G4 Power Mac: Booting into Single User?

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May 10, 2007
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Ok, I just purchased a used Mac G4 from a Pawn Shop. From what I've been able to determine of the specs, it's a G4 Gigabit, with Dual Processors, a DVD-RAM Drive, and a Zip drive. Not bad for $120.

The problem is, it boots up to a login prompt and I have no passwords. The shop has no idea what they are.

So, I found some instructions on how to reset, but I have to boot into single user mode. I don't have an original Mac keyboard though - only PC USB's. They seem to work fine for typing on it (well, I can only get to the login prompt :)), but I can't figure out how to make it boot single-user. Is this even possible with a PC keyboard?

Thanks.

EDIT: Well, I fixed my own issue :). Not sure why, but my logitech keyboard (which ironically has the Mac symbols printed on it in addition to the PC ones) flat out wouldn't boot into Single user, but when I plugged in an old SGI usb keyboard I had it worked fine. Was able to boot single user, reset the system so that I created a new account, and then login. Specs are a Dual 500mhz G4, DVD-RAM, Zip Drive, 256MB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. I might try to "soup it up" a bit later, but given that all I wanted to do was try out a mac and see how I like it, I think the $120 was well spent :).
 
Joined
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Powerbook G4 12" 1.5GHz
Yup, I've found that certain USB keyboards actually work with the Apple commands and everything just fine. I actually used a Dell USB keyboard to successfully boot to CD, etc, and it worked just fine.
 

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