Unhelpful guide :(

I just pick up a headcrab and smash all the buttons with it. Funi

Ha what? I played through twice and never did anything w/ the pallet cage. Like others said, I guess first try one of the more prominent answers on the wall

I literally brute forced the passcode the first time I got to this part.

@darth gaber me too

Instructions unclear. VR became real life and now i'm hiding from Combine. I only have one pistol with one mag and an almost no-ammo SMG. I might not be alive for long

First time I played through the game, I never made the connection that I could open that cage. I just happened to be standing at the panel, looked at the dots on the wall and realised one of them was the password and the first one I happened to try turned out to be the correct one. Never has a Half Life puzzle made me feel so dumb, especially so early on in the game.

Honestly just randomly tried combos on the wall until it worked

I had the opposite issue- I was too focused on following the green lighting to even notice the buttons. So I found the answer key... But completely missed the puzzle and just wandered around confused for 10 minutes lol.

So I just picked the one that stood out the most, I never even noticed the trash pile and it opened on the first try.