Firewire failure / fused?/ broken

Hi,
A child was playing with firewire cable from my iMacG5 20" with her little metal toy in the end of the cable and then on trying to use the firewire ports they no longer work at all! All other parts of my Mac work fine.
I've tried both ports - no joy
I've tried a number of different devices (iSight, HD, iPod) - no joy
I've tried a few different cables - no joy
Is it possible that this has been fused?" Is there some fix?

It's very possible, if nothing works in those ports (do your USB ports work?) then you need to have the mother board replaced.
However, before you do that try this:
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.
And then this:
1. Downloading and installing the combo updater of the system software update you've last applied via "Software Update...".
2. Another trick is to restart by zapping the parameter RAM:
After the startup tone, hold down <commandd><option><r> until 3 additional startup tones are heard, then release the 4 keys.
3Try to do Open Firmware resets:
After the startup tone, hold down <command><option><o><f> until the text screen is visible. When text can be entered, type the following commands, followed by the <return> key (there are no space characters in each command):
reset-nvram
set-defaults
reset-all (the Mac will boot up after this command is entered)
Do let us know how you make out,

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Keith,
After following macjack's tip, try using a different Firewire cable, preferrablly a known-good one borrowed from another computer, or a new high-quality (read: expensive) one. I've had strange Firewire port loss on more than one computer that eventually turned out to be the cables originally supplied with some peripherals. If a thin cable developes kinks or frays slightly internally (especially where the cable is attached to the connector), you can get intermittent shorts from the cable and than cn knock out the Firewire ports.
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You could try a firewire reset
"Mike Mihalik, LaCie
Seems like the FireWire issue needs to be revisited quite often. Here is my often repeated suggestion which appears to clear up many FireWire issues: reset the FireWire ports. Panther has a Finder Preference to show mounted volumes on the Desktop. You must set this for mounted drives to be visible. Please follow these instructions to reset your FireWire port.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88338
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* shut down and disconnect all external drives and peripherals ; make sure nothing is connected to the FireWire ports
* use Apple Disk Utility to repair permissions on your internal boot drive
* shut down and disconnect the AC power from the computer as well as the drives; if laptop, also remove battery
* let sit unpowered and unconnected for 15 minutes
* reconnect AC power to only the computer (battery too if laptop)
* restart computer
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* reconnect FireWire drive (only one); refresh window within Apple System Profiler to rescan the FireWire bus; confirm that drive is visible
* confirm drive is OK by using Apple Disk Utility and apply First Aid
* repeat for other drives, one at a time "
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I also own and operate a Sony DSR-11 which has worked out just fine for me. However, I recently bought a new firewire cable to replace my 4-year old cable and discovered that you get what you pay for when it comes to cables. After a while the new cable would slip out of the back of the DSR-11 and I would lose my connection during editing and playback. As part of the troubleshooting process I replaced the firewire cable with a "better" one and no longer experience this problem. My only critisism of the DSR-11 is the smaller firewire connection instead of the larger one found on external firewire devices. Good luck.
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Firewire failure

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Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
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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. Yours is the 10.4.10 Combo update ( PPC, not for Intel systems). Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system.
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.
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Here's another
Fw Faq.
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See the following:
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What to do if your computer won't recognize a FireWire or USB device;
LaCie's Mike Mihalik checked in with some tips about dealing with FireWire failures:
Seems like the FireWire issue needs to be revisited quite often. Here is my often repeated suggestion which appears to clear up many FireWire issues: reset the FireWire ports. Panther has a Finder Preference to show mounted volumes on the Desktop. You must set this for mounted drives to be visible. Please follow these instructions to reset your FireWire port. Here is a summary:
1. shut down and disconnect all external drives and peripherals ; make sure nothing is connected to the FireWire ports.
2. use Apple Disk Utility to repair permissions on your internal boot drive.
3. shut down and disconnect the AC power from the computer as well as the drives; if laptop, also remove battery; let sit unpowered and unconnected for 15 minutes.
4. reconnect AC power to only the computer (battery too if laptop)
restart computer.
5. verify that FireWire ports are visible within Apple System Profiler.
6. reconnect FireWire drive (only one); refresh window within Apple System Profiler to rescan the FireWire bus; confirm that drive is visible.
7. confirm drive is OK by using Apple Disk Utility and apply First Aid
repeat for other drives, one at a time.
And, you can try using Disk Utility to repair the drive:
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

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The question because my G5 recognises that there is a camcorder(Canon MV5i) connected to one of the firewire ports but when I try and capture from the camcorder in FCE and iMovie HD the camera isn't recognised.
I've tried all the trouble shooting in FCE and iMovie is there anything in Tigers prefs that I could look at?
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Yes, there have been reported issues with Firewire, but then these issues have been around since the release of Panther. You might try the following:
LaCie's Mike Mihalik checked in with some tips about dealing with FireWire failures:
Seems like the FireWire issue needs to be revisited quite often. Here is my often repeated suggestion which appears to clear up many FireWire issues: reset the FireWire ports. Panther has a Finder Preference to show mounted volumes on the Desktop. You must set this for mounted drives to be visible. Please follow these instructions to reset your FireWire port. Here is a summary:
1. shut down and disconnect all external drives and peripherals ; make sure nothing is connected to the FireWire ports.
2. use Apple Disk Utility to repair permissions on your internal boot drive.
3. shut down and disconnect the AC power from the computer as well as the drives; if laptop, also remove battery; let sit unpowered and unconnected for 15 minutes.
4. reconnect AC power to only the computer (battery too if laptop)
restart computer.
5. verify that FireWire ports are visible within Apple System Profiler.
6. reconnect FireWire drive (only one); refresh window within Apple System Profiler to rescan the FireWire bus; confirm that drive is visible.
7. confirm drive is OK by using Apple Disk Utility and apply First Aid
repeat for other drives, one at a time.
If this doesn't help then you might consult www.macfixit.com for other reports and suggested solutions to Firewire related problems. I would also check out Canon's support site in case this is a known issue to them.

Need help booting from DMG file without DVD drive

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2-iBook g4 with DVD drive BUT the firewire port is broken
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6-mac pro with firewire and dvd drive, but the dvd drive is broken.
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what i need to know now is if i can boot the powerbook g4 from a DMG file of tiger install disc 1 and install is to the target ibook through firewire.
You can't unless the PowerBook is running Mac OS X Server, in which case the NetInstall feature can be used.
(38733)

Firewire failure / fused?/ broken

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