# Found a 'Mac SE' on the street!



## plafortune (Jul 28, 2006)

Hello everyone - I might need your help here..

Recently, I saw a good condition portable case lying in the street on a garbage day. I figured it could be useful, so I have picked it up. it was quite heavy. I have open it up and..

Guess what?... inside was the classic Mac SE with ext. scsi hard-drive, modem and all its accessories. Though it would probably not work but I still brought it home.

It does work! - I was happy that it did but once the screensaver activated itself my face changed radically - It was password protected!

This is where I need your HELP - How can I gain access to the computer again? Is there a way to bypass the screensaver or is there an other solution to this problem?

And, I do not have any Mac OS boot disk (I guess this would be necessary to boot fresh and change the password, or am I wrong?) Are they still available anywhere?

Any help would be highly appreciated !

Thanks in advance,

Philippe


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## plafortune (Jul 28, 2006)

Hello everyone - I might need your help here..

Recently, I saw a good condition portable case lying in the street on a garbage day. I figured it could be useful, so I have picked it up. it was quite heavy. I have open it up and..

Guess what?... inside was the classic Mac SE with ext. scsi hard-drive, modem and all its accessories. Though it would probably not work but I still brought it home.

It does work! - I was happy that it did but once the screensaver activated itself my face changed radically - It was password protected!

This is where I need your HELP - How can I gain access to the computer again? Is there a way to bypass the screensaver or is there an other solution to this problem?

And, I do not have any Mac OS boot disk (I guess this would be necessary to boot fresh and change the password, or am I wrong?) Are they still available anywhere?

Any help would be highly appreciated !

Thanks in advance,

Philippe


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## CharlieJ (Jul 29, 2006)

lol, your screwed, go on the other mac, download a copy of the operating system, and burn it, during boot hold down C


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## adambyte (Jul 29, 2006)

Um... CJ MAC OSX IPOD... that advice would be great... if the Macintosh SE wasn't such an old computer. lol

Glad to hear that you saved an old Mac, dude. First of all, yes, if you have a floppy drive, you can probably make a proper boot disk for this puppy. Mac OS 1- 7.5.3 are available online for free.

Secondly.... you may not have to go to such drastic measures... if you can reboot (I believe the reset button would be somewhere on the left side... I know it is on my Mac Classic II) maybe you can disable the screen saver before it starts. First, check the Application menu in the upper right (Yes... it's just an icon of the currently running program) to see a list of currently running programs.... if there is a screen saver program, (Such as "Darkside" of the Mac), you can choose it and then quit it. If it's After Dark, you will have to go to Apple menu-> Control Panels  -> After Dark   to disable it.

btw, for Any resources of any kind on an old Mac, my first place to go is 
www.lowendmac.com

Specs for each model, reviews, communities of users of old Macs, and links to lots of old software.

Hope this helps.


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## RacerX (Jul 29, 2006)

Actually it sounds like _AtEase_ is installed... and getting around this is... well, lets just say that reformatting and installing a new OS would be less complicated.

The only reason to attempt to disable _AtEase_ would be to save info on the drive, which isn't something that I'd worry about in this case (if this was your old college computer with a ton of research documents on it, that would be another story  ).


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## Cheryl (Jul 29, 2006)

What size floppy drive is on the machine? 

The trouble with the older 'classic' machines is that the screen saver and in your case the security is third party and not Apple's. 

You can try booting the computer with OS 7 or Norton Utilities - which both versions are on floppies for that system. 

Or, you can try using another SCSI external drive to boot the machine. 

Or you can swap out the internal hard drive - if that model has one (some did). 

Or you can call the company that developed the screensaver (might be After Dark, or FoolProof) and get the master password.


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## fryke (Jul 29, 2006)

Shut the power off and reboot and try to remove the screensaver by hand.


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## chevy (Jul 29, 2006)

You can still buy old Mac OS versions, like here:
http://www.gizmos2go.com/xcart/product.php?productid=507

Mac OS 7.6 should be ok for a Mac SE.


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## nixgeek (Jul 29, 2006)

You can also download System 7.5.3 for free from Apple's website, and then download the 7.5.5 updater.

Gamba's site has all the links:

http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/index.html


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## adambyte (Jul 29, 2006)

Woah. Completely forgot about AtEase.... 

Yeah.... what are the telltale signs that it's an AtEase dialog? Would an icon with the little folders with people show up in the dialog box?


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## RacerX (Jul 29, 2006)

chevy said:


> You can still buy old Mac OS versions, like here:
> http://www.gizmos2go.com/xcart/product.php?productid=507
> 
> Mac OS 7.6 should be ok for a Mac SE.


Actually 7.6 will not run on a Mac SE... it tops out at 7.5.5.

System specifications:Macintosh SE
Macintosh SE (w/Super Drive)​System software:System 6.0.x
System 7.0.1
System 7.5.3
System 7.5.5 update​


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## plafortune (Jul 29, 2006)

Thanks all for answering...

I haven't tried anything yet since I just spray painted the Mac SE plastic case to a red fire hydrant type of color (looks a little like one  - it will look good in my kid's bedroom and useful/fun for them.

So far, if I hear you guys right, my best bet would be to find/download Mac OS 7.5.5 from someone who can actually download and copy it on a FDHD diskette for me, right? - The problem is, I wish I knew someone that could do this for me, I'm surrounded by PC's.

Anybody willing to mail me the most needed diskette? (I live in Montreal Canada - postage can't cost too much) In return, I will send back a nice reward. (don't ask me what, it's a surprise! )

Let me know if you are interested here and I will send you a private message with my home address.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help reviving this old Mac SE  

Cheers,

Philippe


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## nixgeek (Jul 29, 2006)

If you can only download the System 7.5.3 installation disk images from a PC, see this site:

http://www.jagshouse.com/Macs_and_PCs.html


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## plafortune (Jul 30, 2006)

Thanks all for answering...!

I haven't tried anything yet since I just spray painted the Mac SE plastic case to a red fire hydrant type of color (looks a little like one  - it will look good in my kid's bedroom and useful/fun for them.

So far, if I hear you guys right, my best bet would be to find/download Mac OS 7.5.5 from someone who can actually download and copy it on a FDHD diskette for me, right? - The problem is, I wish I knew someone that could do this for me, I'm surrounded by PC's.

Anybody willing to mail me the most needed diskette? (I live in Montreal Canada - postage can't cost too much) In return, I will send back a nice reward. (don't ask me what, it's a surprise! 

Let me know if you are interested here and I will send you a private message with my home address.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help reviving this old Mac SE  

Cheers,

Philippe


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