Need HELP!!!

Hello! I recently, Sunday actually, purchased a used iMac on Craigslist. I have been a PC user for years, but have been wanting to try a Mac. So, I found a used iMac G4 on Craigslist and bought it. I was really excited, until I got home and got it running. Everything seems to work fine, however there are some issues.

The guy that I bought it from didn't have any of the original CD's that came with it. The computer was his dad's and he left all of his dad's stuff on here. No big deal, right? Wrong...I can't get in to update any software because his dad's admin password is still there. Does anyone know how I would go about changing out admins so that my information is there so that I can update the software?

Secondly, I think this thing needs a OS update. The mouse seems to be kind of jumpy today and I can't get some things to work. I went into System Preferences to try to put a wallpaper on, but it stays blank. Also, I have no clue what original software should have come on this, so I don't know if he deleted anything important.

I guess my two questions would be how do I remove him from being the admin and how do I update the OS? I'm literally brand spanking new to the world of Mac.

You really need the OS disks that came with that iMac and the thing you should do is blow away whatever is on there now and do a full clean install and then update to latest version ..

The machine specific OS disks can run into the $150 range..so have this seller see if they can find the disks..

If you knew the original admin password, you could then change it to what you want, but a clean re-install is your best bet to put things right..

Regards

P.S., since you're new to the forum, let me just suggest that you try to use some descriptive title for your post, things like "HELP!" and variants of that just clutter the site..

I'm sorry on the nondescriptive title. I was having some issues this morning. Doing a complete reinstall of the OS is exactly what I want to do. I've already talked to the guy that I bought the thing from and he said that he can't find the disks. Any ideas where I can get the disks from? Do you think Apple would sell them? I know that it's an older machine and therefore it will be harder for find the disks. Are the disks machine specific? I know a guy who is into Macs and I might be able to get one from him and reinstall the OS.

Which iMac G4 do you have? Give the system specs. Someone will tell you which OS will run on it. Then you will have to find what is call the retail OS disks, which is a full installation disk.

rman said:

Which iMac G4 do you have? Give the system specs. Someone will tell you which OS will run on it. Then you will have to find what is call the retail OS disks, which is a full installation disk.

Click to expand...

It is an iMac G4 with 800 mhz processor, 256mb RAM, 80gig hd. I'm probably going to install some more RAM when I figure out about the OS situation?

With that configuration you're going to be limited to OS 10.4 "Tiger". You might be able to jump up to 10.5 "Leopard" if you at least double the RAM. Check the Apple web site to confirm the requirements.

On that model there is internal RAM as well as external (user-accessible) RAM. The 256MB is internal RAM and while you COULD upgrade that, it's NOT user-accessible and you pretty much HAVE to have a seasoned tech do it (not only because this involves the entire disassembly of the computer but also because the right amount of thermal grease must be carefully re-applied to avoid turning the thing into a paperweight).

The external (user-accessible) RAM is very easy (it's on the bottom), so if I were you I'd just get the largest chip for that slot and upgrade that.

As others have said (but I want to clarify their remarks), "borrowing" someone else's Mac OS discs simply won't work, the gray system discs are machine-specific.

What you really want to do is find a retail copy of Tiger and iLife 06 for cheap, and totally wipe the drive and start over. Using someone else's leftover account is a security risk for both of you.

Better yet, by now you've gotten some idea of why Macs rock, and given that retail copies of Tiger and Leopard are quite expensive, I'd actually suggest you start saving for a refurb'd Mac mini or something less old. As wonderful as the design of the G4 iMac is, there's not a lot of point in investing too much more money in the thing so many years after its been discontinued.