Trying to boot into iMac to retrieve personal files

[jamesba1968]

I cannot boot into my iMac. It hangs when I boot.

I was trying to upgrade from 10.4 to 10.6, which failed during the upgrade. At that point I could no longer access my Macintosh HD. I can boot into "target" mode, but my MacBook is not recognizing the iMac HD when I plug in my firewire cable.

My goal is to pull all of my personal files, wipe the HD, and then install 10.6.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

 

[kylera]

Have you tried booting in Safe Mode (hold either shift key right after the startup tone)?

 

[jamesba1968]

Have you tried booting in Safe Mode (hold either shift key right after the startup tone)?

Just tried that. After 40 seconds I get a message "you need to restart blah, blah, blah..." that is the message I get in any mode except 'target"