Help Needed ASAP!

[gojo23]

Hi all,
I turned on my Apple g4 and it took ages to load. I then got to my password login window. At the top in red letters it says safe boot. I entered my password but it wont recognize it. I then restarted and help down my mouse to open the cd drawer to try and start from the cd. I am using Leopard. I help down the c button to try and get the cd running but this doesnt do anything.
So my question is........... how do I get in? Why wont it recognize my pasword anymore?
Help is needed as I am a web designer and I cant get in to do any work...........

 

[Mac SK]

Insert the cd and restart. Hold down the option key and see if you can select boot from cd. I hope you have backed up your work. Your drive may be crashed or going in that direction fast. The boot cd has to be a full retail version.

 

[thurstmw]

Unplug the keyboard when it is booting and see if it will boot normally (not go into safe mode). I sounds like your computer might think the shift key is being help down which would be a reason why it wouldn't accept your password.

 

[gojo23]

Well O have lost all of my work now as I reinstalled Leopard and foolishly did a clean install it has wiped my hard drive. I have lost years and years of stuff....... I dont suppose that there is any way of getting it back?

 

[BrianLachoreVPI]

Ouch!! It's possible that some of your data is still recoverable. I would stop using the computer until you've mapped out a game plan though - just to keep the OS and applications from further overwriting the drive. There are a number of data recovery tools out there - I don't have any first hand experience (fortunately) with any of them but - Disk Drill Media Recovery on the Mac App Store is on sale for $9.99 for the holiday (80% off) - or you can do a search on data recovery tools and see what people recommend. You can hire someone to do this but it will be very pricey. Good luck!

 

[thurstmw]

So did unplugging the keyboard fix it?