 install CD, you should be able to start with that and get it going in OS9 first then install X.

[twinturbo]

Unfortunately I do not have the os 9 disk. I just have OSX DVD and the HDD with OS 9.1 installed on it.

[anthology123]

What happens when you boot in OS9, do you get a login screen? If you can boot into OSX, then you should be able to access the OS9 system and remove the multiple Users prefs file.

[twinturbo]

Yeah I get a login screen at the OS9 from the HDD, which I have had little luck in cracking it.

OSX boots off CD, but I have very few options other than the terminal seeming the only usable choice, so...

I just bought a restore CD Set for 9.1.

I put the disk in and try to boot to the CD: hold C, but the HDD loads. I also try cmd+opt+shft+del, but it still loads the HDD.

With No bootable HDD installed, the cd loads OS 9.1 restore, but with no HDD installed, it has nowhere to go.

Any advice?

[Big Mac]

It seems like you just cannot catch a break with that Mac. That's a strange situation.

[twinturbo]

I can also get into the open firmware command line (opt+ctrl+o+f), so if anyone can guide me to deleting the password file from here or changing the boot device, I'd appreciate it. I'm just looking for any angle to get in, then I'll worry about upgrading.

So far from the command prompt it should look something like this, but I need help with the syntax (using BSD for reference):

OK
0 > boot cd:,ofwboot /dir/file <- dont know if ofwboot is also for mac, and which directory and boot file I need.

[hookem2oo7]

if you had a firewire cable you could install Tiger onto the harddrive of the OS9 machine via Firewire target disk mode...someone else may be able to explain this better than I...

[twinturbo]

Unfortunately I do not have any firewire drives.

I was able to get this to boot by cmd(apple)+opt+o+f
then at the prompt I typed:

boot cd:,\\:tbxi

Both the OSX and OS9 CDs load the install/restore bypassing the HDD.

The OSX still has the same message as before. (drives not supported or something)

The OS9 restore disk sees all the drives (finally), but says that none of them are supported for restore.

My problem is the HDD that was in the machine has an apple printed on the disk and looks original, it also loads to the login screen with no issues, so this is definately capable of handling the OS.

Do you guys think that it has anything to do with the 3rd party ram??? I'm out of ideas.