Q: migration assistance problem

My old mac pro 10.6.8 is firewire connected to my new mac pro with mavericks

when going through the migration assistance for both macs I get the endless searching for connection tab.

I did not use the migration assitance when I open the new mac for the first time. So the new mac has a name and password & some how

I have read that this may be part of the problem. That being said I not been able to find any steps that will get two macs linked

and able to transfer data & software.

I have read something about resetting the password, but Im not sure how to go about that also, if necessary?

thanks

time machine is off