Firewire Target disc mode - icon is freezing

Looks like my old Powerbook is getting close to biting the dust. I've actually worn a hole in the track pad and the cursor is getting jiggy. It's running 10.3.9 and is completely full. Oh, and the screen glows a sickly color of yellow.
Honest, this thing should be in hospice.
Good news is - I have a very nice 17" Powerbook, and I've just purchased Leopard and installed it, so I can transfer a lot of my stuff from the old machine to the new one.
But... for some reason, when I connect the two with a firewire cable, and I see the icon floating around my old computer, the icon for the hard drive doesn't show up on the new machine. Also, after a few minutes, the icon that's drifting around freezes.
I've connected computers this way many times before and never had this problem, I'm guessing it's got something to do with competing operating systems. Anyway other way to get them linked, or am I going to have to transfer my data a different way?
Thanks for any help or suggestions.... I'm going to call an ambulance for my old machine now....
Jamie

In my experience, a Mac that will not run in target disk mode usually has either a hosed HD or a hosed MLB. Try Thomas's suggestion but if that does not work, you may need to pull the HD out of the "old" Mac and put it in an external enclosure. If the MLB is the issue, the drive should still work as an external. If it's the drive thats messed up, you may need to use a program like Data Rescue.

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    TechTool Pro.
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    Each of the preceding comes on bootable CD.
    Message was edited by: Kappy

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  • Installing tiger on an ibook w/o dvd, but using target disc mode?

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    g4 tower   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   ibook! g3 too

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    If this answered your question please consider granting some stars: Why reward points?

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    Message was edited by: roam
    Message was edited by: roam

  • Target Disc  Mode doesn't Work - what do I do?

    So my old Apple (2004 G4 Powerbook) went out on me. It will start it up but it won't advance past the start up screen. So I bought a new Apple. I have followed the instructions on how to transfer data from the old one to the new one using the Target Disc Mode, and the Migration Assistant. I can start my old one up in Target Disc Mode (the FireWire icon shows up on the screen). However, my new computer won't recognize it. In the migration mode, all it says is "searching for disc". It doesn't show up on my desktop either (my understanding that it should when in that mode). Any ideas of what I can do? I really want to be able to transfer that data over...Thanks in advance!

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    Message was edited by: Carolyn Samit

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