startup problem with padlock

M

Mark Perry

Registered
Hi all
I picked up a used G4 Sawtooth. Everything checks out OK except it won't boot, even from a CD. I have a tested, known good hard drive with Tiger, one with OS-9.2 and the Tiger DVD - I still get the question mark folder icon, alternating with a good folder icon.
When I start holding the option key (to choose the startup disk), the screen shows me a padlock instead of the usual choices. This I've never seen before.
I have tried re-seating all cards, RAM, etc., and different units for all. The PRAM will not ZAP, I don't think it gets that far in the boot process.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Mark Perry
 
Sounds like the machine has an open-firmware password installed.

Try this: add or remove a significant amount of RAM to/from the machine, then immediately after doing so and upon the first boot afterward, zap the PRAM three times (command-option-P-R until the computer restarts/"bongs" three times).
 
Open-firmware passwords are a bitch to get around sometimes, especially if the machine has only one stick of RAM in it and you don't have access to any other RAM to add to it. Sounds like you either had multiple RAM sticks in the machine or were lucky enough to have access to other RAM sticks to put in there!

Glad to hear you got everything straightened out!
 
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