Nina R

Q: G5-Mini one-way street: where's the fail?

I just purchased a 2012 Mini to partner with my august Power Mac G5.

 

I've connected them with an Ethernet cable and the G5 behaves as it should—when I ask it to connect to the Mini it prompts for username and password and then shows the Mini's shared files. I've been able to transfer some photos over to the Mini this way.

 

But the Mini cannot browse the G5 no matter what I do. Important to note, it does see the G5. But it can't connect to it. I've tried addressing every possible name for the G5 including its self-assigned IP address in that port. I ask the Mini to browse or connect, the dialog says "connecting," and it hangs. The really annoying part of this is when I click the little "connect as..." button in the corner of the dialog, hoping I will be prompted for username and password as the G5 did in the reverse procedure, nothing happens. Eventually the Mini gives me an error message something like "there was a problem connecting with XXXXX, it may not exist or may not be available at this time," blahblah.

 

Any ideas what the problem might be here?

 

(In case this matters, the Mini is on my cable router's wi-fi network so it remains connected to the Internet while all this is going on. It doesn't need its Ethernet port for that. The G5 has no wi-fi capability so it is wired to the router.)

PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), late 2005 dual-core 2.0 G5

Posted on Nov 9, 2014 12:39 PM

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Q: G5-Mini one-way street: where's the fail?

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  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 9, 2014 12:50 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 12:50 PM in response to Nina R

    On the PM G5 in Sys Prefs>Sharing, what al is enabled for Services?

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 9, 2014 1:06 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 1:06 PM in response to BDAqua

    File, printer and Bluetooth sharing. (Bluetooth doesn't seem to work between them at all.) I wonder if Internet should be enabled (even though this is a direct connection)? I'll try that meanwhile… nothing to lose   [edit] I got a pretty somber pop-up message when I looked into that angle. Might have something to lose after all. And I don't see how Internet sharing would help. So, awaiting your sage advice…

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 9, 2014 1:12 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 1:12 PM in response to Nina R

    Internet Sharing does advertize your Macs available Services on early versions of OSX, so might try it, but in Sharing Prefs, might allow Remote login, so the Mini can try the G5's username & G5's password, also, highlight File Sharing, what folders, users, & rights are shown... & what does the Option button show for Sharing options?

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 9, 2014 1:14 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 1:14 PM in response to Nina R

    OOPs, Internet Sharing should read... Web Sharing that shares the services, sorry.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 9, 2014 2:05 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 2:05 PM in response to BDAqua

    In file sharing options only AFP is checked. I did try checking SMB and enabling both of the G5's users but it made no difference.

     

    I have been over the folders, users and rights many times. Can't see any problem there. Unless the Mini doesn't like the fact that the G5 has two users. In case that was an issue I removed the alternate user and its folders from the whole sharing scheme. That didn't help either. Nor did enabling remote login.

     

    I  don't see how this can be the fault of the G5 since it is able to read the Mini and write to it. This is a problem with the Mini, methinks. It just makes no sense that no matter what the settings, there is no response when I click "connect as."

     

    It also bothers me that when I go to Network preferences, the diode next to the Ethernet port on the Mini is yellow while the one on the G5's is green.

     

    Perhaps now's the time to mention that the Mini was very poorly packaged by Best Buy (oversized outer box, insufficient air pillows) and handled with the usual violence (crinkled box) by UPS. (I probably should have refused it based on the crinkles and the obvious free movement of the box inside, let's leave that there.) I would not be surprised if there were some damage to the networking hardware. On the other hand, I'm tempted to go ahead and upgrade to Yosemite (this machine shipped with Mavericks) and see if the problem automagically goes away.

  • by BDAqua,Solvedanswer

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 9, 2014 2:32 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 2:32 PM in response to Nina R

    I  don't see how this can be the fault of the G5 since it is able to read the Mini and write to it.

    Well, you may be right, but it seems the Mini is trying to talk to the G5, but the G5 isn't answering.

     

    So, both are connected to the Router via Ethernet, or direct to each other, that isn't totally clear.

     

    What are the IPs on both Enet connections?

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 9, 2014 2:42 PM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 2:42 PM in response to BDAqua

    They are connected directly to each other, because the G5 has two Ethernet ports.

     

    I confess long ago I thought there was something wrong with the G5's Ethernet #1, which is why my Internet is connected to Ethernet 2. So maybe that's what's going on here. The Ethernet cable between the computers is plugged into Ethernet 1. Then again if that port were trashed, doesn't it seem unlikely the connection would work in either direction, or that the Mini would see the G5 at all, which it does?

     

    After I wrote the last reply I fiddled with the configuration on the Mini and I got the Ethernet diode in network prefs to turn green by making up an IP address, using "Configure iPV4 using DHCP with manual address." But it hasn't helped. I also rebooted both machines after doing that.

     

    The Ethernet IP addresses (I guess that's what you're asking) are Mini: 169.255.69.72 (the one I made up), G5: 169.254.76.254. (The one on the G5 is new, it changed after I changed the one on the Mini, FWIW.)

     

    Unfortunately I am way late getting cleaned up for a family dinner thing, so I'll have to let this go for now. Will check back later tonight.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 9, 2014 9:44 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 9:44 PM in response to Nina R

    Update/Correction: Tried Bluetooth file exchange again and it DOES work between these two Macs. Both directions. In case that's a clue to the Ethernet connection problem. Still no luck with that. I should really try switching the cable to Ethernet #2 on the G5 but that means disconnecting from the Internet and I'm reluctant to disturb all that. We'll see.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 9, 2014 10:20 PM in response to Nina R
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 9, 2014 10:20 PM in response to Nina R

    No harm done, but the port-switching experiment didn't work either. I'm eager to hear any further suggestions but for now I give up. It's not like I can't do what I need to do (transfer data from G5 to Mini), it just annoys me that I can't make it work the way I believe it should. Thanks BDAqua for your help in exploring this.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 10, 2014 1:27 AM in response to Nina R
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 10, 2014 1:27 AM in response to Nina R

    I did find some discussion of similar problems here, one of which led me to this interesting ZDNet article: http://www.zdnet.com/mavericks-smb2-problem-and-fixes-7000022519/

     

    Just upgraded to Yosemite, will find out in the morning whether it eliminates the issue.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 10, 2014 7:50 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 10, 2014 7:50 AM in response to BDAqua

    BDAqua wrote:

     

    I  don't see how this can be the fault of the G5 since it is able to read the Mini and write to it.

    Well, you may be right, but it seems the Mini is trying to talk to the G5, but the G5 isn't answering.

     

    You were right. It was the G5's fault (ok, more precisely and forthrightly, it was as usual the user's fault ): its firewall was set to "allow only essential services." I changed it to "allow all incoming connections" and voilà.

    I also set the Ethernet configuration manually and chose new IP addresses per the instructions in this video, http://youtu.be/5H5BV_t7NF4 , from user Tech Barrack Solutions, but I am thinking the firewall thing was the key. The one detail that puzzles me, though, is that the box under the options listed "File Sharing (AFP)" and "Remote Login (SSH)". I'm guessing that relates to the "set access for specific services and applications" setting, which is the last option above the box, so I've switched to that, and will see if the Mini can still mount the G5 at next boot. I feel a little uneasy with the "allow all" setting.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua Nov 10, 2014 9:38 AM in response to Nina R
    Level 10 (123,501 points)
    Nov 10, 2014 9:38 AM in response to Nina R

    Great news, good work!

     

    Would be interested in hearing the final outcome.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 11, 2014 1:08 AM in response to BDAqua
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 1:08 AM in response to BDAqua

    Thanks. After a couple more tweaks—mainly making sure both computers allowed guest users to view shared folders via the Users/Groups system preferences panel, if my stumbling memory serves—the connection is working very smoothly right from start-up without my needing to do anything. The volumes are just there in the finder sidebars ready to be browsed. (Originally, the one-way communication I was getting via the G5 was only active if I used "go/connect to server" and actually logged into the Mini as its admin.) I believe I even have Printer Sharing fully activated now. The Mini kept complaining at first that it "couldn't download the software from the server at this time" but after I added a few folders containing printer-related files to the shared list it went ahead and added both of the printers that are connected to the G5. I dare not test it because of the late hour and the people sleeping upstairs right over my desk.

     

    The one thing that isn't working is CD/DVD sharing, which I kind of hoped would work because I haven't bought a Superdrive for the Mini, but I shouldn't be greedy, considering.

  • by Nina R,

    Nina R Nina R Nov 11, 2014 1:28 AM in response to Nina R
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 1:28 AM in response to Nina R

    And, just to be clear, all the above is with "set access for specific services and applications" selected in the G5's firewall panel—I didn't need to go back to "allow all incoming connections." Yay.

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