Desperate for help ... Getting error "can't initialize video deck"

Question

Last night, I had been importing footage just fine into Final Cut Pro HD 4.5 from my camcorder. Then today, no matter how many times I try, how many times I reboot, I get the error that it cannot initialize the video deck when I try to Log and Capture the footage. I've read a number of the solutions to other people having this problem, I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions, try unplugging the power and FireWire cable completely, to no avail. Before this, it had been kind of "buggy" in the last few days trying to capture footage, but usually would connect just fine after I would turn off the camera and turn it back on. But today nothing ... I haven't installed or done anything to this system in months, and like I said, I've imported 24 tapes up to now with only a couple of slight times where it couldn't load initially, but usually did on the second try. Could something be conflicting on my system? I have an external hard drive connected to the system which I use for my capture scratch disk, and if I boot up the system with my camcorder turned on, my external hard drive is not recognized. But once I turn the camcorder off, my external hard drive pops right up. Same kind of issue when opening Final Cut Pro ... if I try to open FCP with my camcorder turned on, it hangs on the little rainbow circle. But the second I turn off the camcorder, Final Cut loads just fine. I am really desperate for a solution on this one, I'm way behind on a project, and only have 7 more tapes to go. By the way, I'm on a Power Mac G5.

Answer 1

jason,
Before I go into the firewire port reset procedure there are two things you should understand.
1. Paragraphs are not optional. Your English teacher should give you a dope slap for the way you wrote your original post.
2. When you reply to a Post, click REPLY ON THAT POST not on your original post. Otherwise, when you view this thread in 'Threaded View" (to be found under My Settings), it looks like you are talking to yourself.
Now, to reset the firewire bus. I like to do this in a recreational manner - hence the 'Harpoon Solution" (aka the Guinness solution in the mid and far west)
1. turn everything off.
2. unplug firewire cables
3. unplug power cords
4. get up from well worn chair
5. walk to refrigerator
6. open refrigerator
7. remove bottle of Harpoon (Guinness, local micro brew, etc)
8. pop cap
9. pour into glass ( you AREN'T going to drink it from a bottle, are you?)
10. sip responsibly. enjoy the moment. think pure thoughts
11. return to kitchen. If less than 15 minutes has elapsed, have another. Otherwise, retrurn to edit room.
12. Plug everything back together
12. fire up external monitors, VTR, external hard drives & computer in that order.
Does it work now? If yes, congratulate your self. If not, oh well, but at least you are in a much better frame of mind to begin some serious troubleshooting.
cheerios,
x