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What is my OS?

post #1 of 9
10/25/07 at 5:25pm
Thread Starter 
The school I teach at has piles of iBook G4's lying in a room. No one can use them because the old tech guy left and the new tech guy doesn't have the time. I was told if I can get them going I can use them in my classes. I asked for the install discs and was given the full set, iBook Mac OS X install, software restore, and hardware test. I couldn't get any of the discs to boot and finally I tried the Hardware Test disc. I get the message "Apple Hardware Test does not support this machine." So now I believe the reason I can't boot from the Mac OS X Install disc is because it is the wrong one for the machine. The install disc is labeled Mac OS versioin 10.1.2. How do I figure out what OS is on the machine. I can log into the student account which is very limited. Can anyone tell me how to determine which OS is on the machine now so I know what install disc I need to look for?
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post #2 of 9
10/25/07 at 5:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jholis View Post

The school I teach at has piles of iBook G4's lying in a room. No one can use them because the old tech guy left and the new tech guy doesn't have the time. I was told if I can get them going I can use them in my classes. I asked for the install discs and was given the full set, iBook Mac OS X install, software restore, and hardware test. I couldn't get any of the discs to boot and finally I tried the Hardware Test disc. I get the message "Apple Hardware Test does not support this machine." So now I believe the reason I can't boot from the Mac OS X Install disc is because it is the wrong one for the machine. The install disc is labeled Mac OS versioin 10.1.2. How do I figure out what OS is on the machine. I can log into the student account which is very limited. Can anyone tell me how to determine which OS is on the machine now so I know what install disc I need to look for?

Have you clicked on the apple icon in the menu bar? If so you may, should see item called 'about this mac'. Click on it and it should tell you what system software and version you are running.
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post #3 of 9
10/25/07 at 5:47pm
Go to the Apple menu in the upper-left corner and choose About this Mac.

An iBook G4 will have either 10.3.x or 10.4.x installed on it. Your 10.1.x disks are way too old for that machine.

If you can boot the Mac, why do you need an install disk? I assume your intension to wipe the hard drive and have a clean install of the OS.
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post #4 of 9
10/25/07 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tarl View Post

Go to the Apple menu in the upper-left corner and choose About this Mac.

An iBook G4 will have either 10.3.x or 10.4.x installed on it. Your 10.1.x disks are way too old for that machine.

If you can boot the Mac, why do you need an install disk? I assume your intension to wipe the hard drive and have a clean install of the OS.

We can't get these on the internet because no one has administrator passwords, the tech guy quit last year. When I click on the apple in the student account I only get 3 options, "Force Quit", "Sleep", or "Log Out Student" The student account that I can log into is very limited, I want to be able to allow my students more access also.
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post #5 of 9
10/25/07 at 8:35pm
This should work, as it does in 10.4:

Start up by the disk, then run the password rest application, and reset the password for the Admin.

The application should be in the utilities menu
17" i7 Macbook Pro (Mid 2010), Mac Mini (early 2006), G3 B&W, G3 Beige Tower, 3 G3 iMacs (original, bondi, snow), Power Mac 7600/132, Power Mac 7100/100, Power Mac 6100/60, Performa 5280, Performa...
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17" i7 Macbook Pro (Mid 2010), Mac Mini (early 2006), G3 B&W, G3 Beige Tower, 3 G3 iMacs (original, bondi, snow), Power Mac 7600/132, Power Mac 7100/100, Power Mac 6100/60, Performa 5280, Performa...
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post #6 of 9
10/25/07 at 11:53pm
Ha ha, catch 22. Without the CD/DVD that came with the iBooks, jholis can't boot up from them, and can't reset the passwords.

If and when you find the disc(s) that came with the iBooks, you can then do a clean install, pick whatever admin password you like, and set up a simple student account that the computer boots into by default.

edit: failing that, jholis, contact me and we can break the password using John The Ripper, a password-cracker.
stimuli.ca | freshtunes.ca
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stimuli.ca | freshtunes.ca
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post #7 of 9
10/26/07 at 4:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R View Post

Ha ha, catch 22. Without the CD/DVD that came with the iBooks, jholis can't boot up from them, and can't reset the passwords.

If and when you find the disc(s) that came with the iBooks, you can then do a clean install, pick whatever admin password you like, and set up a simple student account that the computer boots into by default.

edit: failing that, jholis, contact me and we can break the password using John The Ripper, a password-cracker.


But how will I know when I have the right ones? The ones I have say "iBook OS X Install" so I thought I had the right ones. I can boot into single user mode, is there any way to tell from there what OS is on these machines?
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post #8 of 9
10/26/07 at 4:40am
if i was you, i would:

-get myself a set of 10.4 disks (buy, borrow, steal)
-pop the dvd into the ibook that has the most ram
-do a clean install
-have fun
peve

and by the way...
no. english is not my native language.
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peve

and by the way...
no. english is not my native language.
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post #9 of 9
10/26/07 at 9:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by peve View Post

if i was you, i would:

-get myself a set of 10.4 disks (buy, borrow, steal)
-pop the dvd into the ibook that has the most ram
-do a clean install
-have fun

I did buy a set on ebay so hopefully I'll be able to try those in
a few days.
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