Firewire Ports burn out on 20" ACD

I have a 20" ACD and this now marks the second time in about a month that my firewire ports have just decided they didn't want to work anymore. Just three weeks after I got the monitor back from repair in it goes again, and Apple just to add insult to injury didn't send me a shipping label! I sure hope DHL has forms with them tomorrow...
Has anyone else had problems with their firewire ports on an ACD? The only firewire devices I have are a Griffin FireWave and a Canon Camcorder.

Ok I have to post the follow up story to this because it has a happy ending!
As stated in my earlier post the Firewire ports on the monitor had failed and I got a box from Apple w/o a shipping label. I called and they gave me all the info I needed and I was crossing my fingers that the DHL guy would have the paperwork...
The next day the DHL guy arrives .... WITH ANOTHER SHIPPING BOX!?!? Apple had sent out a new one with the correct shipping label so I just grabbed it and slapped it onto the other box and handed it back to the DHL guy, now I have a nice cinema display shipping box.
Apple repairs my monitor and I get it back in 2 days. Great turnaround except that when I get home I connect the display to the computer connect up my firewire devices and ... the firewire ports on the display are STILL broken! ARGH!
Now this is the THIRD time my ports have gone south on my display and I am really ****** off. Now here is why I think Apple is a top notch company that tries to make things right for their customers, I call Apple the next day and talk to tech support. They get an expert on the phone and the guy who apparently repaired my monitor the last time and they were positive the monitor left with working firewire. So they ask me what I was trying to use with it and I told them (A Griffin FireWave and a DV Camera) and they said that those were all good quality products and shouldn't be causing an issue with the display. So they sent me a BRAND NEW display! Now here's the cool part, I've had my display for less than 6 months but it was a refurbished unit. This new one isn't, it's brand new and so bright it almost hurts my eyes to look at it. The tech at Apple also suggested I buy a powered firewire hub (which I did) just in case the firewave or the camera was causing the ports to die.
Now would Dell, HP, or Gateway have replaced my monitor like that without a fight? Not likely, they would have insisted that one of my devices was burning out their display. They certainly wouldn't have replaced it with a whole new monitor like Apple did. Granted I did have AppleCare on the display but even without it I think Apple's support is (for the most part) better than ANYONE else out there period.

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FireWire ports burned out -- what to do?

The FireWire ports on my 4 year-old iMac seem to have burned out. (Reboots with Mac phone support didn't help). So the problem now is that I can't download footage from my Sony handycam, which used to function beautifully with the FireWire. Mac customer service tells me that since the Firewire ports are connected to the logic board, I'd need a new logic board which would run about $800, and it seems crazy to put that much money into a nearly 5-year old computer. Grateful if anyone could suggest a workaround. (for example, would a firewire/USB hub work, or wouldn't that convert the Firewire signal?). My iMac is otherwise functioning fine and I can't buy a new computer just now, but I do need my videos...Thanks for your suggestions!

I think the only longterm solution that makes good sense is the replace the iMac with a new(er) Mac, at least after making sure the FW port is dead. Since you are in NY, you should be able to get to an Apple Store it some point. I suggest making a Genius Bar appointment & taking both the iMac & your camcorder with you. The genius should be able to verify that the port (& not the camcorder) is the problem & you should be able to test the camcorder with a Mac in the store. (Note that you will need a FW 400 to 800 cable for this. It may be worth discussing this in advance with the store personnel, especially if you have to travel any distance to the store.)
Even if you cannot afford a new Mac now, you will have verified the source of the problem & get a good idea of what 4+ years of hardware improvements would get you. This should help you decide what to spend money on now for workarounds vs. what to save your money for.

USB port burn-out?

I added a card a long time ago that has 4 more USB ports. All of the ports have been working fine, but then I tried plugging in a cheapo keyboard light into one of the ports. The light worked fine the first time, but then it wouldn't work again. I tried other devices in that port, but the port doesn't work with anything. So I tried the light in another port, and the same thing happened--at first the light worked, now it doesn't, and now nothing works in that port. The light is going in the trash, but what did I do to the ports? So far the other two ports on the card seem to work. Did I burn them out? Can I fix them?

I added a card a long time ago that has 4 more USB ports. All of the ports have been working fine, but then I tried plugging in a cheapo keyboard light into one of the ports. The light worked fine the first time, but then it wouldn't work again. I tried other devices in that port, but the port doesn't work with anything. So I tried the light in another port, and the same thing happened--at first the light worked, now it doesn't, and now nothing works in that port. The light is going in the trash, but what did I do to the ports? So far the other two ports on the card seem to work. Did I burn them out? Can I fix them?

Firewire ports flaking out

so i just lost all firewire capability about an hour ago, and after poking around online it seems i'm not the only one having this sort of trouble. i'm on a dual 2.7 G5, running 10.4.6.. has anybody else here had to deal with this?
everything was going fine, i shut down my computer before remembering something else i had to do, when it rebooted all my firewire devices were AWOL, from both ports(front & back)

I think the only longterm solution that makes good sense is the replace the iMac with a new(er) Mac, at least after making sure the FW port is dead. Since you are in NY, you should be able to get to an Apple Store it some point. I suggest making a Genius Bar appointment & taking both the iMac & your camcorder with you. The genius should be able to verify that the port (& not the camcorder) is the problem & you should be able to test the camcorder with a Mac in the store. (Note that you will need a FW 400 to 800 cable for this. It may be worth discussing this in advance with the store personnel, especially if you have to travel any distance to the store.)
Even if you cannot afford a new Mac now, you will have verified the source of the problem & get a good idea of what 4+ years of hardware improvements would get you. This should help you decide what to spend money on now for workarounds vs. what to save your money for.

USB **** - Ports burning out devices!

I have an iMac G4 17" that I've owned for about 3 years.
In the last two weeks, I started experiencing this weird... THING... where the mouse would skip. Sometimes just a fraction of a second, the pointer would stop responding. At its worst times, it would literally be responding every other second (on/off/on/off) I thought it might have been a piece of conflicting software, because as I shut down programs, it seemed to go away.
Fast forward to this afternoon. It started happening hardcore, as it were. It would only work maybe 1 out of 5 seconds, then not at all. Plugged in another mouse, it was doing the same thing. So I swapped back to my Apple mouse, tried restarting, still doing the same thing. Then it happened. The keyboard stopped working as well. The mouse and keyboard, together, died. No lights on either. I tried plugging both into another computer, and they're completely dead. No functionality, no lights.
I conclude that my iMac USB port(s) burnt them out. I figure I have a problem with the ports, and I don't want to plug any other peripherals in for fear that they'll be killed as well.
Has anyone EVER seen anything like this before? Seriously. My iMac is totally useless right now. Completely. It's my main computer, and I figure given how much we spend on these things they should work for longer than 3 years.
Thanks to anyone who can help.
Jerrold

Hi Jerrold,
Before looking for a hardware issue with your iMac, you need to rule out a software/operating systems issue.
One way to do this is to "Archive and Install". This will give you a "fresh" operating system. Make sure you back up all your important suff first. Also, running a repair program such as Disk Warrior prior to Archive and Install won't hurt.If there are any drivers that are causing this, they will have been replaced.
While you are doing all this, the only peripherals you should have connected are a keyboard and a mouse (preferably both Apple if possible).
If you still have problems after this, then it's time to start looking closely at the hardware.
Cheers!
Karl

Firewire Port out to lunch! Formac Studio goes with it! Help!

There was a nasty thunderstorm last night in my area. My computer was off the entire time, but upon restarting hours later, I found both my firewire ports out. This morning, one of them came back to life- but when I plugged my Formac studio into it- it no longer is recognized. I tried a few different attempts to get the other port back into action- but no luck. Anyone with suggestions? Anyone have a similar problem with Formac Studio going dead (I did email Formac as well)
Thanks, Matt

I was having problems with my Formac, iSigh and 8 FW drives.
G5 2x Gighertz, 4gig RAM, two internal drives and the above.
Everything would work until I put the computer to sleep, upon wake-up, neither the isight or the formac would produce an image. Both were just black screens. I would have to unmount the drives, disconnect and reconnect all firewire to make them work again.
I have two firewire hubs, one connecting the isigh and the formac (connected to the FW 400 port) and the other to the 8 drives (connected to the FW 800 port).
After trying just about every combination between the iSight and the Formac, I used a different cable than the original cable with two magnets which the Formac uses and connected it to the Hub with the 8 FW drives. This got me to the point where all I had to do was reset the Formac and both the Formac and iSight would work without disconnecting and reconnecting all the FW devises.
But it also got me thinking what would happen if I used the Formac FW cable to connect the hub to the FW400 port. Maybe that cable would help stabilize the connection... Since it came with the Formac, maybe it would work better for video, right? Well, I connected the Formacs cable to the hub and to the FW400 port. The computer immediately shutdown! After that, neither the 400 nor the 800 ports work. The hub smelled like burned circutry and 3 of the 8 drives have damage to the file structure.
Needless to say I am fumming! What the **** is this cable from Formac? Why does it have what appears to be two magnets? and why would they sell this cable that has the potential to damage an entire system costing thousands of $$s?
I'm doing a file recovery now, but don't have my hopes high on that...
If this cable caused all this, Formac should be put out of business!

Older ACD USB/Firewire ports and a Thunderbolt MBA.

I have an older Apple Cinema Display (20) and a Thunderbolt MBA. Can I use the Firewire ports on the ACD if I use a Thunderbolt to DVI adapter?
Specifically, I have an older iSight external camera (Firewire based) that I would like to use with the ACD whilst the MBA is in clamshell mode. With the Firewire ports on the ACD, I'm intrigued by how I might access them with the MBA.
Is this possible?
TIA,
eznet

Same here. Since a few weeks, my MacPro ejects USB HDD's as soon as I write or read data on it.
(no I haven't installed something new at this time and all HUB's and HDD's have their own power supply, and yes they have been exchanged, so its not a broken cable or so !!!!!!!!)
After a reset of the NVRAM and PRAM its better for an hour or so, then starts to eject again. I've seen a lot of communities with exact the same question, but never a solution for it. There is also nothing in the support tab of apple.
Hope someone here can help me out or due to the fact that this is a AplleSupportCommunity, a Apple-Employee may starts to do his job and help this huge amount (I guess there are hundrets or tousand) of mac-user with exact the same problem....
btw: don't agree with MACATTACK2010 that this is a hardware problem, cause there are a lot of people in the
net that ask the same question with brandnew Hardware. I think it's an OS or an Update Bug, or may both.

Inserted broken firewire cable - BURNED PORT _ HELP!

I inserted a broken firewire cable, unbeknownst to me of course, and sat back to network two computers, when I smelled a metallic burning aroma and quickly unplugged the cable. I now have no firewire port. Any suggestions on not having to purchase a new motherboard? Thanks in advance.

An RS-232 is something else. A Firewire port is technically an IEEE 1394, but practically nobody calls it that since Apple stopped enforcing the "Firewire" trademark.
Okay, totally off-topic story.
Back in the day, the absolute state-of-the-art for real-time compositing was a machine called an Inferno. It ran on an SGI Onyx 2 system, which was a purple computer about six feet tall. It ran on 220-volt power, like your dryer uses, and it required two circuits just to turn on. Those kinds of power connections aren't all that common, so it wasn't unusual to have to wire them up ourselves off the main bus in the equipment room. Technically that's the kind of thing an electrician should do, but really it's no more complicated than changing a light bulb, so it's no big deal.
A 220-volt plug has three wires: two hot wires and a ground. Well, one time I was waaaay too sleepy, and I wired one of the hots up to the ground terminal in the plug. The Onyx was connected to an RS-232 system console — a serial port like the deck-control port on the back of a VTR, but slightly different — and that console was plugged into a regular three-pronged wall outlet.
Well, when I turned everything on, power shorted from the hot lead of the 220V outlet +through the serial cable+ and into the console, and out the console's ground wire back into the wall again.
Surprisingly, everything in the loop was fine except for the RS-232 connector on the back of the computer. The resistance of the current running through it generated so much heat that it melted a couple of the pins and fused the plastic cover of the cable to the back of the computer. Hooo, what a stench.
Also, the repair bill was about $60,000.
That's when I learned not to screw around with electricity when you're tired and in a hurry.

My external hard drive and cd burner does not appear on the desktop of my mini. Using Firewire adapter from old to new firewire ports.

I have a new Mac Mini (2013) and older external hard drive (Lacie) and cd reader/burner (EzQuest). Both have the original Firewire ports and the Mini has the new kind. I bought a cable with both kinds of ends but I plug them in and they don't show on the desktop.

From what I've heard, sometimes certain devices will not have full functionality if they are FireWire 400 with an 800 adapter. Take Apple's original iSight external webcam. It had FireWire 400, and people report using a converter cable will give them video, but not audio.
When I first got my mini, my usb cd burner wasn't recognised by Finder or Disk Utility. After repairing disk permissions and a reboot, it worked fine.

Can USB extension cable from nano burn out tower's USB port?

I recently plugged my 1GB nano into my Mac flatscreen's USB port and got a message that this port was too slow. I used it anyway but it did take a looong time to charge the nano. Normally I use the two ports in the screen to park a couple of dongles and since that port is slow for iPod purposes , I decided to buy an unpowered USB hub, 1 to 4 variety to run from the tower.
My G4 is in a closet with a not-so-accessible port on the back so I have a 6 foot extender cable coming from the tower which connects to the hub and from there I plug in my camera and keyboard - but so far not the nano. The guy at the store where I got the hub told me that an iPod nano recieving power from this settup might burn out the USB port in the back of my G4. So I haven't tested that! Anyone know if this is true or if it's just uniformed blather from a drugstore computer sales tech?

The "too slow" message you received has nothing to do with how long it takes to charge the Nano, it is telling you it will take longer to sync the Nano. If the port on the screen charged your Nano it didn't take any longer than any other port will.
A USB extension cable will not burn out the USB port on your computer.

Firewire as audio out - can i send my iTunes out through my firewire port and into a DAC?

I have a 5 year old (retired) MacBook with firewire 400 and 2 USB 2 ports. I want to use it as my music source for a fine stereo system. I want to know if I can use my firewire port to ship my digital music signal out to a DAC before sending it to my pre-amp in analogue format. OR, can I use the optical digital audio out in the heaphone jack to do it? What is the bandwidth of the optical out?

You do not need .Mac in order to send photos by e-mail. It sounds like you use ATT as you internet provider. Have you configured Apple Mail to be able to send e-mail yet? Can you send an e-mail text message OK?
If you haven't yet gotten Mail configured to work with your ATT account a quick call to ATT should give you all the information you need. Setting up Mail is easy.
Post back with further questions.
Regards,
Steve M.

I need a usb-firewire solution. running out of ports!

Hi,
THe two usb ports supplied on my MBP are not enough and i already have a powered usb hub connected to each port, further connecting several devices and hdds!
now simple things like making a TM backup are running slow because of like 2 to 3 hdds connected to hubs on each port.
my firewire port has been lying latent and i was wondering if there was some sort of a hub that would connect to my mac's firewire and inturn allow me to connect usb 2 or 3 devices on its interface?
i'm sure that if a usb 2 port can take extensions of 7 and 10 devices via hubs, a firewire port running at 800 mpbs could take much more traffic.
if there is an ethernet based solution, then that would be even better! cause there i would have a 1gbps bandwidth to spare.
please link me to the right product please. google confuses me and i can make out from the specs as to how the hubs it lists, work.
thanks for stopping by.
Neerav
Message was edited by: AceNeerav

Hi JMF, I had the same issue as you, but I found a USB drive that does fit next to a standard sized USB cable. It is a Verbatim USB Mini Swivel and comes in sizes from 1GB to 8GB. You can get these through the Online Apple store. Hope this helps.

Is it possible for an external device to burn out the USB port?

I think the available current of the USB port is 500 mA. If a USB device can work with a current of 500mA ~ 600mA, is it possible for it to burn out the USB port with 600mA current (larger than the safe 500mA) when connected? Or the port can never provide a current larger than 500mA?
Thank you.
P.S. The USB device I worry about is a pair of USB warm slipper (to be worn on feet in cold winter). Its label reads "5V / 2.5W", which should be safe. But I once connected it and a mouse to a USB hub, then to a single MBP USB port, and the mouse stopped working in a few seconds, and came back normal only after I switched it to another port. Now the slipper is connected to a port by itself, but I am just afraid that the USB slipper can go malfunctioning all of a sudden and drain a lot of current to burn the USB port.

...But I once connected it and a mouse to a USB hub, then to a single MBP USB port, and the mouse stopped working in a few seconds, and came back normal only after I switched it to another port....
Likely the hub is only barely able to handle the 500mA requirement. Many powered USB hubs have "cheap" power adapters and can't handle any high surge situations. Many devices like heating elements and motors have "surge currents" where the initial powering on of the device has a much larger current flow than during normal usage. Think of it like riding a bicycle. You have to push hard on the pedals to start off, but it's easier to pedal after the bike is moving.
...Now the slipper is connected to a port by itself...
If you mean the device is plugged into the Mac's USB port, then you should know that all Macs for the past few years provide more than the 500mA minimum for USB. Some other computers also provide higher power. But most USB hubs I've seen were limited to 500mA.
If you are plugged into the hub, not the Mac, then the power adapter for your hub may be barely adequate or possibly even defective.
...but I am just afraid that the USB slipper can go malfunctioning all of a sudden and drain a lot of current to burn the USB port.
IMHO, I would stop using the heater with any computer USB port. There is always the possibility that eventually something could short out in the heating element and cause a catestrophic surge through the USB port. The electronics in computers are quite delicate and I'd be paranoid about the device damaging my computer. (BTW, I have an electrical engineering background so I'm paranoid about power issues all the time anyway. ) Even if the heater is plugged into a hub, the surge current could damage the other devices plugged into the hub. While not as catastrophic as a dead computer, I'd still be irked to have to replace my mouse, digital camera, printer, webcam, etc.
Instead, I recommend plugging the heater into it's own "power adapter." One of those that give a USB port to charge a cellphone or whatever. Plug the power adapter into a power strip. Place the power strip in the floor next to the slippers. That way you can conviniently turn the strip on and off with your toes as you're putting on your slippers.

Play files out of a firewire port with Quicktime 7 pro?

Does anyone know if this is possible?
I playback preview files (mov,dv, etc) on quicktime pro all the time, and it would be helpful if I could view them on my plasma via my firewire port (the same way I do in Logic or Pro Tools).

I don't 100% understand what you are asking - your firewire port on your mac or on an external drive?
I am playing .mov files from a MacMini to a Panasonic 65 inch plasma via DVI cable... The plasma is working basically as a HUUUGE computer monitor. Not a direct answer to your question, but I know DVI directly from your Mac to the Plasma (provided the plasma has DVI in) works if you need an alternative. If the plasma only has VGA in, you can get less quality, but still success with the DVI-RGB converter from your mac to the plasma.

Why would the Firewire Port and/or External DVD-RW suddenly not work?

Hi, it's me again. I swear, I must be destined to just use Windows machines...
Anyways, I have a used/refurbished iBook G3 500MHz 320MB RAM Dual USB (1 Firewire)laptop running OS 10.2.8 that I bought a few months ago. I went and purchased an external Firewire/USB 2.0 DVD-RW drive as I only had a CD-ROM drive on my machine and I wanted the option to burn CD's or watch/read data from DVD's (I know that with my slow processor writing DVD's -other than data- would be a stretch and have other machines to do that with anyways so it wasn't a concern really). I received it and installed it, also installed the free version of Toast that came with it, and the drive worked fine. I have not needed to use the drive since then and have not used the laptop much at all since then really, but I do need to say that I did end up adding a new user account, though I can't remember if I changed the original Admin account and then still have the one I created myself when I first started the laptop after I bought it (had a fresh install of Jaguar on it, but I have no disk to re-install with if needed) or if I created a separate (new) account and ended up deleting the Original Admin accout (I know in Windows, you cannot delete the original Admin account but I do not know if that is the same for OSX or not). I did this as I wanted a master Admin account that I just wouldn't really use and then wanted the other as my main account (and use it to connect to my home windows network) and for some reason it would not let me put a check in the box to allow that account to do so (from either Apple or my user accounts) and so I know that my main user account now is set up to allow it (was it the old Apple user account or a new one, I can't remember- sorry).
Ok, so that is the back story to my problem, which happens to be this:
I just bought a new chip of RAM (512MB to make it a machine with 576MB RAM total) and as I had been looking at getting OSX Tiger (but didn't want to do it without the extra ram and had been considering Panther instead as well), I thought it was necessary if I wanted to not bog down my machine. I bought the Install Disks on DVD for Panther, as well as an upgrade disk (DVD again) for Tiger, therefore letting me use the External Firewire DVD-RW to install Panther, and if I liked I could go ahead and upgrade to Tiger (and if I didn't like it too much, or it slowed things down too much etc, then I could always go back to panther and have both available for future options). The extra RAM coming in handy here definitely.
So I was going to install the RAM today, and decided to go ahead and test out the External DVD to make sure it could boot from it (before making any changes to my system) and then go and install the RAM, and after that, install Panther to start... But I plugged all the cords and cables in, used my laptop with AC power even, and I could not get the External to show up at all... (kinda like the very current post right below mine but for the G4- it worked before, but now the firewire External just does not show up).
I only have USB 1.1 on this laptop obviously, and I don't even know if you could do a boot from an external with USB 2.0 if my laptop had it (the DVD player does). I was recommended to boot with an external firewire DVD or firewire to another machine with DVD capabilities to do the install. So my problem right now is getting slightly bigger, as of course, I can't seem to momentarily find the stuff that came with the External (spare USB cable to check and see if the laptop will recognize it at least with that and to show it is the firewire that is not working properly, or the disk that I used to install it -might have been only used to install Toast free version if it didn't need any drivers, but I don't know where that or the instructions for installation sheet currently is -- I am looking for it, but I have switched bedrooms just last week and I also seem to be missing a few other Windows laptop disks as well so there is a good chance that they are all together, I just need to figure out where, heh.)
I am waiting currently before installing the memory, though if I don't get the External working tonight, I may go ahead and do it first as at least I will have more memory on my laptop then, until I can get other stuff functioning and be able to do the Panther install.
But my main question is, is there something that would cause an installed external to suddenly not show up in OSX? Since I hadn't used it since that one day, and it was unplugged from the laptop itself, would that end up doing it, or more likely, the changing of the user accounts (though I have been trying to test it with different types of media and through both of my user account (which are both "admin" ones), though I do still have one of those being an account that was on there when the External DVD was first installed, so it really shouldn't have done this at all (one would think). So how big of a chance is it that the firewire has somehow gone dead and this is the main culprit to my wasting the past 4 hours on this???
I am currently scavenging around for an extra USB cable to try and test the External that way and will post the results when I can... I love the look and idea of macs, now I have a mac and want to upgrade it even, but why is it that whenever I attempt to use it after having not used it for a bit (and try to make the iBook feel better by using it more as I am sure it feels sad and alone sitting on the shelf while my Windows Laptop gets more attention), or try to fix it when it can be made better (and therefore used more often), the mac (all macs really), just seem to get all pissy and cause problems and make me spend hours upon hours trying to get things to work again??? You have to admit it, I am "mac cursed"... sigh I can program in 4 or 5 computer languages and am very advanced at many tech things (the ones I am not as good at I am still usually Average or Medium skilled) so it makes me wonder why I have so many tech problems with Macs when they are supposed to be the "easy" OS to use...

Actually, I think I have it all working now. After going back to the Plextor Website, I found out that the switch between the USB and 1394 ports only gets activated (switched over to the other) with you turn the device off first, move the switch and then turn it back on. I was sure that I had done this with the ibook, but maybe not as when I went back and did it with first the USB and then the Firewire cables, it did work. I definitely knew that I had not done this with the Windows laptop, the reason it would not have the USB work for me on it.
but back to the iBook, I was confused as it was only showing up as a DVD-ROM (which I guess is what they do until you actually open up the burning software to then be able to burn to it), and it also had the wrong Model #, which after more research, showed that it was the Internal DVD drive model version (PX-708A) compared to the actual model version (PX-708UF) which is the USB/Firewire (External) model. The firmware was really out of date as well (from June 2004 I think, v1.06) and they had v1.12 from Spet/Oct 2006 available so I went to get that (which was a hassle). They had nice easy Windows self extractor/installer packs, and then the BIN files for use for all systems (Sun OS/ Mac OSX/ Mac OS/ Linux etc as well as usable for Windows), and those needed a special Firmware Updater Application which was OS specific. Only I had the hardest time trying to get the OSX one as it would send me to a FTP site and not give me any clues as to which file(s) I needed to get and the Mac OS version was just for older 9.2 or below versions and didn't want to install under the OS Classic mode.
I ended up using my windows computer which made it easier to view with the FTP stuff as I have FireFTP in Firefox, and downloaded the files I thought I needed (to test out), and then realized my silliness, and just downloaded (as well) the Windows Auto Extractor/Installer as the Firmware is the same for all OS's, just the way to install/update it was different... So I hooked the DVD drive to my PC and updated the firmware, checked it out on here before moving it back to the ibook, where I checked that it still worked and had the new update version showing, which it did, and now I have my fully working and newly updated drive ready for the OSX installations... I had attempted to update my Jaguar system as well while online, but it had no new updates available (I guess those were all mostly Tiger updates that were just recently released).
I am now off to install my additional RAM, and after checking that it all shows up correctly, I will go ahead and do the Panther Install (and test it out and see if I like it or not).
For anyone that currently uses Panther on any mac, are there still any major problems I should know about before hand, or know about things that they have mostly fixed (like the issues with Firewire ports and External Drives that they had around the time Panther was first released for example)???
Thanks to all that helped... I now know to attempt an "eject" of any external HD (which I do have one that I will setup to use after I get Panther on the ibook) or CD/DVD drive instead of just unplugging the USB/Firewire cable.

Firewire Ports burn out on 20" ACD

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