resetting open firmware without keyboard?

R

reagan9000

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Hi - I am looking for a way to reset the values in open-firmware without a keyboard.

I had to do a system reinstall my imac g5 w/ bluetooth. During the reinstall I archived my system directories and preserved user directories.

When the system rebooted after the reinstall completed with no errors I have no user accounts and my bluetooth keyboard does not work. The login screen shows just 'others' - my account appears to be gone nor can I log in as root.

I have attached a wireless (not bluetooth) pc keyboard to boot off the install disk but the system refuses to - always boots off the internal hard drive. Tried Windows+alt+OF and Windows+alt+PR with no success.

I am able to eject the CD-ROM with a wired mouse but I do not have a wired keyboard, not that should make a difference.

Anyway, I think my prom is in some weird first-boot state after the install and wanted to set it/reset it.
Thanks,
Tim
 
reagan9000 said:
Anyway, I think my prom is in some weird first-boot state after the install and wanted to set it/reset it.
Click to expand...

Using CLIX , one can enter Terminal commands using nothing but a trackpad or mouse. CLIX does not contain a procedure for resetting open firmware upon download; however, it can be added--assuming that open firmware can be reset using Terminal (i.e., I have never tried to reset open firmware using terminal). So, if you could download CLIX on another Mac, then you might be able to add the needed procedure and use CLIX on your MAC. Also, I am not sure, but you also might be able to reset open firmware on your Mac if connected to another via firewire target-disk mode. I apologize for my speculative thoughts. I am grasping at straws trying to think of a process that might work for you.
 
You can remove or add sticks of RAM to your computer to reset OF, I believe. I don't know if this resets every setting in OF, but it does reset OF passwords -- it's worth a shot.
 
Hi - I ended up borrowing a wired Apple keyboard from a friend; the iMac recognized the keyboard and allowed me to boot off the installation CD. All my users were gone except root and appserver; I could have reset the root password to something I knew and tried to rebuild things, but I decided to erase the disk and completely reinstall.

If I did not have a friend with an Apple keyboard I would have been totally in trouble.

Thanks for the response,
Tim
 
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