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.

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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.

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!

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.

HT2498 how do I find out what kind of fire wire port I have on my desktop? I want to transfer video from my camcorder.

how do I find out what kind of fire wire port I have on my desktop? I want to transfer video from my camcorder.

If you have Firewire 800 it's a boxy looking port, the Firewire 400 is thinner and has a arrow looking shape, you can get a adpater.
FW800 is simply FW 400 x 2, so the adapter gives you FW 400.

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.

After burning a successful DVD in iDVD out of FCPX, how can I see the settings it used? So I finally burned a DVD out of a Apple Pro Res file into iDVD in PAL format. My question now is how can I find out what the exact burn properties were so that I ca

After burning a successful DVD in iDVD out of FCPX, how can I see the settings it used?
So I finally burned a DVD out of a Apple Pro Res file into iDVD in PAL format. My question now is how can I find out what the exact burn properties were so that I can apply the same burn properties to a project in Compressor 4?
Is it possible to see what iDVD did?

I don't know any way you can interrogate iDVD to reveal settings to the extent that you can in a Compressor project. What you could do is open up the show's VOB in MPEG STreamclip, go to File and Reveal Stream Information; that will at least give you some rudimentary info like average bit rate. Perhaps someone, with more iDVD experience, can chime in here.
The broader question is why use Compressor at all if your current workflow is doing the job to your satisfaction?
The value of Compressor is that it gives you control over the many parameters that affect size quality. and playability. The Compressor presets can give you a starting point for DVD delivery, Web, etc. From those presets, people typically experiment by adjusting the parameters until they get the desired results for their specific show. It's a little bit science and a little bit art. After experimenting, you may be able to get slightly better quality for the project you've successfully burned in iDVD by using Compressor and something likeToast…or maybe not.
Good luck.
Russ

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.

What can I connect to the cinema display´s firewire port?

What do you think of connecting an external hard drive to the cinema display´s firewire port? My other firewire ports on my G5 are already occupied.

The FireWire ports on a Cinema Display can be used with anything that the FireWire ports on a Mac can be used for; they are included because a Mac and external monitor may be set up in a way that prevents the ports on the computer from being easily accessed.
(23780)

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.

I have 1 firewire port, what do i do?

i have an external connected via usb 2.0...i have one firewire port and if i am capturing footage, i need that firewire port, so the usb port is my only option. am i right or wwrong. pelase help. what are osme solutions?

Daisy chain means to connect one device to another device to another device.
Most firewire drives have two ports to allow this type of connection.
Canon's implementation of the firewire protocol can create issues when there is a hard drive (or multiple hard drives) on the same bus. This does not happen to all Canon users, but to enough that it is something to worry about.
The usual solution is to add a second firewire bus. The real problem arises when you are trying to capture to a Mac that does not have the option of adding a second bus - an iMac for example.
x

FireWire ports burned out -- what to do?

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