no admin. password, old school computer

I purched a used macbook from a yard sale. this was suppossed to be an exwifes computer that he didnt know the passwords to. So i figured that I would just buy the restore disc and reset every thing including passwords. well when I put the disc in instead of any thing prompting me to reload. A lock with a place for a password pops up. can I get around this. I think this might be an old school computer with the extra protection so you cant reboot the computer. Is there any way I can reboot this?

May need a bit more info here...

Spec's of the Mac
What Ver of OS

Did you Boot to the Restore Disk?

is the lock showing up when you restart the Mac?

The specs on the mac

mac book 13.3 mac osx
intelcore 2 duo 2.13 ghz
model a1181
mc 240LL/A

the lock comes when I put the install disc in. I dont know much at all about computers. Ive tried resetting it without the install disc by holding the command and s keys when the chime plays while restarting the computer nothing happens

Ok so try this ... Put the Restore disk in ... reboot the MacBook right after the ding press and hold the C key ... till the Apple comes up..

Then you should be able to navigate to where you can change the passwords you need to.

I did reboot to the reinstall disc.
more specs I forgot to add
mac os 10.5.5
verision 1.1

Now... I'm ... going straigt from memory here ... but it is one of the pull down menus after you select your lang..

Should say reset password... put what you will remember in there.. and you should be good to go.

I tried that . It just displayed the place where you log on. oh corse I cant log on. when I place the disc in I had to hold the opion key. So I also tried to press and hold the opion key till the apple came up. Th lock came up. Its a plaine black lock with a box under it then off to the right side of the box is a black circule with a arrow in it that you click onto after you put the password in.

well its getting late. I will check back 2marrom for more suggestions on how to fix this problem. Thank you very much for all your help.

ok so you have a firmware password set ... I have not tried this but looks like you will have to change what the system sees by removing one of the Ram modules .. from the battery compartment.

I hope you have 2 sticks of ram in there

After removing / adding more RAM than before, Turn on the computer and immediately reset PRAM by holding the Command-Option-P-R key combination. Press the keys until you've heard two successive startup sounds.
Open Firmware password protection should be now disabled.

Try and boot to the disk again.. clear or reset the passwords ...
Shut down the computer and return it to its original RAM configuration.

and see if it boots.

And if it does not return it. Firmware Password Protection can be the very devil without the password and as you have found you cannot even boot from the system disc.

O.K. I tried this. Didnt work. Can I buy new ram and install it will this give me a new start? Thank you for all your help.......

Try this one:

Remove the AC Adapter

Remove the MacBook's memory

Put the Memory back into the MacBook.

Plug the MacBook's Power cord back in.

Press the MacBook's Power button, and then immediately hold down the Apple key, the option key, the P key, and the R key - using both hands, and all four keys down at once, and hold those four keys down, until you "hear" the MacBook chime three times. Should take 30-40 Seconds between each chime.

If not, you might need to take it into an Apple store and chances are they're gonna ask for proof of purchase.

teresa733 said:

O.K. I tried this. Didnt work. Can I buy new ram and install it will this give me a new start? Thank you for all your help.......

Click to expand...

It should work. Just remove one module of memory, not both. Then follow the directions to reset the PRAM/NVRAM. The firmware password should be gone.
Then reinstall the module you removed and see if you can boot back up normally.

If the firmware password still persists, go back in and try removing the other module - but only one at a time. Reset the PRAM/NVRAM again.