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"Your computer is disabled, try again in X minutes" PROBLEM

The.316

The.316

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 14, 2010
1,403
183
25100 GR
I had my laptop, MBP of about 4 years now, at my friends restaurant. Its been there for about a year now. I let them use it to play music there, but they were very careless with it. Long story short, I locked my laptop in iCloud, and took it home to clean and install El Cap. I know my six digit code, but its not letting me enter it at all. After I turn on the computer, it tells me that "Your computer is disabled. Try again in 60 minutes." I wait 60 minutes, and it just automatically says that the password is wrong, please try again, then it goes back to the computer disabled...60 minutes. Its not allowing showing me where to enter the password.

I tried cmd-option R to get into recovery, but nothing, so what I did was attach my El Cap install USB. It allowed me to boot to the USB, and then it asks me for my password. I enter the password, which I used to lock in iCloud, and it then let me choose my boot up disk. I tried the El Cap install first, it went up to the Language Selector screen, then it went back to the computer disabled, 60 minutes message. I then tried to boot into recovery, because I read that if you repair the volume, it might correct my problem, but again it boots right back to the disabled, 60 minutes message. Im going to wait again, 48 minutes left, to see if it lets me enter my password. Is there something I am doing wrong?
 
The.316 said:
I had my laptop, MBP of about 4 years now, at my friends restaurant. Its been there for about a year now. I let them use it to play music there, but they were very careless with it. ... I tried the El Cap install first, it went up to the Language Selector screen, then it went back to the computer disabled, 60 minutes message. I then tried to boot into recovery, because I read that if you repair the volume, it might correct my problem, but again it boots right back to the disabled, 60 minutes message. Im going to wait again, 48 minutes left, to see if it lets me enter my password. Is there something I am doing wrong?
Click to expand...
I stopped at the point "they were very careless about it." :D
Do you have anything that you are interested in keeping? If it has been basically out of your control for more than a year.
I suggest that a reinstall won't be too useful, so just erase the hard drive, and do a completely clean install.
A properly prepared El Capitan installer WILL NOT ask for your passcode. Only if your MBPro is still locked. If you get the response that your passcode is incorrect, then you may be stuck until you remember what the correct one is. As you do get to the language selector, then apparently it is not a firmware password.
Is it possibly stopping because you (or someone else? Who knows?) has activated FileVault, therefore locking your drive? Again, you can boot to your recovery system, and erase the hard drive. That will delete the FileVault, too, leaving you with an unimpeded path to a clean reinstall.

But, if all this does nothing for you, and you still get asked for password/passcode, and you can't continue - can you show us a picture of the screen, when it asks for your passcode? It might not be what you think it is.
 
DeltaMac said:
I stopped at the point "they were very careless about it." :D
Do you have anything that you are interested in keeping? If it has been basically out of your control for more than a year.
I suggest that a reinstall won't be too useful, so just erase the hard drive, and do a completely clean install.
A properly prepared El Capitan installer WILL NOT ask for your passcode. Only if your MBPro is still locked. If you get the response that your passcode is incorrect, then you may be stuck until you remember what the correct one is. As you do get to the language selector, then apparently it is not a firmware password.
Is it possibly stopping because you (or someone else? Who knows?) has activated FileVault, therefore locking your drive? Again, you can boot to your recovery system, and erase the hard drive. That will delete the FileVault, too, leaving you with an unimpeded path to a clean reinstall.

But, if all this does nothing for you, and you still get asked for password/passcode, and you can't continue - can you show us a picture of the screen, when it asks for your passcode? It might not be what you think it is.
Click to expand...

They weren't able to do this because I created an account just for them to use the Internet. And to be honest, they really do not know how to use a Mac, aside from the basics.

Ive uploaded two pics; one is with a couple of minutes left, and the other is what shows up directly after the timer done. There is no place to put the six digit password, which does show up before I try to boot from the USB.
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
OK....so after letting the computer sit for about 10 minutes, with the "Wrong Password, Try Again" message, the boxes showed up for me to enter the password. It restarted, and all seems to be OK now. Is there something I need to enable/disable so I dont have this problem in the future?
 
Was your computer setup to login automatically to the internet-only account? I have my home bound Mac Mini set to login automatically as it is my iTunes server and power cycles every night. If your machine was attempting to login automatically with the wrong credentials maybe this is what was happening?

(This is just curiosity on my part since you have gotten past the problem)
 
danmart said:
Was your computer setup to login automatically to the internet-only account? I have my home bound Mac Mini set to login automatically as it is my iTunes server and power cycles every night. If your machine was attempting to login automatically with the wrong credentials maybe this is what was happening?

(This is just curiosity on my part since you have gotten past the problem)
Click to expand...

The laptop still had Yosemite installed. What happened is this...I had my laptop at my friends restaurant (two brothers own it). I use to play music their on occasion, and after I while I ended up letting them use it, since their computer there was old and slow. They had it for about a year, which wasnt really an issue, because like I said earlier, I set up a new account that was extremely limited. A few weeks ago, I said that I need to take my laptop because I am working on my house, and I have to remove my iMac from the wall, and he said I cant take it because he doesnt have anything to play music on. Like the laptop they have in the back of the restaurant wouldnt suffice :rolleyes: Funny that someone, who says he is my friend, wont allow me to take MY laptop home with me. So what I did was I locked the laptop from home, and wrote a message in it saying there was a hard drive failure, and it needed to be restored. Then I went and picked it up yesterday.

I told him to try a password, which was not the one that I had locked it with, but after the first failed try, I told him not to do it again. I bet they kept trying and trying the password until it locked them out for 60 minutes. Laptop is in English BTW, and I live in Greece. So when I came home, after I cleaned all the drops of paint that was all over it (they remodeled the store and couldnt even store my laptop in a safe place :mad:), I turned it on, and it immediately told me that the password was wrong, try again, and then it went into the locked for 60 minutes message. I waited 60 minutes, but it would go right back to the wrong password message, and there was nowhere to put my six digit code. So I restarted, tried cmd-alt-R, but it went right back to the 60 minutes message. I connected my Capitan USB stick, which allowed me to enter the six digit code, but once I tried to restore, or install Capitan, it flickered and went back to the 60 minute message. In the end, I just waited until the 60 minutes was up, and left it the way it was for about 15 minutes, with the wrong password message, and all of a sudden, the boxes to enter my code popped up, and I was in.

So to answer you question, after blabbering...no, it wasnt set up to log in automatically.
 
i have waited around 30 min but it just show "wrong passcode . Try again . "
 

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Right. If all that you have is a firmware password (which is what that padlock screen needs), Apple is the only place you can go to attempt a fix by clearing a firmware password. There is nothing that the owner can do, except provide proof of ownership when taking it to Apple.
There ARE third party businesses that "claim" to remove firmware passwords, but you would have to hunt one down for yourself.
Hopefully, your user will be able get the firmware password reset, and that's the only block to accessing the drive. If the "hacker" also locked access to the storage drive by encrypting it, that will be more challenging, and probably not recoverable (unless, of course, the user decides to pay :( )
 
Fntmrich said:
Having the same issue myself. Any solutions?
Click to expand...

Guys, same issue. Anyone figured out a fix? Been in iCloud lock for 2 days now. Tip for young players: don't "family share" as find my iPhone becomes available to anyone you share with
 
Shankerz01 said:
Guys, same issue. Anyone figured out a fix? Been in iCloud lock for 2 days now. Tip for young players: don't "family share" as find my iPhone becomes available to anyone you share with
Click to expand...
What do you get on the screen when you reboot while holding the Option key?
Do you get a box with a padlock? Or is it the same "Wrong passcode. Try again"
 
The box with a padlock means that you have a firmware (EFI) password set.
It might not be an iCloud lock (unless you already know that is what you have)
Here's some more info ...
from that page:
If you can't remember the password you set using the Firmware Password Utility or Find My Mac, schedule a service appointment with an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. Bring your proof of purchase (original receipt or invoice) with you. If you plan to visit an Apple Retail Store, make a reservation (available only in some countries).
Click to expand...
 
DeltaMac said:
The box with a padlock means that you have a firmware (EFI) password set.
It might not be an iCloud lock (unless you already know that is what you have)
Here's some more info ...
from that page:
Click to expand...
Thanks mate. Yeah turned out it was a firmware lock and had to take it to apple to get a system restore done and yeah, needed proof of purchase.
 
Shankerz01 said:
Thanks mate. Yeah turned out it was a firmware lock and had to take it to apple to get a system restore done and yeah, needed proof of purchase.
Click to expand...

2012 macbook A1278

I get the Your computer is disabled. Try again in xx. wait all day the get the pad lock message.
of course I get the write to email: ahelp@gmx.com
to clear.

I trying pulling out the RAM, I can't get it to boot from the usb drive

ahelp@gmx.com wants bitcoin payment. Which I'm sure they will bump up an drain be dry. I don't have spare money for ransom.

I don't have a proof of purchase receipt from 2012. Apple will not accept the fact that my pc is registered on ICLOUD. I am Stuck.

Any suggestions. ---
 
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I got an iMac 21.5 2010 model in today and it had same issue, Your computer is disabled... No passcode prompt after waiting... Here's how I fixed it; I booted to an old 10.6 original install disk. Went to Utilities, Firmware Password Reset. It said there was no password set, so I set a simple one, rebooted, then I could use that password to get past the lock screen when holding Option on startup. I booted to the 10.6 disk again, turn off the firmware password, rebooted, then did 3 consecutive PRAM resets. I had previously erased the HD , thinking that was part of my issue, but it was not, so I used option again and booted to my USB El Cap drive and installed without a hitch! Hope it helps! J
 
After crazy trip to Italy where my MacBook Pro was stolen but with undercover poloce, marked money and lots of fun i got it back , i had the same screen. As some of you said to wait , that is what i did. 5, 10, 20 minutes and only after 50 minutes the box magically appeared. Everything works fine now. So those who say nothing happens apter 30 minutes- try to give it some more time.
 
The fact modern macs are essentially closed boxes and don’t have built in cd dvd drives to update the os etc means you have to take the thing physically to an Apple store

Not easy when it’s a 27 iMac , very worried about our one seizing up like my mini just did.. 3 grand down the plug hole ...

This is really putting me off apples macos hardware

Maybe Apple are doing this to push us subconsciously towards ios , the iPad and iPhone ?
 
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