External Firewire drives power up, but won't mount.

I wanted to see if anyone else is having this problem. I recently upgraded my mom's laptop to OSX Lion after she experienced a lot of problems with Snow Leopard. All updates available from Software Update have been installed. Now 2 issues have arisen after the new install: 1) the FW 800 and 400 ports appear to be non-functional, and 2) the OS takes about 10 minutes to boot up to the desktop.
1) Regarding the FW ports: I have a couple external Firewire 800 hard drives that I use on other Macs so I know they're fully operational and mount without any issues. They're both 5400RPM drives that have been inserted into Macally external enclosures, and are of different capacities - one is 320GB and the other is 500GB. The enclosures offer FW 800, 400, USB 2.0 and mini-USB connectivity. But after upgrading the laptop I mentioned, neither of the drives will mount when using the FW 800 or 400 cables. They power up but won't mount, and they don't show up in the list in Disk Utility. However, the drives will power up and mount via USB.
I realize the laptop may have a hardware/port problem - but both 800 and 400 ports? Seems unlikely.
2) Any idea why it's taking the OS 10 minutes to boot up? I've shut down the laptop and rebooted it twice since the OS install, and both times took 10 minutes.
I may just install Lion on one of the hard drives, pull it and then pop it into the laptop to see if that makes any difference. Before I do that, can anyone recommend a hardware utility that can check the ports?
I welcome your suggestions.
Thank you.

Thanks for responding. Here's the info you requested. I'm not a systems guy so hopefully I've pasted in something that helps.
system.log report, after searching BOOT_TIME, here's one of the timestamps:
May 25 22:04:58 localhost bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1337997898 0
Here's a chunk of the log after that timestamp:
May 25 22:05:00 localhost com.apple.launchd[1]: *** launchd[1] has started up. ***
May 25 22:05:13 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.powerd): Unknown value for key POSIXSpawnType: Interactive
May 25 22:05:13 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.sandboxd): Unknown value for key POSIXSpawnType: Interactive
May 25 22:05:18 localhost com.apple.pfctl[34]: No ALTQ support in kernel
May 25 22:05:18 localhost com.apple.pfctl[34]: ALTQ related functions disabled
May 25 22:05:18 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: starting CaptiveNetworkSupport as SystemEventAgent built May 25 2011 12:27:35
May 25 22:05:18 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptiveSCCopyWiFiDevices:388 WiFi Device Name == NULL
May 25 22:05:19 localhost com.apple.ucupdate.plist[28]: ucupdate: Checked 1 update, no match found.
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]: InterfaceNamer: timed out waiting for IOKit to quiesce
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]: Busy services :
May 25 22:06:14 localhost configd[14]:   MacBookPro3,1 [76967, 4375662836 ms]
May 25 22:06:15 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: mDNSResponder mDNSResponder-320.16 (Mar 17 2012 21:31:16) starting OSXVers 11
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: ERROR,Time,359690775.485,Function,"_Apple80211* CLWifiService::createApple80211()",Apple80211GetIfListCopy failed, error -3903 (Unknown error: -3903)
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,1   locationd                           0x00000001077fe583 locationd + 624003
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,2   locationd                           0x00000001077fe719 locationd + 624409
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,3   libdispatch.dylib                   0x00007fff85f46c79 _dispatch_barrier_sync_f_invoke + 33
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,4   locationd                           0x00000001077fe9b0 locationd + 625072
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,5   locationd                           0x00000001077fea10 locationd + 625168
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,6   libsystem_c.dylib                   0x00007fff85e96e06 pthread_once + 86
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,7   locationd                           0x00000001077fea47 locationd + 625223
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,8   locationd                           0x00000001077f33ac locationd + 578476
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,9   locationd                           0x00000001077f353f locationd + 578879
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,10  libsystem_c.dylib                   0x00007fff85e96e06 pthread_once + 86
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,11  locationd                           0x00000001077f3509 locationd + 578825
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,12  locationd                           0x00000001077b052a locationd + 304426
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,13  locationd                           0x0000000107791653 locationd + 177747
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,14  locationd                           0x0000000107791a08 locationd + 178696
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,15  locationd                           0x00000001077921b2 locationd + 180658
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,16  locationd                           0x00000001077c332c locationd + 381740
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,17  locationd                           0x0000000107767fd8 locationd + 8152
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.locationd[40]: STACK,Time,359690775.485,18  ???                                 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1
May 25 22:06:15 localhost com.apple.usbmuxd[27]: usbmuxd-268.5 on Jan  5 2012 at 03:34:01, running 64 bit
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptiveSCCopyWiFiDevices:388 WiFi Device Name == NULL
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: ServermgrdRegistration cannot load config data
May 25 22:06:15 localhost UserEventAgent[11]: get_backup_share_points no AFP
May 25 22:06:15 localhost systemkeychain[59]: done file: /var/run/systemkeychaincheck.done
May 25 22:06:15 localhost configd[14]: ioctl(SIOCGIFCAP) failed: Device not configured
May 25 22:06:16: --- last message repeated 1 time ---
May 25 22:06:16 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: D2D_IPC: Loaded
May 25 22:06:16 localhost mDNSResponder[37]: D2DInitialize succeeded
If you want me to post the kernal log, I can do that next if nothing in here points anyone in the right direction. FYI - the system booted normally this morning after shutting it down overnight.

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    2. Used the Finder to copy all files from my 15 GB Windows XP partition to the new disk image.
    The following steps were only to determine if the disk image is a viable backup:
    3. Removed the internal hard drive with my original Win XP partition, and installed a new internal hard drive.
    4. Used Boot Camp Assistant to create a 32 GB Boot Camp partition on the new internal drive.
    5. Inserted my Win XP installation disk and started the Windows installation. Formatted the new partition as FAT32. (I used the long rather than the quick format method--not sure if this was necessary.)
    6. Continued the Windows installation to the point of restarting the computer, at which time I used the Option key to boot back into OS X.
    7. Used the Finder to copy all the files from the 32 GB disk image to the new Boot Camp partition. (This overwrote a few Windows files installed by the aborted Win XP installation.)
    8. Restarted and used the Option key to select the new 32 GB Boot Camp Partition. Windows booted as usual with all files, programs, etc. from the original 15 GB partition. Windows did complain about "new hardware" and required a restart, but all appears normal.
    This indicates that the disk image containing all the files from my original Boot Camp partition is a viable backup, and can be used to restore the partition if necessary. I'm not sure if formatting the disk image as MS-DOS (rather than Mac OS extended) was necessary, or not.

  • Can I install OS 9 on an external Firewire drive?

    I am not sure if this belongs in the G5 thread or the Leopard thread. Anyway:
    I have a Mac G5, running Leopard 10.5.4.
    I understand that Leopard will not run Classic applications.
    *However, can I install OS 9 on an external Firewire drive? And just boot directly from that drive?*
    I have essential OS 9 apps that I really need to keep.
    I am aware of Classic emulators that run under Leopard, but that is not an option.
    Any advice, insights, suggestions, et cetera in this matter will be appreciated!

    +PS  I should have added for the sake of others reading this thread…+
    You, Dunestrider, can run your Mac in Tiger (and hence in Classic) because, AFAIK, your G5 originally shipped with Tiger.
    Others should be aware that you cannot boot a Mac with an OS earlier than the one with which it shipped, i.e. if your Mac shipped with Leopard you cannot do what I suggested in my previous post. See this Apple doc.
    Also, Dunestrider, I just realised belatedly that you won't have to buy Tiger - you will still have the original Install disk(s) that came with the G5.
    Andreas

  • 10.4.4 corrupts external Firewire drives

    I had now twice corruption with external firewire drives after a hardreset (not normal shutdown, but holding the powerbutton until the mac turns off).
    The first time I was forced to do this, because the whole Mac froze after a program run (not from Apple). At that time I had two external FW harddisks. One older 200GB Maxtor and one newer 250GB Maxtor, the newer one was backup, the old one master.
    Because at that time I thought the old harddisk might be bad, I bought another 250GB Maxtor same as the backup drive and synced (with rsync on the terminal) all data there. I tried to recover data before that, but Disk Utility completly failed, it just ejected the disk, same with DiskWarrior.
    Now, after another hard reset (Suddenly all programs locked up, and I couldn't do anything else) I had two corrupted. both the 250GB backup and the 250GB new master.
    Again Disk Utility failed, although it didn't eject the disk. DiskWarrior also failed to do anything. After I tried to repair it diskwarriro said it had an error. Then I could repair it with Disk Utility, but the luck was short. soon after I couldn't read some files, and then again I had the same errors on both disks.
    Right now I sync all my data from my master disk to the old 200GB Maxtor (which I reformated in between).
    I am just really scared if all hard resets will corrupt my external FW harddisks. I rely on them as I only have 40GB internal data. And what good does a backup do, if it also gets corrupted.
    Anybody with similar problems?
    Mac Mini   Mac OS X (10.4.4)  

    Yes, I have seen this twice now. It has happened to two of my external VFAT drives when used on the firewire port. The drives are in BYTECC firewire/usb chassis that use this Prolific device: 067b:3507 Prolific Technology, Inc.
    The drives mount fine once, but on dismount OS X trashes the VFAT boot sector. The drive will not remount on OS X after this happens. I have one mounted now in Linux, apparently on the backup copy of the partition table. The primary is completely blown away.
    The signature looks like this:
    from sector offset 0 on the disk:
    0x00000000 45 52 02 00 1d 38 63 80 | 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    and all zeros down to 0x200.
    At 0x00000230 the ASCII string "Applepartitionmap" pops up.
    I don't see why this would be a vendor's driver problem.
    It's just another silly OS X firewire trick. Firewire has been a nightmare on my iMac G5, and it just keeps getting better.
    This happened once at 10.4.4 and again at 10.4.5, so falling back probably won't be worth it...
    Apple, have you tried regression testing the firewire disk drives? It's really uncool to detroy our data like this.
    There is no valid reason to write to any drive's partition table on exit unless specifically told to do so by me via the disk utility, so stop it already.
    iMac G5 20 Mac OS X (10.4)

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