Locked in filevault!!!

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I turned filevault on my ibook G4 on. Ididn't interupt it but somehow it went crazy and locked up my administrator account. Now my old password will not work. When I try to load the install cd it will not work either. Can someone help me????????

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    You mean that you cannot boot from the install CD?



    If not, the usual drill is to reset Open Firmware, reset the Power Management Unit, and zap the PRAM.



    I posted the steps for the these in the sticky thread, "Power Mac 911" in this forum: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=65445
  • Reply 2 of 16
    ipodandimacipodandimac Posts: 3,273member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emg89


    I turned filevault on my ibook G4 on. Ididn't interupt it but somehow it went crazy and locked up my administrator account. Now my old password will not work. When I try to load the install cd it will not work either. Can someone help me????????



    well there are plenty of warnings before you turn on filevault.
  • Reply 3 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    I'm not sure but isn't your filevault password different from your account password? I think you can put a separate master password into system prefs. I never use filevault and I recommend anyone who has it turned on to turn it off. It's basically just a sparse disk image and since most people leave their music in their home folder, it is like making a single file in the order of tens of GB in size. It's also volatile if your computer crashes because it can corrupt that single file and you lose the whole lot in a second. Anyone who has personal data should encrypt it manually.
  • Reply 4 of 16
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin


    I'm not sure but isn't your filevault password different from your account password?



    No, Apple sets them both the same.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    meelashmeelash Posts: 1,045member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by slughead


    No, Apple sets them both the same.



    You can set it differently. And you can set a Master Vault password that'll open up other users accounts.



    Updates, emg?
  • Reply 6 of 16
    emg89emg89 Posts: 6member
    I did all the steps in lundy's post but it did not work. What should I do?
  • Reply 7 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    How are you booting from the CD? Normally hold the c key but you can hold alt and it should show a list of bootable drives.
  • Reply 8 of 16
    emg89emg89 Posts: 6member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin


    How are you booting from the CD? Normally hold the c key but you can hold alt and it should show a list of bootable drives.



    When I hold alt, it just shows the harddrive.
  • Reply 9 of 16
    lundylundy Posts: 4,466member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emg89


    I did all the steps in lundy's post but it did not work. What should I do?



    Please be more complete in your answers.



    What do you mean "it did not work"? What exactly is the problem? And for the third time, can you boot from the CD?
  • Reply 10 of 16
    emg89emg89 Posts: 6member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lundy


    Please be more complete in your answers.



    What do you mean "it did not work"? What exactly is the problem? And for the third time, can you boot from the CD?



    I have the install cd in when I turn the computer on. I hold down the c button when i turn the computer on. Nothing at all happens and it goes to the account login screen.
  • Reply 11 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    It's strange that it won't boot if it's the installer that came with your machine. I've seen that before but usually with new Macs. For example, my Mini won't boot the 10.3 CD that came with my old Mac but booted the 10.3 that came with it.



    Anyway, since you are having trouble at login, I'd suggest making a new user. Netinfo is kinda ugly to mess about with so I'd say to enable the root user. Now since you can't boot the disc, which is how you'd usually do it, you're going to have to use the command line.



    So, boot into single user mode by holding command-s at boot.



    Then type the following:



    /sbin/fsck -y

    /sbin/mount -uw /

    /sbin/SystemStarter

    passwd root



    The first line checks your disc as recommended - I recall this didn't work in newer versions of OS X. It says to run fsck -f. It tells you anyway.

    The second line mounts your disc

    The 3rd line gets your system to a state where you can do stuff with it

    The 4th line enables the root user



    After the 4th line, it should prompt you for a root password.



    Now when you reach the login, you can enter the username root with the new password. Then you should be able to see what went wrong with your admin account and maybe make a new one or reset the password. Once you are finished fixing, just log back into your admin account and if you like, disable the root user using the Netinfo manager.



    Contrary to popular belief, the process of enabling root user is not dangerous. You just shouldn't login using it all the time because you can do anything to the system like you could in OS 9.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    emg89emg89 Posts: 6member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin


    It's strange that it won't boot if it's the installer that came with your machine. I've seen that before but usually with new Macs. For example, my Mini won't boot the 10.3 CD that came with my old Mac but booted the 10.3 that came with it.



    Anyway, since you are having trouble at login, I'd suggest making a new user. Netinfo is kinda ugly to mess about with so I'd say to enable the root user. Now since you can't boot the disc, which is how you'd usually do it, you're going to have to use the command line.



    So, boot into single user mode by holding command-s at boot.



    Then type the following:



    /sbin/fsck -y

    /sbin/mount -uw /

    /sbin/SystemStarter

    passwd root



    The first line checks your disc as recommended - I recall this didn't work in newer versions of OS X. It says to run fsck -f. It tells you anyway.

    The second line mounts your disc

    The 3rd line gets your system to a state where you can do stuff with it

    The 4th line enables the root user



    After the 4th line, it should prompt you for a root password.



    Now when you reach the login, you can enter the username root with the new password. Then you should be able to see what went wrong with your admin account and maybe make a new one or reset the password. Once you are finished fixing, just log back into your admin account and if you like, disable the root user using the Netinfo manager.



    Contrary to popular belief, the process of enabling root user is not dangerous. You just shouldn't login using it all the time because you can do anything to the system like you could in OS 9.



    When I do the /sbin/SystemStarter line, I get this message; "could not create IPC Bootstrap port: com.apple.systemstarter"



    Thank you for the help so far guys
  • Reply 13 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emg89


    When I do the /sbin/SystemStarter line, I get this message; "could not create IPC Bootstrap port: com.apple.systemstarter"



    Hmmm, instead of that line, try using:



    sh /etc/rc



    and then proceed with the passwd root



    so you would boot into single-user

    type mount -uw /

    sh /etc/rc

    passwd root



    If that still doesn't work, you can make a new user by invoking the Apple Setup Assistant with the following (if you do this immediately after booting into single user mode, remember to mount your drive first with mount -uw /):



    rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

    reboot



    This will take you to the movie intro that appears the first time you use OS X.



    It won't let you use the same username as the one you have so make a new user and from that new admin account you should be able to try and recover your files.
  • Reply 14 of 16
    emg89emg89 Posts: 6member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin


    Hmmm, instead of that line, try using:



    sh /etc/rc



    and then proceed with the passwd root



    so you would boot into single-user

    type mount -uw /

    sh /etc/rc

    passwd root



    If that still doesn't work, you can make a new user by invoking the Apple Setup Assistant with the following (if you do this immediately after booting into single user mode, remember to mount your drive first with mount -uw /):



    rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone

    reboot



    This will take you to the movie intro that appears the first time you use OS X.



    It won't let you use the same username as the one you have so make a new user and from that new admin account you should be able to try and recover your files.



    Thanks Marvin. I used the apple setup assistant and everything seems good now.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by emg89


    Thanks Marvin. I used the apple setup assistant and everything seems good now.



    Glad to hear it. Did you get your files ok fom your old user account or was that totally inaccessible? Also, since you don't have a system disc, I would highly recommend doing a system clone onto an external drive.



    This will hopefully be easier in Leopard but at the moment, you could get a program like superduper and a firewire HD that is bigger than your internal. I have a 40GB internal and 80GB Lacie external (£75). Then if anything messes up on your internal drive at all, you can boot off the external (this is why it has to be firewire on ppc macs) and repair your drive or at the least continue working with your machine.
  • Reply 16 of 16
    I've tried everything that you posted. I might be doing it wrong . I can't get it to work i need some help
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