Brand New Aluminum 20" iMac won't mount iBook in Target Disk Mode

This was my day with Apple about this issue:

1. Call customer support. Over the next 52 minutes and (2) different technicians (one in Asia), we still couldn't get the iMac to recognize anything plugged into the Firewire 400 slot.

2. They then had me do an erase and re-install of the install software. They gave me a case number and told me to call them back with the results after I did the install.

3. This did not solve the problem and my iMac still didn't recognize my Powerbook in Target Disk mode or any external drives.

4. I called Apple back, was on hold for 22 minutes and then they tried to get me to sign up for Apple Care so a techniciian could come out and replace the broken component. They promised this would happen within 3 days. FYI: I paid extra to have my computer shipped out on Saturday, so I could get work done at home. Doh!

The iMac is less than 24 hours old. It didn't work straight from the box. I don't want it fixed, I want it replaced. I'll deal with this in the morning. Time to watch some football and see more annoying iMac commercials.

Cheers.

MB!

To boot any Mac into Target Disk mode, follow these simple steps:
1. Turn off the Mac that you're trying to boot into Target Disk mode (for this discussion your 'Book)
2. Hold down "T", then push the power button
3. Keep holding "T" until a blue screen with a Firewire icon shows up
4. Release "T"
5. Connect a Firewire cable between your two Macs

This is what is supposed to work.

I've had the same issue with iBook G4, the only joy I had was to reverse the master and target machines. Run the iBook as normal and start the iMac in Target Disk Mode. This will allow manual transfer of files and obviously you can't use the migration assistant. I don't have a FW drive or hub.

Just borrowed a Firewire hub and now Migration Assistant on the iMac works as it should. For the record I I have a 24" iMac mid 2007 connected to an iBook G4.

Hey,

After pouring through these posts and calling Apple Support I was able to get my iBook to transfer using the Firewire Hub strategy. However, this did not improve my situation in terms of migrating my iTunes, iPhoto and Entourage preferences, history etc. - it made it worse.

For those of you experiencing similar issues I wanted to share the link to an article another helpful person shared with me. This article is about Migrating to Intel based Macs.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350

Mentioned in this article is the warning not migrate any Mac OS 9 or earlier apps which, in my case, were part of the original install on my iBook G3 - so in migrating my old HD to my new iMac I've now copied over files that could actually damage/interfere with the iMac OS.

In addition, this migration (which I conducted through migration assistant) did not transfer my prefences or history on key application (e.g. iTunes, iPhoto, Entourage) from my old computer. This is the main "selling point" of using the Migration Assistant so i don't quite understand why this doesn't work.

To make matters worse in my case, during this period when I was figuring out how to migrate from the iBook to the iMac I needed to get access to Entourage so that I could get email working on my iMac. To make this happen I installed MS Office for the Mac (using the last of my product keys)directly onto the iMac.

Then, when I did the Mac->Mac migration it transfered the copy of MS Office from the iBook resulting in two copies of Entourage (and all other Office apps) on my computer and created two competing "identies" which render Entourage unusable.

So, at the end of the day I'm inclined to back up everything to my external HD and start over. I thought I could do this by restoring the iMac to factory condition - and start over now that I can use the Firewire Hub solution with the migration assistant.

Before I do this - I'd love some feedback on the following...
* If I choose to restore the iMac to factory condition do I do this through the restore function on the Disk Utility?
* Are there any major "cons" to this approach?
* Since I've used my last MS Office product key and the restore would delete Office from my computer, will I be able to either re-use that last key or use the imported version from my iBook on the iMac (they are both copies of the same MS Office for Mac version, using the same disk). As I mentioned, I'm down to the last key and wouldn't want to be left without that application.

Thanks in advance for any assitance or insight you can provide.

Update - swapping firewire cables fixed the problem (maybe). It's interesting that the fat firewire cable I've used for years on my previous iMac seemed to not work and the thin Apple firewire travel cable does.

I say "maybe" fixed the problem because I'm also having a problem with my USB hub (when connected the system won't wake from sleep) and during testing I've noticed that problems with the USB hub seem to effect the external disk access too.

Hi Lee,

sounds as if your problem may have actually have been a little different to others reported here. Does the problematic cable work OK with other macs? Any chance you disconnected the power cord from the iMac for a period of time between trying the old cable and the new cable. It may simply be that your FW ports needed resetting for some reason and this would have achieved that result?

As far as the USB hub goes, this is not an uncommon problem. If I had a $ for every time I've responded to a "wake from sleep" problem with the old iMac G5's that turned out to be related to a USB hub, modem or the like I reckon I'd be giving Steve Jobs a run for his place on the 100 richest list! The answer, I'm afraid is usually to try a different brand or model of hub.

Cheers

Rod

Message was edited by: Rod Hagen

I’m experiencing the same issues with my Lampshade G4 iMac. I talked to a “Genius,” and it seemed as if this was a known problem. His advice was to use an external Firewire drive, which I believe he said would cost around $100. I asked if I could bring both computers in and have them do the migration. He was apprehensive, but did agree to that. Honestly, I can’t believe this is a problem. I bought an iPhone as well, and I had connectivity issues with it. I am becoming less and less of a Mac fan.

I think they need a commercial where a Mac guy says ”Hello” to another Mac guy, and the second Mac guy says he doesn’t recognize their connection.

I had similar issues. Powerbook G4 12 inch and upgrading to a macbook 2.2 Ghz.

I tried everything suggested in this thread and finally had success when I reset PRAM:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

Hope this helps someone else. That's 2 hours I'll never get back 😉

Try using a 6-pin to 4-pin FireWire cable with a 4-pin to 6-pin FireWire adapter
<http://www.govconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=6574937>
This will connect the FireWire data wires, but not the power wires, so may give the same results as a FireWire hub, but for less money.