The case of the unbootable Mac mini | Hacker News Reader

The case of the unbootable Mac mini

macworld.com

48 pointsmshafrir18 comments

Add or remove RAM (basically change the amount) clear NV memory three times (you'll hear the dong 3 times) and that will clear the OpenFirmware password... at least on older PPC Mac Minis.

Nice. The PC boot sequence may not be as beautiful as the Mac's, but at least you get a clear error message when something goes wrong.

(My machine's motherboard even has a little display on it that displays diagnostic codes for things like "couldn't set CPU multiplier" and so on. This makes it really easy to debug the flaky hardware that all non-mainframe computers are built from. Easier than a flashing question mark, anyway.)

You can hold down a key when you turn a Mac on to have it switch from the default "pretty" screen to a normal wall-of-text booting screen. The problem for the author was that he'd locked himself out of these options when enabling some security feature previously.

Right, but when you don't know the BIOS password on a PC, it says: "Enter supervisor password". If his Mac had said this, there would never have been any doubt in his mind as to what was going on.

Sure, but in general it's not as bad as your post suggests.

PC's have "pretty" screens as well but if you ever have a problem the wall-of-text will come up instead. Much more useful.

Agreed.

We tried using mac minis as little servers, but they wouldn't boot if a monitor is not connected. We got around it by making a dummy DVI connector with a resistor in it. But still, it is jumping through hoops. That and the silly BIOS, it is as if Apple went out of its way to make it less user friendly...

Wait -- they do not boot without a monitor attached? Apple can't be serious about this. I just lost a little faith...

Apparently not, at least not without OS X Server edition.

wrong; i have a mac mini in a data center that boots just fine w/o a monitor attached.

OS X client boots fine without a monitor attached, it just don't initialise a display device. You can connect via SSH and use other services. I think if you enable VNC in Sharing, it will simulate a 1024x768 display for you to use.

I don't know why I am being modded down. Apple fanboys?

It is probably because your claim is easily disproven. I have a headless mini in my server room right now that has no problems booting. Turn on screen sharing and you can login and use it just as if you were sitting in front of a similar box with a display and keyboard.

Well, the generation we have doesn't. We just built some DVI connectors with a resistor on the back, to make it behave similar enough to a connected monitor.

Mac minis are fairly different depending on the generation.

That's one I'm going to file away.

He forgot the 4th conclusion item:

if you have a mac, don't waste time on 'security' options. it will just piss you off and still not be any more secure.

I would be inclined to downmod this, but instead I have to agree with the sentiment of 'fences not walls' when it comes to security, since too much security can be a bad thing. Mr. Frakes is being kind enough to give us a glimpse of forehead-slapping. If anything, the REAL 4th conclusion: write down the stuff you do that involves _locking you out of your machine_

the point is that even if he had had NO trouble himself, anyone wanting to get his data was just one search on the intrawebs away of find a really easy way of getting it.

so easy that he even managed to find by accident!

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