oooh found better websites: apple, davespics and westwind

Startup
Keystroke Description
Press X during startup Force Mac OS X startup
Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete
during startup Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
Press C during startup Start up from a CD that has a system folder
Press N during startup Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
Press R during startup Force PowerBook screen reset
Press T during startup Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
Press Shift during startup start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
Press Command-V during startup Start up in Verbose mode.
Press Command-S during startup Start up in Single-User mode (command line)

also i just figured this out: when you've set your password thingie (bios i think) to not allow any tinkering, and you blow your disk up, you won't be able to boot to cd or do any of the normal boot-time tricks. the only think i could do was to hold down 'option' and then it asked me for the password. cool. started freaking when i realized i couldn't even boot to my repair cd.

fuck i needed ths link tonight. os x angry with me.

"Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete
during startup Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)"

This does not seem to work with Panther. We just tried it while trying to boot up in OS 9 with Panther on the other partition. Panther seems to block 9 from launching. Not had a problem with this prior to Panther.

how do you load the finder on a imac when it starts up before it searches for a server.
I turned on the computer while holding the option key and pressed control-z and this ms-dos type command loaded

I ran the latest MAC OS X Update at 4:43 AM EST and I restarted and now I am locked out of my OS. ALL of the passwords on the user accounts have changed, I am extremely new at this; how do I get back into my OS?

Thanks for this link - first time to OS X - tried starting apache from /etc/rc.common - oops! Computer hung on little spinning circle thing - need the computer for some real work over the weekend and am 200 miles from any recovery disk! Thanks for the tips - single user-mode got me a shell where I could remove the rc.common modifications... You rock!

levon: you can boot to your os x install disk and reset passwords. if you didn't pay attention during install you may have wiped your users and/or disk.

Hey I didnt find info on how to do this up above so correct me if im wrong. I am tottaly locked out of my computer and cannot get in. So i held command option o and f at start up and got into firmware i tried to reset-all and setenv security-mode none but it kept asking me for a password. I dont have a password execpt for my admin password wich i tried and doesnt work. I have also removed one dimm of RAM and tried to reset the PRAM three times and then got back into it. It still wont start up. The farthest I can get is with they grey screen dark apple and black spinning thing. Please Help! I need to get into my computer but I cant.

In order to manually remove the firmware password protection that may be setup on your system follow these steps to remove the password (only needed if you forgot or don't know the password that was set)
1) Install or remove a stick of ram.
2) Zap the Pram 3 times in a row.
3) your done.

I know that this works on iBooks, and I believe it will work on other Mac Systems as well.

You can reset the root password on OSX by booting from the install cd and selecting reset password from one of the menus.

My powerbook g4 has mac os 10.2 and it keeps booting up in darwin/bsd and I am trying to fdisk the laptop.

could anyone help me

I was wondering if there was a way to get back to that screen that comes up when you first buy the computer. The screen that asks you to type in all you info. The welcome screen I think. Is there a line I can delete in the system to remove what I already put in and start over? IF so how do I get there and what do I do?

I January Scott wrote about Panther and a problem with booting in OS 9. I am experiencing the same thing on a PB Pismo, which surely has been running on OS 9 for ages. Maybe the trick is to go one step back to OS X.2 ?

after 10.3.6 update, my osx powerbook g4 doesn't start anymore, it freezes while startup. when trying to go to single user mode and running "diskutil repairPermissions /" it tells me:
dyld: diskutil truncated or malformed library: /System/Library/ProvateFrameworks/DiskManagement.framework/Versions/DiskManagement (file is empty)
Trace/BPT trap

this is completely crappy, why apple is not able to run repair permissions automatically after a system upgrade; now my notebook is completely f*cked!
the worst is, that one needs the repair CD, why osX is not able to repair stuff on the console? i thought unix means mostly console, but looks like apple screwed it again...

I cant see anything on my screen when I turn on my powerbook, its booted into os x 10.2 fine but I can only see very faintly my desktop.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Jay Knott, try increasing the brightness for your powerbook screen it worked for me once.

whats "command"

the command key is the pretzle looking thing usually on the same key as the apple, next to the space bar.

Hi their Im on at work out of state and on my ibook I'm recieveing a black screen with

/etc/master .passwd: No such file or directory
/etc/master .passwd: No such file or directory
-sh-2.05b#

How do I get back to my desktop I really need to get into my files. Please help me if you can, If I had my OSX 10.3 disk#1 with me I would use it but I don't.Is their anything I can do? Thanks.

lol sorry Roy that sucks, go visit a mac store... though you might be able to "fix" it by reinstalling OS X but then your data would probably be lost. OR you could try to boot into client-firewire mode and connect to another mac before reinstalling the OS to save your data. good luck.

i force quit my iBook in the middle of the latest software update. (dec 26 04) i have recently upgraded to panther. the bastard book won't stay on now. goes thru reg start up motions then gets to the predesktop blue screen and just knocks off. not OFF actually, but goes to blackscreen. i can safe boot into it, but then it says the airport card that has been there for two years isn't there. anyone?
cheers,

I cant get into single user mode, when I push command & S it just brings me to the login screen and asks for my user name and password

My ibook says that i am not an admin of my own computer. I have to get my stuff tonight, how do i get or change the password, ive tried to nidump passwd . but it doesnt do anything, please help me.

I have a Power Mac 466MHz G4 (Digital Audio). I'm running MacOS X 10.3.7 and using a Logitech Internet Navigator keyboard. I can't reset PRAM, get into Open Firmware, or even use Shift to get into safe boot mode!

Is my system "bonked" or is my keyboard a POS?

I've tried holding Command+Option+P + R (reset PRAM), Command+Option+ O+F (get into Open Firmware), and Shift (Safe Boot) at every stage of the boot process I can imagine:

1) Before the chime
2) Right as the chime starts
3) In the middle of the chime
4) At the end of the chime

Nothing helps! I even tried holding Shift when I powered on my system! Natha! Arrrrgh!

Please Email me to offer any/all advice. Not sure when I'll visit back here in my frustration to try and be able to do these things.

The system boots/works fine otherwise.

Luposian

I currently run OS 10.3 and have to boot into 9.x Classic to download a printer driver, I don't have the orig. disk and when I go into system pref -> start up disk, 9.x isn't listed?? Anybody know how I can start up into 9???

I changed the name of my system file to system1 it and my mac had my in wait mode. I then turned the computer off and now my screen is black with white text. How can I resolve this problem. Any info is appreciated. Thanks Fernand

"the startup disk will not work on this macintosh model. Use the latest installer to update this disk for this model"
This message appears when i turn on the computer, what should i do?

I recently updated to the latest security patch and after restart my computer will only boot to the point of trying to launch the Login Window, then it turns completely blue and stays that way. I have no other users except the administrator of the machine (me) Any suggestions? Thanks