FireWire 400 & 800 Not working

I am hoping someone can help. I have an iMac running leopard 10.5.7. I had a MyBook 1TB hooked up via Firewire and piggy backed off of that was a WD 500gb firewire passport. Everything worked fine until I tried to hot swap the passport. I unplugged it and the MyBook immediately powered down. I tried hooking both of them back up and not go. I had the WD passport replaced and turns out its the iMac firewire. The new WD passport works fine on my Mybook and all the cables I have have been tested. Neither the 400 or 800 firewire are working however the USB are working just fine.
These are some of the remidies I have tried.
- Reset the PRAM (no go)
- Reset the SCM (still no go)
- Took to the apple store the only thing the genius did was boot in to Startup Manager and plug in a firewire HD. (they claim i need a new logic board $890)
Now I am avoid replacing the logic board because I still think it isn't that big of a problem. I mean it may be shorted but from what I have read if the Firewire wasn't working it wouldn't show up in the system profiler and mine is. This is what I said
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Also I ran a hardware test that came with my mac (restarting hoding down D) and it said no hardware problems.
So now I post in hopes someone may have a suggestions before I replace the logic board.

I've had this problem, it is related to built-in firewire self-resetting fuses (which go off if there was a power surge or there was a short circuit, etc.). In order to fix it, you need to power down our Mac, then DISCONNECT THE POWER MAINS (this is important or otherwise it will not work!). Let the machine be disconnected for 2-5 minutes. Connect the mains back. Voila, it should work (the fuses get reset with no power supplied)! I spent several days until I've found this solution! Good luck!

Similar Messages

Firewire 400 & 800 not working together

I have two 800 firewire external drives connected to my Macbook Pro. They're plugged into wall outlets. I also have my DVCAM deck connected via a 400 firewire cable. If the 400 is connected, one or both of the 800s disappears and vice versa. How can I have both the 400 and the 800s connected at the same time? I must have them connected simultaneously.
Thanks,
miss2z

Okay. So, changing the FCP FW device didn't do anything noticeable right now. But I'm keeping it at that setting. I daisychained the old 400/800 drive to the 800 drives, using the 400 cable from my hub, which holds my printer and my deck, and the drive didn't like that--it didn't show up. So I plugged the deck directly into that drive, and voila! all three drives show up, and FCP is recognizing my deck. Great! Now I'm going to find out if there's room for another firewire card in the Macbook Pro. I'll let you know.
miss2z

FireWirer 400 Ports not working, Fix and/or Add PCI FireWire card

Here are some details about my G5:
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model:PowerMac7,3
CPU Type: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Number Of CPUs:2
CPU Speed: 2.3 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 1.15 GHz
Boot ROM Version:5.2.4f1
Serial Number:XXXXXXXXXXXX
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed:Up to 800 Mb/sec
I have two FireWire 400 ports that aren't working. I normally use the FireWire 800 port, which works fine.
I've tried:
- Resetting the NVRAM
- Resetting the PRAM
- Resetting the SMU
I haven't been able to run Apple Hardware Test, it is not on my install disc and I must have lost the separate Apple Hardware Test CD... annoying!
1) First Question - Can I do any more to fix the FireWire ports?
I also have a FireWire PCI card, which looks like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815150103 though I can't be for certain that is that one (PCI card purchased by my business partner 4 years ago and was originally in a PC). It's got 3-ports (2x 800 and 1x 400).
2) Second Question - am I ok to install this FireWire PCI card into the G5?
(how do I identify for sure what make of PCI card it is?)
If so, which slot and how should I go about doing it?
Thank you

Hi sohopigeon, and a warm welcome to the forums!
What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device...
If the issue persists, try these steps:
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Disconnect all devices and all other cables, except the keyboard and mouse cable(s).
3. Disconnect the computer from the power outlet and wait for 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Plug the computer back in and turn it on.
5. Reconnect the device(s) (one at a time if there is more than one) and test. Test with each port if you have more than one.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1317
The 7,3 2.3 was PCI-X, I notice this PCI card is NOT for use in PCI-X G5s...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/PCIFW4P/
While this one works in PCI or PCI-X...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ADS%20Technologies%20Inc./API315/
Not sure about yours, but it does say...
PCI 2.2 compliant and works in 32-/64-bit PCI slot
Works in 3.3v or 5V PCI slot
The one that doesn't work in yours above is also PCI 2.2 compliant.

FireWire 400&800 (IMAC Core2) NOT WORKING after Upgrading to SNOW LEOPARD!

My FireWire 400&800 (iMAC Core2) are *NOT WORKING* after Upgrading to SNOW LEOPARD!
Any Solutions?
Thanks!
--Frank Strallents
www.SHOCKPROOFX.com

I'll try your suggestions....Thanks!
Recently, I try to Re-install Snow Leopard, unfortunately, still unsuccessful.
The Mybook Icon only appears if it is connected via USB.
After using Firewire and getting used to the speed...USB 2.0 is like a Corvette racing a Veyron...lol
I am not upset on these issues, it is normal for new OS to have these problems...unfortunately, even OSX is not invincible.
I'm sure Apple/Steve is on every Programers A*s for a solution.
I still think APPLE'S OSX will still be the future of Operating system!
For now, still waiting for the patch and hopefully soon.
Suggestions are still Welcome for a Solutions:-)
Frank
SHOCKPROOFX.COM

Do all FireWire 400 audio interfaces work on a FireWire 800 bus?

I have assumed that one can continue to use FW400 on the new MacBookPros with an adapter cable. But responding to a post where I noted that I was unable to daisychain an RME FW 400 to a FW800 harddisk, a forum member tells me that many FW400 audio-interfaces don't work on FW800 buses, and thus even an adapter cable would'nt work.
Is this true?
If so, the whole music/audio community on Mac will have to switch to PC, no other solution.

Although there might be a few specific devices that might have trouble, most firewire 400 devices will work with an adapter to 800. And unlike what a bunch of people on this forum complain about, having a 400 device chained with an 800 WILL NOT slow the 800 down. A few minutes doing some simple research on how firewire works would stop people from spreading incorrect information.

DVD DL fail to burn AND Firewire 400/800 problems

I have had several months of intermittent DVD burn fails. Most recently today burning from the finder and it is now reporting "The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022)."
That error is new, previously it was always
Sense Key - Hardware Error
Sense Code - 0x03
The first time this cropped up was on 10.5.x and when I reported it to apple they had me take it to get the drive replaced since it was still covered by applecare.
After the DVD replacement and while still in the shop it burned a few DVD DLs ok. A few weeks later the same 0x03 errors. (it always burns CDs just fine)
After another phone conversation with applecare, they now suggest that the logic board needs to be replaced. (This was after I mentioned I frequently have problems with Firewire 400 or 800 external drives showing up...sometimes they work sometimes they don't. The same drives always show up when connected via USB)
I was walked through resetting the PRAM, which cleared up the Firewire 400/800 temporarily, but it did not help the DVD burn problem.
So on the eve before the appointment, this crazy MBP (2,2, 2.33 ghz) burns a DVD DL after blowing compressed air thru the DVD slot. But the second DVD DL fails to burn with the ""The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022)."
I was hoping that the upgrade to 10.6.x would solve both issues, but not so much.
Anyone else with the DVD DL problem experiencing FW problems?

The problems with some external FW burners under SL are fairly common, Robert. With some earlier drives (like my Pioneer 109 in an external box) often one can't even "see" the drive at all (though the bridge in the external box will show up under System Profiler) through FW, though it works fine under USB. With some later ones things like PRAM resets, or simply disconnecting and reconnecting the drive, will get them working. See http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10070281 or some discussion of these issues and possible "workarounds".
As far as the general disc burning issue goes, other things that are worth considering include problems with a "fullish" hard drive with fragmented free space, and the actual media being used. What brands of DVD have you tried?
DL discs, generally seem much more finicky about dust and dirt than single layer when it comes to burning (and , of course, need much more free HD space) . Will it burn a single layer DVD or a CD without problems?
Cheers
Rod

WARNING! Firewire 400/800 usage precaution of all Mac mini

I just found one vital notice about using FireWire 400/800 (IEEE 1394a/b) in any Mac mini. Please be careful and read this notice before you buy any External FireWire 400/800 Hard drive enclosure/paddock.
I believe in FireWire. FireWire is faster and more stable than USB 2.0/3.0. I love FireWire, but industry these days are terrible poor making its peripheral devices, related chips, etc.
Beware there are many FireWire devices such as 3.5 inches Hard drive Dock and enclosure they claimed to be used with FireWire 400 or even FireWire 800 with options like USB, eSATA. THESE ARE POOR PCB design and POOR chips inside and even POOR Power Supply, DO NOT BUY or USE THESE so-called FireWire HDD Dock or enclosure, it will hurt your Hard-drive definitely, it will make a lot of BAD-Axle (or bad sector) on your HDD. It's nothing wrong with Mac Mini FireWire Chips, it caused by Third-Parties' poor design and tactless attitude, there are lots of brands out there with the same POOR design and inconsiderate issues there.
The best way to protect your HDD is put them in a dock-able slot with Active 500W above Powered PC, link with FireWire, no Bad-Sector will occur.
These are real test and real experience from I myself.
I have tested lots of brands of 3.5 inches HDDs and docks and enclosures, I just save lots of time for you, if you love your data and your HDD, DO NOT USE THESE DOCK or Enclosure.

The big problem with those Docks or enclosures has a common poor cause, it's the Power Supply, if your 3.5 inches HDD is plugged in a Good 500W powered PC (Such as the brand Enermax Power Supply), the bad-sector will never happen. But it will happen when you use those Docks or Enclosures even with External Power supply. Because those external power current and voltage are not power enough, they didn't test it fully before putting them in market. They thought it was OK if they can boot up the disk, but they are dead wrong. You can boot a HDD doesn't mean the current and the voltage is power enough, it should have supplied with full power to those Standard 3.5 inches HDD, Seagate, Hitachi, Toshiba, they have rules about how many voltage and current a HDD should be supplied in operating, but those lousy industries didn't consider these rules, they thought just making their products as long as they can boot it up(power up), but the current and voltage is near the minimum level, a normal current and voltage is needed without margin, it should be at least full 5V or 12V, actually, 5V with 0.5A~1A current and 12V with fully 2A current to safely using a single HDD. But they didn't apply those rules.
You get the picture. When the current and voltage is not power enough, the HDD will sound alarm and make a big noise, then the surface gets hurt badly and it WILL NEVER be RECOVERED by any means of software or hardware.
When a HDD has a bad sector, it is a very bad for the future usage, because one bad sector could possibly cause another new bad sector and there is NO WAY to prevent this fate and its course, it is the way HDD works, a bad sector is a sign of short-life warning.
A fully 5.5V with 1A and 12V with 2A current is the most important thing when you decide to use your HDD in an external way by plug the lousy external power supply. NOT to mention those without external power supply, most of them are 2.5 inches USB-powered external HDD.
Who's to blame? blame to those lousy third-party industries who care nothing but their short term profit strategy. They just don't care about you. As long as a HDD could boot in the first place, they though it will work well. Lame and irresponsible.
DO NOT take chances to use a lousy External Dock or enclosure. You will regret anyway.
Put your 3.5 inches HDD into standard PC slot and cable with GOOD powered supply, at least 500 Watt above and the Power Supply must be Active model (expensive but worth).

IMac firewire port is not working

iMac firewire port is not working
Hi everybody, Happy New Year.
I am a 72 years old semi-newbie in video editing, because Iedit only 1 or may be 2 movies a year since 2007 and I have only very little computer knowledge.
I received a new 27” iMac as a birthday gift 14 months ago. About 10 months ago, with help, I successfully use the Migration Assistant to transfer some datas from my old power G4 to the iMac including two Final Cut Express projects. I had one project successfully done; burned to DVD and I save it with Print To Video. Last week, I have my second project done, I burned the sequences into DVD but unable to do a Print To Videodue to the iMac is not communicating with my Sony camcorders DCR VX1000, this is the same camcorder I used on the last job which was working a couple of months ago.As a result, I try to switch the Easy Setup with different Format and different Use; I refresh the Canvas window; I did a Mix down; move the Screen Saver to NEVER as well as the Energy Saver set to NEVER SLEEP. I also trashed the preferences (plist) folders; run the Utility repair, I replaced the firewire cable (4 pines – 9 pines 800), but nothing work. Up to this point, I think that there is no signal from the firewire port to the camcorder because I understand when the sequences is ready, the firewire is connected between the computer and the recording camcorder, the Print to Video is activated, then the word DV- IN should be seen on the recording deck screen. This time, I don’tread such words on the recording screen. Therefore, I think there’s no out going signal from the iMac to the recording camcorder and the iMac is not receiving signal from the recording camcorder. At this point, I try to connect my iMac to the power G4 to see if I can do some data transfer. Follow the procedures, I hook up the data transfer cable between the G4 and the iMac, I can the fireswire icon moving on the G4 screen but no indication on the iMac screen (there should be some indications in the source bar), this shows me the iMac did not recognize the G4 which worked on previous data transfer. It looks to me the firewire port on my iMac is dead. What has gone wrong? Could I accidentally disabled the firewire port by some magic keystroke? (i.e. accidentally fat finger some thing to make it stop working? Oh, by the way, during the playing around, went to the Final Cut tool bar, I click the View >Video Out > Digital Cinema Desktop Preview – Main, the result was a black screen and the esc key was my rescuer - LUCKY LUCKY! Are there any other trouble-shooting techniques to apply before bringing to shop? Please help!
Sorry for such a long statement, forgive me for unable to make it shorter. Thank you for your patience. Thanks to all the folks in this board for being so helpful.
p.s.

Not sounding good.
If the system Profiler does not see it then there is a basic communication problem between camera and the Mac.
I'm thinking the Firewire port is the culprit as some 800 ports were faulty.
I'd suggest taking the Mac, cable and camera to your nearest Authorized Apple Service Centre and get them to diagnose the issue. eg. let them try to connect the two devices.
Right (control)click the Sequence icon in the Browser and select Item Properties, do the same for a clip.
You can also post screen shots for the Properties.
Al

Migrating from mac pro to mac mini firewire 400 - 800 cant find computer

hi there
am trying to use migration assistant to move from old mac pro to new mac mini using firewire 400 - 800 cable but one computer cant see the other - any ideas anyone? have lots of large files so don't want to use wifi
cheers
Maria

Did t d this?
Make sure both computers are connected via FireWire or ThunderBolt before starting. If you connect the cables after Migration Assistant is already running, the source computer may not be properly detected.
Restart the source (original) Mac while pressing and holding the "T" key.
You can use ethernet too:
Make sure that the source Mac and target Macs are connected to the same network, either wirelessly or via Ethernet. (You can directly connect the two Macs via an Ethernet cable if both are Ethernet capable. To make MacBook Air Ethernet capable, connect using the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter.)
from:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889

External Harddrive ethernet vs Firewire 400/800

What would be better to invest in a ethernet harddrive or a firewire 400/800
I do need an external harddrive for video editing, mainly 1080i Hi-Def video as I have a Sony HVR A1 and am shooting hi-def.
Thanks
Justin
Durban South Africa

Firewire 800. Ethernet hard drives are very unlikely to provide an uninterrupted flow of video.
For what it's worth, your camera records HDV which has the same data rate as DV.
x

Migration Assistant 10.6 only recognizing Firewire option, still not working

I'm attempting to use Migration Asssitant to transfer a user from a MacBook to an iMac. Both systems are using 10.6.8 and are on the same wireless network.
PROBLEM 1 – Migration assistant is only giving the option of transferring via FireWire; it won't give Ethernet or Wireless options. Yes, with an Ethenet cable connected between the computers, and yes, with the computers on the same wireless network.
PROBLEM 2 – Even over Firewire it's not working. With the MacBook in target drive mode, the "Select the System to Migrate From" window shows two drives, both named "Button". Button is not the name of the (one) drive. Selecting one or the other brings you to the "Pick Users To Transfer To This Machine" page, which just hangs forever.
Super frustrating. Help? I couldn't find anything else about this in the forums.
--J.

Try this. Erase the iMac, reinstall the OS, and on first boot, use the Setup Assistant. See Pondini's Setup New Mac guide, which should be comparable to what you're trying to do. BTW, no need for TDM.

EZ Quest Firewire 400 ext drive works in 10.4 (PPC) but won't mount in 10.6 (Intel)

I have an EZ Quest external FireWire 400 drive. Was working fine on my MDD Mac running OS X 10.4.11. NOW, when I hook it up to my iMac running OS X 10.6.8, it will not mount. Tried different ports. Tried device on and off at boot. Doesn't show up on desktop or in sidebar of finder window or in System Profiler. Drive powers up, but won't mount. Please help. Thanks. Dennis

I have the same problem. Two different EZQuest Quad interface drives suddenly won't mount on my 2010 iMac (Core Duo) via the firewire 800 or 400 ports. If I use a USB cable, both drives mount as normal, but I need the Firewire 800 ports to stream audio samples for Logic.
Both of these drives were working fine for over a year until I upgraded recently to 10.6.8 on the iMac and then tried to use one of the drives yesterday with a new 2012 MacBook Pro (10.7.4). The drive mounted once on the MacBook Pro, then disappeared and now will not mount on either the MacBook Pro or my iMac.
I tried resetting the PRAM and SMC on the iMac, but the drives still won't mount via firewire. The fact that both EZQuest drives still mount via USB indicates this is a firewire problem particular to Mac OS 10.6.8 and 10.7 rather than an external drive problem. It also seems that many people are experiencing this regardless of the external drive brand. Does anybody know how to fix this?

Firewire 400 & 800 - compatability advice..

Hi
1. Can anyone tell me what kind of firewire port i have on my emac ? (see my details) ? ie 400 or 800 .
2. If 400, can i attach a cable to a firewire 800 port located on an external device ?
Sorry, i'm a bit confused about this subject..
didier

The Firewire port on all eMac models is FW400. FW400 and FW800 have very different physical plugs and the cable for one cannot be used to connect to the port of the other speed rating. I'm not awware of any FW400-FW800 cables, and I dont' recall enough of the Firewire or Mac specs to be able to say if such a connection would work with the FW800 device operating at FW400 speed. Then again, 20 seconds with Google turned up this link so 9-pin FireWire 800 to 6-pin FireWire 400 bilingual cables at least are available.

Firewire 400/800 Questions

Hello -
I recently upgraded to a new 24" iMac and noticed that there is only one firewire 400 port (as opposed to my previous G5 which had two.) In my old configuration I had an external drive connected to one of the firewire 400 ports and all of my peripherals (DV camera, card reader, etc.) in the other port.
Now that there is only one port, and I must daisychain with the hard drive, will I run into a problem when I try to import footage from the DV camera to that external firewire drive? From what I've read only one firewire device should be used at at time and this would obviously be using two.
I am considering buying a firewire 800 drive as a potential solution and wondered if it would, in fact, be a solution. Also, would a firewire 800 port be that much faster to notice a difference? If so, I might buy one anyway.
Thank you in advance for your responses and my apologies for not really knowing much about this stuff.

I have a Core Duo, so I have two FW 400 ports. Thus I'm answering this based on theory, not experience. FW 800 is supposed to support 400 Mbps connections. So you can use the 800 port by getting a cable that has an 800 connector on one end and a 400 on the other. You can definitely use more than one FW device at the same time. However they will share the bandwidth. If they are not designed well, they might possibly interfere, but that shouldn't happen.
A typical disk drive will deliver about 35 MB/sec. A FW 400 port can handle that. However I've seen some reviews suggesting that with the most recent fast drives (particularly the big ones that bundle several physical drives into one) you may see some performance advantages to FW 800.
A lot depends upon how you use the drive. If you copy one drive to another, or use large files, you'll get very high speeds. But in normal use, the drive spends most of its time moving the heads around, and you won't see much difference between FW 400 and 800.
I would be inclined to start by getting a FW 400 to 800 adapter cable and splitting devices across the two ports as you did before.

Firewire 400 port wont work

my issue is... my fire wire 400wont read any firewire 400 device, but my 800 port works fine. however, e wheni route my f 400 devices through my 800 drive, or port, the 800 device is ultimately disengaged ( removed) by the system.
i can understand that a 400 port may be wear out but why would the dv cam or other device, routed through an 800, force the 800 device to shut down. in this case i am uising a power book 15 inch, 1.5 gig, with a lacie porsche 250 gig external 400 firewire ( wont read at all) and a lacie 800 firewire 200 gig drive.
seems to me that since the 800 reads fine, that a 400 device routed through it should be okay too.
any helpwould be greatly appreciated.
also the system profiler doesnt recognize a 400port, but does list an 800 port.
thanks eric

FireWire ports can be reset. Shut down the computer, disconnect all peripheral devices, remove the power cord and the battery. Wait twenty minutes, then restart the computer and check the port. If it still doesn't work, reset the Power Management Unit (PMU) according to the instructions for your specific model.
If neither of these steps help in your situation, then you will need to take the machine in for service.
Good luck!

FireWire 400 & 800 Not working

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