Everybody loves the idea to be able to login to the iPhone via ssh and marvel at the fact that this exquisite piece of HW is actually running UNIX (well, a stripped down version of Mac OS X, anyways). It soon dawns that EVERY iPhone has the same root password installed - which is not real security threat considering the fact that ssh as means to login is not supposed to be running anyways. Once you jailbreak your device, you are able to login, but so is everybody else.

Now, when you put on your sysadmin hat and go an change the root password on any of the mobile Mac OS Xes, you'll get a nasty surprise.

Springboard crashes and loops crashing, effectively rendering your device useless.

But fear not, you can re-install your device from scratch, OR follow the instructions in the article linked to here ...