:( I should have never bought from ebay

I bought a mac g4 quicksilver running osx and so I finally got it hooked up to my ethernet converter, and I try to update Itunes and it says i need the admin password. I e-mailed the person who sold it to me on ebay and he hasnt emailed me back in a week. I dont know what to do cause I tried putting in my friend's newer osx version cd because I read somewhere you could reset the admin password with those discs. It had a restart button and when I pressed it it asked for the admin password again.
I'm so dumbfounded and I'm hoping I'm not stuck with a computer that can't be updated or anything.
Any help is appreciated. Do you think a computer place could do it for me?
thankyou

Complete guesses here, but try an apple store?

If that doesn't work, maybe try a new harddrive?

after that and the horror story about a friend of mine who bought a subaru impreza (too long to tell), i'm even less likely to ever use ebay.

i'm guessing you need the discs that actually came with the machine, not just any OS discs.

maybe you can pull the disk and format it, then puchase a copy of osx and install it?

Put the new CD in, disregard the offer to update, etc. power off the computer, then hold down the "C" key as it reboots and it should come up directly off the new CD where you can reset the password.

You should also leave the seller some negative feedback. Seems like most of the sellers on Ebay respond fairly quickly to some HONEST negative feeback.

I neglected to put in the fact that after the installer begins, choose Utilities/reset password. here are the actual instructions from the apple site:
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc
2. Restart the computer
3. When you hear the startup tone, press and hold the C key until you see the spinning gear
4. When the Installer appears, choose Utilities - Reset Password
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to change the password
6. Quit the Installer
7. Restart your Mac while pressing and holding the mouse button to eject the disc

when i hold c it pops up saying that i have no debugger configured-dumping debug information

Are you holding the "C" down after the chime of before? should be after the chime.

Also, is the CD you are using a restore CD or an OSX install cd? if it is a restore CD for something other than the actual model G4 you have it won't work correctly, but I think there is a way around to get it to boot only but I forget how to do it.

it's an install disk
ill try to time my c click again

What version do you have installed and what version cd are you using?

it said the same thing. im thinkin i need this password or i wont be able to change it without bringing it to a computer place

Hmm. Well if it is truly a retail install DVD/CD then it wouldnt need a password as one off the options is erase and install which does a totally new install without saving anything. What version is your install disk and does it say anything specific about a certain Mac model on it?

osx version 10.4.8 and the disks are for osx tiger?

Is it a gray disk or one with the big X on it (Tiger is black) The gray ones are model specific I think.

it's grey

did the user format it and then set it up right before he sent it to you?
if so did you try some of the usual passwords he might have used:
admin
password
his ebay nick
your ebay nick

and stuff like that?

-chris

oh my god
haha i put in
"password"
and it worked
coach_z you are my hero
thankyou so much

lol well that is good. Not a hard one for you to remember now.

haha true now it's starting up to my 40gb hard drive instead of my 100 gig
anyone know how i can swap them back so it runs 100gb on startup?