Reformatting ibook g4 hard drive question

My dad recently was at our local dump and found an ibook g4 that was in perfect working condition the only problem was that it needed a battery and a charger. well we now have the charger and the battery but we cant do anything to the comptuer because we dont have the original owners password. is there any way to get around this when i am updating the OS to leopard?

tnelson10:
If you are certain that the computer is sound, and if you have the install disk, I suggest that you first completely reformat and erase the HDD to get rid of any vestige of previous use, then install the OS.
Formatting, Partitioning Erasing a Hard Disk Drive
• With computer shut down insert install disk in optical drive.
• Hit Power button and immediately after chime hold down the "C" key.
• Select language
• Go to the Utilities menu (Tiger) Installer menu (Panther & earlier) and launch Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select Partition tab in main panel. (You are about to create a single partition volume.)
• (Where available) Click on Options button
• Select Apple Partition Map (PPC Macs) or GUID Partition Table (Intel Macs)
• Click OK
• Select number of partition in pull-down menu above Volume diagram.
(Note 1: One partition is normally preferable for an internal HDD.)
• Type in name in Name field (usually Macintosh HD)
• Select Volume Format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
• Click Partition button at bottom of panel.
• Select Erase tab
• Select the sub-volume (indented) under Manufacturer ID (usually Macintosh HD).
• Check to be sure your Volume Name and Volume Format are correct.
• Click Erase button
• Quit Disk Utility.
Open installer and begin installation process.
Installation Process
• Select installation option
• Choose to Customize and deselect Foreign Language Translations and Additional Printer drivers.
Optional: Check box to install X11 (Tiger and later) BSD Subsystems (Panther & earlier).
• Proceed with installation.
• After installation computer will restart for setup.
• After setup, reboot computer.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
• Connect to Internet.
• Download and install Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update (Leopard) or
Mac OS X 10.4.11 Combo update (PPC) (Tiger) or
10.3.9 Combo Update (Panther)
Computer will restart.
• Repair Disk Permissions as previously.
• Go to Apple Menu > Software Update.
• Install all updates.
Computer may restart after updates.
• Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in left side bar.
• Select First Aid in main panel.
• Click Repair Disk Permissions.
cornelius

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