MacOS Leopard won't boot from disc

[ThePCRunners]

Hello, I recieved a MacBook Pro 2007 from a friend that has a password, I tried resetting using single something (cmd+s), after writing the 2nd command the screen started writing weird characters and seemed glitched (will attach a photo soon), after looking around the web I noticed I could use the installation disc to remove the password, I entered the disc, hit the C key on startup but the computer just froze on the logo, same thing happened when trying to enter safe mode, I am able to reach the start screen but can't enter since I don't know the password to the user, anyone knows what can I do in such situation? Thanks a lot!

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

you can trick the machine into thinking that it's a brand new Mac, so it re-runs the initial setup and you can make a new account and then delete the old one if you want. 

 

to do this, remove the install DVD you tried to use and then boot the Mac in single user mode (hold down Command+S on boot). the screen will show a bunch of text and when it's booted you should be at a terminal prompt where you can type in commands. 

 

type the following commands IN THE CORRECT ORDER

• mount -uw /
• rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
• reboot

The Mac should then boot back up into the initial setup. 

[ThePCRunners]

4 minutes ago, Ashley said:

you can trick the machine into thinking that it's a brand new Mac, so it re-runs the initial setup and you can make a new account and then delete the old one if you want. 

 

to do this, remove the install DVD you tried to use and then boot the Mac in single user mode (hold down Command+S on boot). the screen will show a bunch of text and when it's booted you should be at a terminal prompt where you can type in commands. 

 

type the following commands IN THE CORRECT ORDER

• mount -uw /
• rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
• reboot

The Mac should then boot back up into the initial setup. 

I just tried using a command to change the password, sadly it takes time to actually make it go to the screen where I can log into the account, if what I tried to do wouldn't work I'll try your suggestion, I took a picture of the weird thing it does when I tried to use the command prompt

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

OOOF that's a dead laptop. 

 

most likely GPU faillure. you can put it on display because it's a nice vintage Mac, but it's just dead. 

[ThePCRunners]

Just now, Ashley said:

OOOF that's a dead laptop. 

 

most likely GPU faillure. you can put it on display because it's a nice vintage Mac, but it's just dead. 

Oh.. So that's what it means.. 

It's dead even though it does get to the login screen?

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

3 minutes ago, ThePCRunners said:

Oh.. So that's what it means.. 

It's dead even though it does get to the login screen?

well it's on the verge of dying. i give it 48 hours and you'll get nothing but a black screen. i'd just put it on display in a nice corner of your house. 

 

pro-tip, take the batteyr out first before you make it a display piece. 

[ThePCRunners]

1 minute ago, Ashley said:

well it's on the verge of dying. i give it 48 hours and you'll get nothing but a black screen. i'd just put it on display in a nice corner of your house. 

 

pro-tip, take the batteyr out first before you make it a display piece. 

Welp.. Thanks for the help!

I sure do like the way it looks, sad that it's dead, would have become my first Mac, never had one haha

Maybe in the future, now I try to self-teach myself computer engineering and I was suggested to learn Mac too, maybe I'll use it to study the insides of a Mac and take out the HDD and RAM and put the shell somewhere nice to make people think I've got a Mac lol

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, ThePCRunners said:

Welp.. Thanks for the help!

I sure do like the way it looks, sad that it's dead, would have become my first Mac, never had one haha

Maybe in the future, now I try to self-teach myself computer engineering and I was suggested to learn Mac too, maybe I'll use it to study the insides of a Mac and take out the HDD and RAM and put the shell somewhere nice to make people think I've got a Mac lol

ah i see, you wouldn't be able to learn macOS well on such an old machine though. i'd look for something newer on the used market. 

 

the current macOS supports MacBook Pro's from 2012 and newer. although there is no telling now if the next version of macOS will drop the 2012 models from support, so i'd wait until the WWDC keynote in a few weeks to know that for sure and then look for a macbook pro on the used market. 

[ThePCRunners]

Just now, Ashley said:

ah i see, you wouldn't be able to learn macOS well on such an old machine though. i'd look for something newer on the used market. 

 

the current macOS supports MacBook Pro's from 2012 and newer. although there is no telling now if the next version of macOS will drop the 2012 models from support, so i'd wait until the WWDC keynote in a few weeks to know that for sure and then look for a macbook pro on the used market. 

Sadly I don't have money to buy things as for I'm still a student, I rely on tech that people throw (found an I5-2400 and a created my little medium gaming computer with 750 ti), the moment I finish school I'm forced to go to the army so I won't have time to work to earn money to buy things to learn from. I hope I'll something with a minor problem that I can easily fix in the near future, thanks a lot for your help!

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, ThePCRunners said:

the moment I finish school I'm forced to go to the army

what country do you live in? that's brutal!

[ThePCRunners]

Just now, Ashley said:

what country do you live in? that's brutal!

Israel, it's essential, but yeah.. Super hard, I at least hope not to be in a life threatening place, now working on it and trying to get to a place where I can work with computers, if I won't success I'll have to wait 2.8 years to start learning again sadly

[harryk]

I agree it looks like a failing GPU.

 

You could try baking the logic board in the oven to reflow the solder and possibly bring it back to life. This is known to work on other MBPs with GPU failure with moderate success. There are plenty of guides online describing how to do it, just search Google. Of course do so at your own risk but from what I see you've got nothing to lose.

[ThePCRunners]

14 hours ago, harryk said:

I agree it looks like a failing GPU.

 

You could try baking the logic board in the oven to reflow the solder and possibly bring it back to life. This is known to work on other MBPs with GPU failure with moderate success. There are plenty of guides online describing how to do it, just search Google. Of course do so at your own risk but from what I see you've got nothing to lose.

Haha I heard of these kind of tricks to fix components, the thing I'm afraid to lose is the oven

After doing such thing in an oven it is not good to be used for food anymore because of the toxics the components release.

But thanks for the suggestion!