Migration Assistant hangs at "Transferring ..."

I got a Power Mac G4 Quicksilver (original variety, not the "2002" version) to go into Target Disk Mode, with the intention of migrating an account from it to a brand-new new Intel Mac Mini.

It sees the FireWire connection. (That took a while, but I think the trouble was due to dust bunnies in the G4's little-used FireWire ports.)

I get as far as selecting which items to transfer, and tell it to proceed.

Then I see two Mac logos with an arrow between them, and "Transferring Information" (or maybe it was Transferring Data", I forget, exactly), and progress bar at the bottom.

The progress bar stays blank, with no evidence of any progress happening (no flowing blue). I can move the cursor around, but there's noting to click anyway. After a while the Mini goes to Sleep, with the power LED pulsing slowly.

Several times I've rebooted the Mini, to try selecting different items to transfer, (eg. not the Applications or Documents) but the results are the same. I'm getting real tired of that "Getting Started/Welcome" show and that bouncy tune.

Yes, I have read +kimaccdual: A Basic Guide for Migrating to Intel-Macs+ at http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=435350
I'm thinking I'll have to go that route eventually, but shouldn't the Migration Assistant at least have +transferred some files+, regardless of whether or not it was a good idea?

I broke down and typed in the account data to get by the setup and registration, and the FireWire worked for the purposes of dragging files over manually, so I'm not inclined to believe it's the fault of the FireWire ports or cable.

Any ideas as to why Migration Assistant hung up? Or was it actually transferring data in it's sleep? I waited like half an hour to see if the progress bar would do anything.