MacBook login bypass?

Comments

• John

  November 2013

  Hi! Thanks for the post! Have you tried the approach detailed in my video? Here's the link. Let me know if that works or not. This will disable the PRAM password, not the OS login.
  
  https://www.rdklinc.com/tutorials/knv8UMTIIfQ
• cbechard

  November 2013

  Yes I did but when I press option it only shows 1 HD also just goes back to login. I have tried so many dif things it's making my head spin. Is there a disk utility to format the drive? That way I can start from scratch.
• cbechard

  November 2013

  One more thing, I have to use same osx that is on my MacBook
  Right. Mine shows os 10.6.8. Build such and such.....
  
• John

  November 2013

  Hi! I'm still confused as to whether you're talking about a PRAM password, or the usual Mac OS login prompt. If you have a PRAM password in place, the system will not let you wipe the drive, or boot to other volumes that would then allow you to wipe the drive. It would normally show you a picture of a padlock when you try to power on to option mode, although I've seen some that do go to option mode, but then won't show other boot volumes.
  
  If you've followed the instructions in the video and changed the amount of RAM, and then immediately reset the PRAM four times, that should remove the PRAM password. Since you stated you've done this, I have to assume it's booting up off the hard drive and you are getting an OS login that you don't know the password to.
  
  It's conceivable you are using the wrong OS media DVD, or one that is not bootable, or even that your optical drive is bad. I would try getting a hold of a retail Snow Leopard DVD. These are $20 on eBay, and generic, so they shouldn't cause problems like the proprietary OS DVDs that come with the laptops.
  
  I don't know what MacBook you have, so I can't determine what OS is suitable. If you let me know the last three digits of the serial, I can look it up. But basically, if it's a white MacBook, Core Duos can take up to Snow Leopard, and Core 2 Duos can take up to Lion. For testing purposes and to get the drive wiped you should probably stick with Snow Leopard, since that will work on any of them.
  
  Also, if you have a 2.5" SATA external enclosure (about $10 on eBay), you can put your drive in this, connect it to another Mac, and wipe it with Disk Utility. You could even then install the OS to the drive from the other Mac if you wanted to.
  
  Thanks, and let me know how it goes!
  
  John
  
• cbechard

  November 2013

  Ok.John I do get os login. I don't have the padlock anymore thanks to you. If I have a DVD in the drive when I boot with option held down, shouldn't it show the install DVD in the drive also?
  I also have snow leopard 10.6.3 retail but will not boot from it when I boot with the c key held down at bootuo? So that is where I am now..
• John

  November 2013

  I would reset the PRAM and PMU/SMC. It probably won't help, but it's good to get those out of the way so you know they aren't the issue. Occasionally I have found laptops that will reveal more boot devices after the resets have been done, so it's worth trying.
  
  I'd say you have the wrong bootable media and the computer knows it's the wrong one and not displaying it, except for the fact that you have a retail Snow Leopard as well, so you've ruled that out.
  
  You might have a bad optical drive. A1181 optical drives do go bad all the time, so it's very possible. I'd say the path of least resistance at this point is probably to put your drive in a $10 external enclosure, connect it to another Mac, wipe it, and then install Snow Leopard to it from the other Mac (boot the other Mac from the 10.6 DVD, and point the install to your drive in the external enclosure). Then you can put the drive back in your laptop and it should boot up, and you can diagnose the optical drive from there. Another thought is to put someone else's working drive into your machine, which would allow you to boot up and test the optical, etc.
  
  Here are listings for USB enclosures:
  
  http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=2.5"+sata+usb+enclosure&_sop=15
• cbechard

  November 2013

  ok thanks John I will get back to you later. I have another trick up my sleeve. I will let you know if it works,lol
• cbechard

  November 2013 edited November 2013

  The skies parted all was well in the world ,LOL
  John I wound out using a little program called transmac on my windows pc.
  and burned my Leopard through that program and it worked!! I guess I was burning my dvd wrong through windows. So after reset the pram I throw in my dvd and hold the c key and I am all set. Thanks so much for all your help John..I will put in a good word for your site...
  Clem
• John

  November 2013

  Hi Clem! That's great news! It makes sense that the DVDs would be bad. Since I didn't realize they were burned DVDs I could only assume that at least one of them was good, so that's why I suggested the hard drive route and was thinking the optical was probably broken. Anyway, thanks again for posting, and glad to hear you're up and running!
  
  John