DM500 hack username and password?

Hey. I'm a beginner in this field. A guy set the username and password on my dreambox before, so I tried to reset the credentials by using this guide, so that I could telnet to the box.

My Dreambox DM500 has been working perfectly, until I tried to network mount on the dreambox. After I selected mount, the dreambox crashed, I then had to unplug the box. After the dreambox restarted I was stuck on the PLi boot up screen for about 15 minutes, the screen then reloaded, and then things were back to normal.

Is there another way in which I can reset the username and password for the box?

The only problem is that if I re-flashed, it would erase certain configuration settings I have. After researching further, I have found that I can download the plugin Tutbox commander and navigate to /var/etc/passwd and edit the first line to the following 'root:$1$$34NPeumc9sBBCAw.oUaM80:0:0::/:/bin/sh'. There is one problem, it won't allow me to edit the file. Another thread suggested that I could find the password in another pluggin called Sysinfo v0.8.7, but after I inspected sysinfo, I could not locate the password. So re-flashing would be my only option?