mad scientist at large wrote: > well, of course you can always put the drive in another machine, but > that's rather indescrete in most office or public settings, and it's > what the lock on the back of the machine is for, i.e. if you can't open > the box, you can't move the drive.
yeah you're correct; I still have to buy a lock with a steel cable to lock it. > trying to boot to the os cd does not defeat it, in fact it totally > disables the "C" key trick! the only way i can boot off a cd is to > select it as the startup disk in the finder, or to start up using the > "opt" key. when you start with the opt key, it still demands a > password before it even shows you your' boot choices, then it will let > you boot to the cd if you select it, after entering the password and > seeing the choices. if i boot to my normal volume after using the > "opt" key to select the startup drive it demands the password a second > time! it really, really does seem to be secure. Ah that is very good to know, thanks, yeah this sounds indeed very secure! > now, i can boot into open firmware without the password, but as soon as > i type "mac-boot" the firmware asks for the password. Nice. > i suspect it > might be defeatable by booting into open firmware if there are commands > in it that let you modify or delete the password, but it should demand > the current password first. i don't currently know enough about open > firmware to try it. My neither. > it is implemented IN the firmware, not the drives. yes, I know. > i've also tried the > internal hardware reset button (which of course you can't get to if the > case is locked) and that doesn't clear the password either, it's burnt > into the open firmware eeprom, never to be munged from outside! Nice. Just hope that that OF password app doesn't screw up the EEPROM. BTW you know that if you do a h/w reset aka use the CUDA button, data is written to the EEPROM aswell? > a very, very nice side benefit, if the machine is ever stolen, it's > utterly useless to the thieves who's only profit option is to sell the > peripherals. it also makes prooving that it's actually your machine > allot easier if the police recover it if you haven't written down the > serial numbers or they've been hopelessly defaced, yeah, this is a very nice benefit. > although the serial > number is also stored electronically, Not all Macs have this, only the latest G4s IIRC. You can check it in your ASP, if you see a serial there, it is stored electronically. MY B&W doesn't have this feature. > presumably in the eeprom since it > relates to the order number so apple would need to be able to set it > before shipping but after the logic board is built. But what if you replace the logic board, the serials won't match with the registered one. > it really does seem to be a very, very effective lock. Yes, indeed, thanks for the info! Marc * * -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
