Firewire Bus Problem

I'm not able to connect Firewire devices to any of the firewire ports on my G5.
In the "About this Mac" Hardware overview, when I click Firewire it reads, "Unable to list Firewire devices," in red.
Not a good sign.
I've tried all the usual troubleshooting procedures; cables, power on/off, different devices, and all the ports. USB work file
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that didn't work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try.
If that still didn't get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
A bad internal PRAM battery can also cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good!
Also, here is Apple doc.#88338 on getting FireWire to work.
Here's another Fw Faq.
DALE

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AWOL FireWire Bus can cause performance problems

This is a tip for anyone who may be having undiagnosed performance problems. Use System Profiler and look at the FireWire entry. If there is no information other than the title FireWire Bus that may be the cause of the problem.
See http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338 for information. I was able to fix my performance problems by disconnecting my iMac from power and everything except mouse and keyboard.
I've written a small AppleScript which run System Profiler each day and will alert me to a missing FireWire Bus. I hope it never happens again.

Yup, resetting the NVRAM seems to fix a lot of
HD/firewire problems.
I am not even using firewire so I didn't have any firewire problems (as such). My problems seemed primarily to be performance related ... I assume the OS was spending a lot of cycles trying to check the status of the Firewire Bus.

Is it possible to install a firewire bus in a new (2010) unibody macbook?

Hi,
I have been offered a good deal on a firewire audio interface but unfortunately my macbook doesnt have any firewire ports. I have tried it out using a firewire/USB adapter with a powered USB hub but the macbook just disables the port saying it is drawing too much power. Is there any way i can install a firewire bus in my macbook? or is there some kind of adapter/cable that would solve the power problem?
Thanks

No.

ISight -missing FireWire Bus

My external iSight camera will no longer work on my G4 iMac after upgrading to iLife 08. It works on my Powerbook G4 laptop so there isn't a problem with the UBS cable. I have compared System Profiler details on both laptop and iMac. On laptop FireWire- Firewire Device Tree- FireWire Bus shows iSight.
On the iMac under FireWire there are no entries under FireWire Bus. Any suggestions

Turn off and unplug from the power socket the iMac and leave for 20mins to reset the firewire ports.

External Firewire ODD Problem

Hi~
My Mac mini (PPC) would not recognize external firewire DVD writer.
Trial I.
System profiler information about firewire of Mac mini shows:
Manufacturer - Unknown
Model - Unknown Device
In my other mac, iMac G5, the attached device information is:
Manufacturer - Exxxx
Model - GAxxxxx
Conclusion I: external firewire ODD can be recognized in the other Mac than Mac mini.
Trial II.
I attached other external firewire HDD to Mac mini and iMac G5.
Both recognized the device.
Conclusion II: Firewire bus of Mac mini is functional.
Mac mini information:
CPU: 1.25 PPC G4
RAM: 1GB
Is there any solution for this problem?
Thanks in advance~

yes there is a solution called patch burn
the application is free just go to
www.google.com and search for patchburn what patch burn does is it creates a new driver automaticly for any dvd burner or any cd-rom drive that is mac compatible but isn't detected correctly you can try this first and see what happens if this doesn't work then you may need to find a drive that is compatible

High pitch whine and FireWire bus power

Delighted with my MBP!
Just noticed the high pitch whine today when I set it up in a quieter room and plugged it into an IOGear bus-powered FireWire hub shared with my other Mac.
It was around 8000 hz and loud enough that I could not stand to stay in the room with it.
When I unplugged it from the hub and connected the cable directly to the FW port, the whine was greatly attenuated (I could hear it only by putting my ear next to the vents at the top of the keyboard).
Could the problem be related to powering the FireWire bus? (It reminds me of the sound of a switching power supply or DC-DC converter) Has anyone else had any success in finding ways to attenuate this high pitch tone?
MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.5) 7200 rpm

Hi, Thanks for the suggestion. I'm really trying to cut down on the number of devices that I leave plugged into the mains, so would ideally like a solution that relies purely on power supplied by the internal bus.
I've had a bit of progress with my current set-up. I've switched to using a 2 headed USB lead that came with my Hard Drive. This does mean I effectively lose a USB socket, but it appears that the Hard Drive + the Webcam can now live happily together.
It just means that I have to swap the 4th USB port for whatever ad-hoc device I need to use at the time rather than leaving things connected to it.
Out of geeky curiosity, I'd still be interested to know whether the USB and Firewire buses share their power or each have a dedicated amount.
Cheers,
Ian

Unkown Device Showing up on Firewire Bus when nothing is connected

I have a brand new G5 dual 2.3 Ghz PowerPC not INTEL pci-e and when I go to the System Profiler and look under the Firewire Bus page it's indicating that I have an Unknown Device connected when in fact I don't have anyting externally connected. I do have two Digidesign PCI-E Audio cards installed but I can't see how this would be considered a firewire device. Anyone else have this problem or ideas on this? Thanks!

Glad to be of service.
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Stumped: PM G5 FireWire Bus--Unable to list FireWire Devices

I have a nearly four year old Power Mac G5. My firewire ports were working fine a month ago before 10.5.8. Today I went to hookup my video camera to download some tape into iMovie '09 and it did not recognize the camera. A quick check of system profiler:
Warning: Unable to list FireWire devices.
I have tried the following to fix in this order:
1. Reset Pram (commandoption+PR)
2. Reset Devices by (commandoption+OF)
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all
3. Repaired Permissions
4. Reset PRAM
5. Reinstalled 10.5.8 combo installer
I still cannot get the firewire bus to work. I am open to ideas. Someone suggested removing the PRAM battery but I have been unable to figure out how to do that.

I ended up unplugging computer for 5 minutes and re-plugging in and this seems to have solved problem (although I do not know why.)

FireWire Bus : Unable to list FireWire devices

My FireWire drives (4 lacies) quit mounting. The system profiler says "Warning FireWire Bus : Unable to list FireWire devices". Is there something I should try before I go to Applecare with my brand new MacBook Pro with the glossy screen? I have check permissions and verified the disk and checked the cables, drives, etc they all work on other computers.

I installed leopard on my mac mini's external FW boot drive with no problems and have used it for days. Then, yesterday my house experienced a momentary power drop (it was fast; not like a brownout) which resulted in my Firewire port becoming inaccessible! The system was unbootable.
Thinking initially that it was a problem with the FW drive, I attached it to another Mac. Saw it no problems. So, the problem clearly lay on the Mac Mini.
Ultimately, the solution was just solved by resetting the Mini's Power Manager Unit. Search Apple's technical articles for instructions for your particular Apple computer.
Hope this helps

Aggregate device on the same firewire bus (fireface 800 and Lightbridge

Hi,
I'm trying to set up a aggregate device with my old RME Fireface 800 (on the firewire 400 bus) and this new M-Audio Lightbridge. But allthough I manage to create the device, there is no sound at all. The Fireface acts as digital master via a word clock cable. The Fireface are connected via a 10 m. cable to the rear connection (on my nes Mac Pro) and the Lightbridge are connected to the front. I know it's the same bus using those two connectors, so do you think a separate firewire board would be a solution?
Regards Stig

So the firewire "bus" and a firewire "interface" are the same thing then? Excuse my ignorance, I've just been put in the position that I needed to know this for the first time with this audio interface problem. The things I used my firewire ports for just worked without me having to learn much about it up until now. Also, I found some posts that the card had some issues functioning in a version of Leopard. I'm about to upgrade from Tiger (finally) directly to Snow Leopard. Do you (or anyone else who sees this) happen to know if there are any issues there? I appreciate the help very much Rod.

Connecting Camcorder to Firewire disables Firewire bus

I have a strange problem:
My Canon MVX350i yet worked without any problems with my Intel iMac (Dec 2007).
Since I rebooted with the camcorder powered on and connected by firewire cable, I have huge problems.
Connecting the camcorder now disables somehow the firewire bus completely. E.g. firewire disks are disconnected just like unplugged while running and the camcorder will also not be recognized as video device.
What happened at this unfaithfull reboot?
I already deleted the preferences from my user account and I also reset the PRAM. Nothing helped.
The camcorder is still ok, because I can use it *without problems* on my *MacBook Pro*. Due to this fact, somethings *must not be ok now on the iMac*.
Interessting fact: Connecting my other video device, a Canon HV30, makes not problems.
Q: How can I make my MVX350i also working again?
Any hints are very welcome and will really be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Roland

I too have been experiencing a problem like this with my Canon XL2. When plug in the XL2 using a firewire 4pin-6pin cable into the Firewire 400 port, it disables my firewire 800 external HD (i.e. disconnects it as if i just pulled the cable out). However, i can still use them separately, but not at the same time. I am unable to load any video directly to my external devices. I was able to do this with my old Powerbook G4, but not with my new iMac. Also, the USB devices interfere with connecting my camcorder, as if the computer doesn't even recognize the XL2 until all other devices are removed.

Firewire Bus/Unknown Device?

Hello to all. I just picked up a New 2.3GHz Power Mac and when I was checking the System Profiler in the Firewire section it reads Firewire Bus
Unknown Device
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Unknown Device:
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: Unknown Device
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
The funny thing is I have nothing plugged into any of the Firewire Ports! The other strange thing is I have a 20 inch Cinema Display (which has a USB and Firewire Hub built into the back of the display) and If I plug that Firewire plug into the Computer I get a Duplicate reading of the info above (looks like this):
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Unknown Device:
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: Unknown Device
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Unknown Device:
Manufacturer: Unknown
Model: Unknown Device
Maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
I called Apple and They had me run every test under the sun. As a last resort They had me erase the Drive and do a reinstall of just the basic Apple Software and this is what I ended up with. I thought maybe one of you kind folks might have some idea of what the **** is going on.
Thanks
Michael
Dual-Core 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM

Thanks so much for your replies. So what is the technical explaination for this because I have been on the phone with Apple for hours over the last 2 days send them all sorts of system data. I even mentioned the fact that I have seen postings listed on this forum with other people with the same Unkown Error issue happening to there Dual Core machines and the people I have spoken with at Apple are acting like the have never heard of this before. I only noticed this Unknown Device thing because I am in the Audio Recording business and I am having a problem with my Digidesign DIGI002 interface giving me this slight distortion problem coming out of the 002 unit. But this was happening when I had the 002 connected to my Powerbook 17inch 1.33. I figured it was some type of software issue but now I'm checking into the 002 as the culprit! And the people down at Digidesign have never heard about this Unknown Device Issue as well and think that could be messing up the 002 but I do not have this Unknown Device thing going on with my Powerbook. So I'm stumped!
Thanks again!
Michael
Dual-Core 2.3GHz PowerPC G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM

Did iSight blow up my firewire bus?

I was using ichat the other night when suddenly the video disappeared. the light on my isight camera went out and it was non responsive. When i went into system profiler it said the firewire bus was not there.
I shut down and tried again, no luck. I pulled the camera and tried the firewire port on the front, and it did work, but it will not on the rear.
Is it time to just bite the bullet and take it into the apple store, or is there anything else I can try to resurrect the rear firewire port?
I would think if the entire bus was fried neither port would work, but what do I know...

I was running an IO Gear firewire hub, and wonder where the problem is. I pulled the cable from it, and tried that with the isight, nothing. however the isight WILL work on the rear port with its own cable.
I am assuming the problem is actually in the cable that came with the hub, rather than the hub itself, but am holding off on testing the hub for now.

Firewire bus?

my firewire bus seems to occasionally turn off and on... I've tried different devices. sometimes the system profiler just says firewire bus... no other info at all. any ideas... this is what i've done so far...
Fresh install of OS and software, reset the pmu, had a drink, pulled out some hair, & just simply banged my head on the desk... NOTHING seems to work.
Please PLEASE HELP ME!!

My friend a professional photographer just bought the quad g5 and is having this same problem running 10.4.4 He had an Apple authorized repair person check the hardware and found no problems. I checked the system profiler under firewire and it only said Firewire Bus speed 800 mb. He has a firewire card reader and cd burner neither were on the list. Also when he would try to read from the card reader he would get the spinning beach ball and had to physically unplug the G5 to restart it. This is BS Apple needs to address this issue this computer cost over $3500 and is less than 3 months old! Any help would be apprecieated.
Quad G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) over 6 gigs ram

Firewire bus stopped working

Hello
This afternoon my iMac G5 firewire stopped working. I was using seven firewire drives and one firewire audio interface a MOTU 896. I have used this config for about three months with no problems. I was in Reason and then I booted Logic pro (also used IAC rewire between the two programs before) that's when the fun started. Logic froze on mid-boot. Then reason locked up as well. At that point on reboot my iMac no longer saw any of my firewire devices.
System Profiler shows nothing on the Firewire bus.

This appeared in MacFixIt yesterday:
+MacInTouch Reader+
+I have a three-year-old iMac G5 that had a problem since I bought it that I've only just got to the bottom of - its fans would start up (loudly) about thirty seconds after I shut it down. Nearly every time. I think I disabled it from going to sleep pretty soon after I got it, but I vaguely remember it not recovering from sleep and the fans coming on randomly. Eventually I also developed a power supply problem where the Mac wouldn't start up first time, and when it did start up would then switch itself off with no warning (replacing the power supply did fix that problem, at least).+
+Anyway, to cut a long story short, the problem with the Mac crashing (effectively) on shut down followed by the weird, random fan-coming-on thing, was only solved when I replaced my USB (D-Link) modem with one that uses Ethernet instead (a Netgear DG834).+
+I just want to spread the word. It drove me insane for three years and now I'm finally happy. I know my particular, specific problem was weird and maybe quite rare, but if you're using a USB modem with your iMac, maybe borrow something different from a friend for a while and see if it helps.+
The firewire problem may be due to faulty RAM, try running Rember and see if that finds any problems.

Firewire Bus Problem

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