Monday 7th Jan.
Just to say that Apple did call me this am to discuss the problem on foot of a call I made last week.
In the meantime the remote worked with both a 2007 IMac and a 2009 laptop but not on the m-mini.
When I tried pairing this morning during the call by pressing Menu and next together it paired.
The change is very subtle, it just says paired in the advanced section of the security et sl section as referred before, with a fleeting 2 intersecting rings icon.
The big difference is that Front Row is gone....
The remote only works to a limited degree within some apps such as iTunes and iPhotos.
In theory it controls the volume in iTunes but as of now for me it doesnt....:( need to look more.
As to what the problem was:
It seems there is a set of keyboard combinations that can be used to force a reset the ID of the remote, the suggestion is MAYBE that by getting it to work on the iMac and laptop in some way reset the ID.
This stuff is WAY beyond my skill level:)
I did impress upon Apple the need to look at the issue in threads like this....🙂
Message was edited by: qazxsw52