Chosen Solution
Hello, I received a iMac (2133) to try to fix from a friend who received it from another friend. First thing that is noticeable is when I try to power it on, I can hear the HDD spinning and the chime goes off and the screen turns white then shortly after it turns off, however if I hold the power button then sometimes it will boot normally just fine. Second problem, when it does boot a fan is at high speed all the time being really annoying. Third problem- how can i reset everything? i do not have the admin password and was wondering if there is a way?
From the sounds of it I suspect your PRAM battery is dead. Here’s the guide you’ll need to follow to get to it iMac Intel 20" EMC 2133 and 2210 PRAM Battery Replacement You should be able to pick up the needed battery locally 3 Volt Lithium battery BR2032 See if after replacing it your system starts up correctly after you’ve corrected the date, time & startup disk settings in your preferences. As far as resetting things without knowing the admin users password you’ll need to wipe the drive and re-install the OS and Apps. You might want to first boot up under an bootable external drive to you can copy off everything first.
