Target Disk Mode

Question

Well, I am at a loss as to what to do here. I have an old iMac (slot-loader, no DVD drive). I am tryin to load 10.4 on it so that my daughter can update her new iPod.
I have a similar machine running OS 9.2 with a DVD drive and a 6pin-6pin firewire that i have hooked up between the two. set up target mode just fine. insert the 10.4 install DVD. it restarts the host machine just fine and installs 10.4 on the target machine just fine with all the bells and whistles intact.
the host computer restarts, i go through all the setup information via the host computer, and it thanks me, and I am good to go. I can do nearly ANYTHING I want while in Target mode - it allows me to open iTunes, Safari, the Dashboard, etc. It seems to work just fine in every aspect, as long as it is in target mode. ****, it even does and auto software-update in target mode if I choose to.
Perhaps I am leaving out a step at this point, but I simply shut down both machines - the host machine via the shutdown option, and the target machine by holding the power button in.
When I restart the machine with 10.4 installed, I get one of two things, either:
a) it starts just fine, and moments after seeing the desktop and the dock at the bottom, it tells me I have to restart in about 4 different languages - I do, and it goes into a full blue screen with the black-wheel-of-fortune spinning at the bottom and nothing else will work.
OR
b) it starts just fine, and moments after seeing the desktop and the dock at the bottom, i get a massive failure. There is a message on the desktop which says 'The computer was restarted after the Mac OS-X quit unexpectedly. It gives me an option to report it to Apple or not. Nearly simultaneously, the screen is 'overwritten' by grey colored text on a black background.
The text reads, from the top:
"System Failure: cpu=0; code=00000007 (Corrupt skip lists)
Latest crash info for cpu 0:
[indented]Exception state (sv=0x209E8280)
[indented]PC=0x000A3C04; MSR=0x00001000; DAR=0x022AE648; DSISR=0x40000000; LR=0x0009CFB8; R1=0x0CCD3C50; XCP=0x0000098 (System failure)
[indented]Backtrace:
0x00000000 0x0009A224 0x00098FC8 0x000627E0 0x000A85DC 0x000A8880
[indented]backtrace terminated - frame not mapped or invalid: 0xBFFFF800
(skip a line)
Proceeding back via exception chain:
[indented]Exception state (sv=0x209E8280)
[indented]PC=0x9100561C; MSR=0x0000D030; DAR=0x022AE648; DSISR=0x400000000; LR=0x910D5654; R1=0xBFFFF80D; XCP=0x00000000C (0x300 - Data access)
(skip a line)
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version: 8.0.0: Sat Mar 26 14:15:22 PST; root:xmu-792.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC
Memory access exception (1.0.0)
ethernet MAC address: 00:00:00:00:00:00
ip address: 0.0.0.0
(skip a line)
Waiting for remote debugger connection.
and that's it - the machine wont do anything after that - i cannot move the mouse, cannot do anything else. If I restart, it does the whole thing again...
Suggestions? I cant figure out why it 'works' in target mode, but fails miserably stand-alone. Suggestions?

Answer 1

well, here is the latest.
i may have the terminology wrong, Kappy, so perhaps I should define the computers I am referring to.
computer A - has no OS on it, attempting to install 10.4
computer B - has OS 9.x on it and has a DVD drive
i turn on computer A holding down T, the firewire icon appears. insert Tiger DVD to computer B. it restarts itself and begins installation. i can install everything on to computer A or i can install just the basic system (no printer drivers, languages, whatever). after it installs, it automatically restarts computer B. computer B restarts and I go through the startup questionnaire. it then gives me a Tiger desktop - computer A still has the firewire icon bouncing around on the screen.
software update comes up and I can update or not. While I am looking at the desktop, I can see both hard drives - computer A and computer B - computer A's icon is orange in color with the firewire icon emblazoned upon it. computer B's icon is the standard grey color icon for a mac HD.
If I click on computer A's icon, i can drag it to the trash which will turn into the 'eject' symbol, but then it wont eject or do anything else. If I single-click computer A's icon, I cannot apple-E to eject it, and Eject is NOT an option under file.
So there I sit. When I access something like iTunes or Safari from the dock (obviously then, it is accessing from the machine running Tiger), I can hear computer A's hard drive working. There just seems to be zero way to eject it, or to restart computer A correctly....
So I just simply shut them both down, remove the firewire, and restart computer A manually.
Then, I get back into either of the first two options I listed in my original post.
ARGH! Still there after doing this all two more times last time. Right now, Computer A turns on and goes through the first screen of 'Mac OS X' and the blue bar increases from left to right indicating it's loading. it then sits at the next blue screen. the pointer is there, and I can move it. but that's all it does.
Sorry, Kappy, and the rest of you if I am doing something stupid. Very frustrated as you might imagine, and I do very much appreciate your time.
Regards,
Brian