Advice PLEASE!!???

G

Gabinka

Registered
Hey guys!

Here's a question for you. I bought the 24' iMac last night. It was the last one Best Buy had in stock in Vancouver. I know the manager there and bought my powerbook there last year too (all is well no problems with that.) Here's my issue...

I bought it but the box was opened BUT they assured me that it wasn't even touched but only opened by someone in the store. We even inspected the plastic and everything was wrapped and un-touched. Well, I took it home, hooked it up and the short name is an "Eric Besomethingorother" SOOOO MAD! Either A: I need to take it bck or B: (this is where I need the help) How do I reset the whole computer so that it's under MEEEEEE!!!! not some Eric guy so that when I try to install my software it asks me for HIS password, shich obviously I don't know. What shoud I do?

Signed: Kind of Peeved (AKA: Gabby)
 
The easiest way would be to reinstall OS X.

Alternatively, you could execute cleanup scripts in single user mode.

I would prefer a clean reinstall; who knows what this "Eric" guy did to the system.

If you don't have the install disks, demand them.
 
Thanks Eric! I have the install disks. Do you think I should return the whole computer? It should be fine right? I just have a feeling the guy maybe bought it and realized he didn't need it. I would hate to lug it back in. I think what I'll also do is call Best Buy and give them Sh*T since they told me that noone touched it. :O)
 
If it's not scratched, then it will act just like new when you reinstall. Worst case scenario, he took/swapped some hardware, but that's unlikely. Just click "about this mac", under the apple menu and verify the specs.

You've got one year of apple warranty, anyways. (you can add 2 years, for a total of 3 with AppleCare)
 
Hi, the same thing happened to me .... I bought the last iMac G5 that was also floor stock and when I got home and started it up the user account was already made and the AppleStore people had all their details entered so I just reinstalled the OS and that made it all mine!
 
I would make it a point to go to the Best Buy, find the manager, and make him look me in the eye and admit that he blatantly lied to me.

Then i would ask him what he was prepared to do to keep me from filing a complaint with the corporate office.

(RAM upgrade, discounted Apple Care, discounts on future merchandise, etc.....etc...)
 
g/re/p said:
I would make it a point to go to the Best Buy, find the manager, and make him look me in the eye and admit that he blatantly lied to me.

Then i would ask him what he was prepared to do to keep me from filing a complaint with the corporate office.

(RAM upgrade, discounted Apple Care, discounts on future merchandise, etc.....etc...)
Click to expand...

OOOH---I like your style! Perfect.
 
Actually, tactfully delivered, and at the appropriate level (ie., not a floor sales rep) could very well get you free AppleCare or a BestBuy gift card.

Excellent advice g/re/p. But remember, tactful. Be firm but non-confrontational (getting him/her to admit a lie may be counter-productive--use something like "your salesperson mislead me").
 
OK so I went to the geek sqaud guys, bought my firewire cable to transfer everything from my MacBook Pro to my iMac and he told me to transfer eveything over, make myself the admin and then delete this other guy on it. I was so excited to get home to finally do this, I get home, go to transer and it asks me for his password. It's like I'm goig around in a circle. I can't erase this guy as an admin. Anyone else have any suggestions? I tried reinstalling the OSX, and I always eed his supid password. This computer is useless to me right now, I can only surf the net and watch movies. :O( I could have ought a 400 PC laptop and a 70 buck DVD player. :OS I'm gonna cry soon.
 
You need his password, even after a clean install? Have you tried reseting it with the OS X install disk, under the Utilities menu?
 
yes, tried to reinstall the oSX (takes like an hour to do) then he's still on there. I manged to get into the core and get his admin pic. I searched FACEBOOK for him, matched his MAC ADMIN pic to the FACEBOOK pic and sent the actual guy a message.
 
You should be able to reset the admin password by booting to the install disk.
If that does not work, let me know and i will pm you a different solution.

-James
 
Gabinka said:
yes, tried to reinstall the oSX (takes like an hour to do) then he's still on there. I manged to get into the core and get his admin pic. I searched FACEBOOK for him, matched his MAC ADMIN pic to the FACEBOOK pic and sent the actual guy a message.
Click to expand...

ARe you sure you're wiping the drive clean and then reinstalling? IF you've already backed up your files to another drive (preferably an external drive so you don't inadvertently format the wrong drive), do the following:

  1. Boot from the Mac OS X DVD by holding the C key when you hear the startup chime. Make sure the DVD is in the drive when you do this. Also, disconnect all other devices except for the keyboard and the mouse before doing this (BTW, make sure you don't have your external drive connected to the Mac so you don't end up formatting the wrong drive on accident).
  2. When you're presented with the installation welcome screen, go the menu and launch Disk Utility.
  3. Once Disk Utility is launched, select your hard drive and choose to Erase Hard Drive. This will completely format the drive, deleting everything on it. Make sure that you select the entire hard drive and not a partition that shows up one hierarchical level under it on the list.
  4. Once the drive is erased, quit out of Disk Utility by going to the menu and selecting Disk Utility-->Quit.
  5. Proceed with the installation of Mac OS X.

Bear in mind that I'm doing this from memory so some of the wording on the menu items might be a little different, but the procedures should be spot-on.

BTW, great detective work on finding the guy. :D
 
Also - it is a good idea to click the Security Options tab and select the Zero Out Data option as well - the reason for this is twofold: any "questionable" data will be erased, and any bad sectors on the HDD will be mapped out.
 
g/re/p said:
Also - it is a good idea to click the Security Options tab and select the Zero Out Data option as well - the reason for this is twofold: any "questionable" data will be erased, and any bad sectors on the HDD will be mapped out.
Click to expand...

Very true, but to add this option does take a while so make sure you have some time to spare while it's zeroing out.
 
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