IMac insists on connecting to old MBP

Question

Cheers,
Since mountain lion and also with mavericks I have had an annoying issue with my iMac. Some background .. I have used migration assistant to move from one MBP to a newer unibody MBP and then again also to 'clone' my unibody MBP setup to my iMac. For some reason my iMac has fallen in love with the unibody MBP in that it insists on connecting to this on startup. I consistently get the following dialog on startup where the server reference is to the network name of my MBP.
If I connect or cancel then everything is fine. However, if the MBP is absent from the network then my iMac gives me the spinning beach ball every now and then. In particular if I attempt to print, in which case a lengthy session with the beach ball leads to the following dialog
I have searched around for possible solutions and I have tried just about anything - aside from a clean install of mu iMac - but nothing has helped. Now I am hoping that someone can help me pinpoint the culprit.
Regards,
Jan

Answer 1

There are many possible causes for this issue, and it may be hard to resolve. Please take each of the following steps that you haven't already tried. Back up all data before making any changes.
Step 1
If you get the alert as soon as you log in, it's probably caused by one of your login items or by software that otherwise loads at startup or login. Ask if you need help identifying it. A known offender is "AdobeResourceSynchronizer," which is a component of some Adobe products. See also this discussion.
If you get the alert in the login screen before you log in, stop here and ask for instructions.
Step 2
If there's an icon representing the server in the sidebar of a Finder window, hold down the command key and drag it out.
Step 3
In the Finder, press the key combination command-K or select
          Go ▹ Go to Server...
from the menu bar. In the upper right corner of the window that opens is a Recent Servers popup menu represented by a clock icon. From that menu, select
          Clear Recent Servers…
and confirm. Test.
Step 4
Open the Printers & Scanners pane in System Preferences and delete any network devices you no longer use.
Step 5
Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing  command-C:
~/Library/PDF Services
In the Finder, select
          Go ▹ Go to Folder...
from the menu bar and paste into the box that opens by pressing command-V. You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return. A folder may open. If it does, move the contents to the Desktop, or to a new folder on the Desktop. Log out and log back in. Test. If there's no change, put the items you moved back where they were and continue.
Step 6
Open the folder
~/Library/Preferences
as in Step 5 and move the file named "loginwindow.plist" items in that folder to the Trash, if it exists (it may not.)
Log out and back in again, and test.
Step 7
Other possible causes are references in the iPhoto, iTunes, or iMovie library pointing to the server, and bookmarks in the Preview application.
Try rebuilding the iPhoto library.
Step 8
Triple-click the line below to select it:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility.app
Rght-click or control-click the highlighted text and select
          Services ▹ Open
from the contextual menu.* The application Directory Utility will open.
In the Directory Utility window, select the Directory Editor tool in the toolbar. Select Mounts from the Viewing menu in the toolbar, and /Local/Default from the node menu, if not already selected. On the right is a list of names and values. By default, the list is empty. If it's not empty, post a screenshot of the window and stop here.
*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C). Open a TextEdit window and paste into it (command-V). Select the line you just pasted and continue as above.
Step 9
Open the following file as you did in the last step:
/etc/auto_master
It will open in a TextEdit window. The contents should be exactly this:
# Automounter master map
+auto_master          # Use directory service
/net               -hosts          -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home               auto_home     -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers     -fstab
/-               -static
If there are any other lines in the window, post them. Otherwise, close the window.