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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Given a locked down MacBook Air

Given a locked down MacBook Air
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MacNNFamous
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Join Date: Jul 2020
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Sep 20, 2021, 11:02 PM
 
so I acquired a Macbook Air with a bad battery and bad charger. Purchased a new charger, thing turns on, but user does not remember the password. I've tried just booting into a recovery disk and wiping the whole thing, but it's not showing anything other than the one startup disk.

So I've tried all her passwords, none work, so it says "login with apple ID and password" so i tried that, and I keep getting a red error message that says "there was an error connecting to the" in a red font. I am connected via wifi to my network just fine.

What do? I don't need ANY data on this. I really just want to boot it up to see the specs but I cannot even get that far.
     
reader50
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Sep 20, 2021, 11:58 PM
 
Boot from a USB drive. Check specs, wipe & reinstall, etc.
     
MacNNFamous  (op)
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Sep 21, 2021, 01:22 AM
 
Yeah, that's what I wound up doing. What a PITA.

Apparently if the battery is dead long enough, the date/time on the machine is jacked and when it tries to login to icloud, it gives this error even WITH the right password, because fo the date/time issue. Which can only be fixed with the password.

Stupid. Whatever. Wiped. Moving on.
     
ghporter
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Sep 21, 2021, 11:49 AM
 
The CMOS battery used to be what the PC technician checked first, just because the BIOS would be jacked if it was dead. That’s inconvenient. Not being able to use a correct password because the date is wrong is a huge pain.

I’m glad you were able to get past that foolishness. Which version is the Air?

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
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