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.

Similar Messages

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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!

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Full Firewire Port Failure (three different machines : iMac Intel, iMac G5, Black Macbook)

    I'm experiencing a failure of all FireWire ports on all of my three machines. I believe this problem began with a faulty external, FireWire powered hard drive from G-Tech. Here are all my specs, followed by a rundown of the order of events that has lead to this situation, followed by the various troubleshooting I have done.
    Equipment :
    iMac Aluminum Intel - 24" Mid 2007 - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 ports disabled
    iMac G5 - 20" - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 2 FW400 ports disabled
    MacBook - 13" black Early 2008 - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 1 FW400 port disabled
    2 500GB G-Drives (by G-Tech) - AC powered
    1 5TB G-RAID Drive (by G-Tech) - AC powered
    1 250GB G-Drive Mini (by G-Tech) - FW powered
    Initial Setup :
    1 500GB G-Drive connected directly to iMac Intel via FW800
    1 500GB G-Drive connected to first 500GB G-Drive via FW800 (daisy chained)
    1 250GB G-Drive connected to second 500GB G-Drive via FW400 (daisy chained)
    1 5TB G-RAID connected directly to iMac Intel via FW800>400 adapter
    Sequence of Events :
    I had transferred some files to my G-Drive Mini in order to move them to my MacBook from my iMac Intel. I copied the files to the G-Drive Mini and ejected it normally and plugged it into my MacBook via FW400. The drive would not mount, and the power indication light would not go on. After experimenting with various connections and cables I was able to get the drive to power with FW400 and USB connected at the same time, but the drive would still not mount.
    I then plugged the G-Drive Mini back into the 2nd 500GB G-Drive as it was previously connected via FW400. This action caused the G-Drive to immediately reboot and eject itself from my iMac Intel.
    I then attempted to plug the G-Drive Mini into my older iMac G5 via FW400. Immediately upon plugging in, the computer shut down, and would not restart.
    At this point I kind of started to freak out. I was unaware of the extent of the damage, but was upset that the FW powered G-Drive Mini had shutdown my iMac G5. I contacted G-Tech Support and they offered to replace the drive and instructed me how to manually reset the computer's SMC by opening up the iMac and finding the Cuda switch. This worked and the computer was able to start and function again, but the FW400 port seemed to be disabled.
    I then tried to swap out configurations and drives on my iMac Intel to see if there was any cable problems, but doing so, slowly rendered all my FireWire ports useless. It's almost as if the act of plugging in the FW-powered G-Drive Mini started a kind of shortout chain reaction. I soon learned that none of my hard drives would connect to any of my three machines, with any kind of cable combination via FW400 or 800.
    I am currently able to connect my 5TB G-RAID drive to any machine via USB, as well as my G-Drive Mini. I am unable to access the other two external hard drives, as one has only FW400 and 800 ports and the other's USB connection is not functional as well on any machine.
    Troubleshooting Steps Taken :
    I have on all machines, reset the SMC in the following methods. iMac G5 - manually, by opening the case and pressing Cuda switch. iMac Intel - unplug, hold power button, restart method. MacBook - unplug, hold power button, restart method.
    I have also on all machines, reset the PRAM by the Cmnd + Opt + P + R method at startup.
    I have also unplugged all cables / removed battery, from all machines and left alone for a period of at least 12 hours, then re-plugged in each device one at a time.
    I have also restored my hibernate mode (through Terminal) on my iMac Intel to mode 3 and also turned on Virtual Memory in system preferences and set hibernatemode to mode 7, the restarted and attempted to plug in devices. The reason I even began to deal with the hibernate mode was because I had around the same time my ports began malfunctioning, installed the DeepSleep widget, which allows you to control your computer's hibernate mode. I thought that tweaking with this setting may have made my computer incapable of recognizing devices that were plugged in. I have since uninstalled the widget and experimented with different hibernatemodes to no avail.
    I also have Repaired Disk Permissions and Repaired Disk on all my machines, from within my Admin User as well as from the OsX Install Disk.
    Sometimes in my System Profiler (like right now for example on my iMac Intel) my computer is "Unable to list FireWire devices," but sometimes, no warning message comes up and it simply displays the appropriate Bus speed.
    I also conducted a system restore using a backup from my 5TB G-Raid Drive via USB, to a date before these problems started, but my ports are still not working.
    Summary :
    I am looking at a situation where all my FW ports on all my computers appear to be disabled, and possibly also on my four external hard drives, with one possible USB port malfunction on one external drive. The only root of this seems to be a malfunctioning FW-powered external hard drive.
    Is this possible? Has this happened to anyone else before? G-Tech assures me that it is impossible for my 250GB G-Drive Mini to draw enough power from a computer to permanently disable any ports, but I have tried all of the FW port problem troubleshooting steps and am at a loss.
    I do not have AppleCare and would like to avoid bringing two iMacs, a MacBook and four hard drives to the Apple store and take my chances with the geniuses.
    I would appreciate any help or advice you all have. Thanks for reading and for your support!

    Ok. So if that was too confusing, I've re-labeled this post with letters for my hard drives and some mapping of the connectivity configurations I have attempted.
    Equipment :
    iMac Aluminum Intel - 24" Mid 2007 - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 1 FW400 and 1 FW800 ports disabled
    iMac G5 - 20" - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 2 FW400 ports disabled
    MacBook - 13" black Early 2008 - running OsX 10.5.8 - currently 1 FW400 port disabled
    1 500GB G-Drive (by G-Tech) w/ no USB port - AC powered : A
    1 500GB G-Drive (by G-Tech) w/ USB port - AC powered : B
    1 5TB G-RAID Drive (by G-Tech) - AC powered : C
    1 250GB G-Drive Mini (by G-Tech) - FW powered : D
    Initial Setup :
    C > FW400-800 adapter > iMac Intel
    D > FW400 > A > FW800 > B > FW800 > iMac Intel
    Sequence of Events :
    D > FW400 > MacBook
    I had transferred some files to my G-Drive Mini D in order to move them to my MacBook from my iMac Intel. I copied the files to the G-Drive Mini D and ejected it normally and plugged it into my MacBook via FW400. The drive would not mount, and the power indication light would not go on. After experimenting with various connections and cables I was able to get the drive to power with FW400 and USB connected at the same time, but the drive would still not mount.
    D > FW400 > A > FW800 > B > FW800 > iMac Intel
    I then plugged the G-Drive Mini D back into the 2nd 500GB G-Drive A as it was previously connected via FW400. This action caused the G-Drive to immediately reboot and eject itself from my iMac Intel.
    D > FW400 > iMac G5
    I then attempted to plug the G-Drive Mini into my older iMac G5 via FW400. Immediately upon plugging in, the computer shut down, and would not restart.
    At this point I kind of started to freak out. I was unaware of the extent of the damage, but was upset that the FW powered G-Drive Mini D had shutdown my iMac G5. I contacted G-Tech Support and they offered to replace the drive and instructed me how to manually reset the computer's SMC by opening up the iMac and finding the Cuda switch. This worked and the computer was able to start and function again, but the FW400 port seemed to be disabled.
    I then tried to swap out configurations and drives on my iMac Intel to see if there was any cable problems, but doing so, slowly rendered all my FireWire ports useless. It's almost as if the act of plugging in the FW-powered G-Drive Mini D started a kind of shortout chain reaction. I soon learned that none of my hard drives would connect to any of my three machines, with any kind of cable combination via FW400 or 800.
    D > USB > AnyMachine
    C > USB > AnyMachine
    I am currently able to connect my 5TB G-RAID C drive to any machine via USB, as well as my G-Drive Mini D. I am unable to access the other two external hard drives, as one has only FW400 and 800 ports (A) and the other's USB connection is not functional as well on any machine (B).
    Troubleshooting Steps Taken :
    I have on all machines, reset the SMC in the following methods. iMac G5 - manually, by opening the case and pressing Cuda switch. iMac Intel - unplug, hold power button, restart method. MacBook - unplug, hold power button, restart method.
    I have also on all machines, reset the PRAM by the Cmnd + Opt + P + R method at startup.
    I have also unplugged all cables / removed battery, from all machines and left alone for a period of at least 12 hours, then re-plugged in each device one at a time.
    I have also restored my hibernate mode (through Terminal) on my iMac Intel to mode 3 and also turned on Virtual Memory in system preferences and set hibernatemode to mode 7, the restarted and attempted to plug in devices. The reason I even began to deal with the hibernate mode was because I had around the same time my ports began malfunctioning, installed the DeepSleep widget, which allows you to control your computer's hibernate mode. I thought that tweaking with this setting may have made my computer incapable of recognizing devices that were plugged in. I have since uninstalled the widget and experimented with different hibernatemodes to no avail.
    I also have Repaired Disk Permissions and Repaired Disk on all my machines, from within my Admin User as well as from the OsX Install Disk.
    Sometimes in my System Profiler (like right now for example on my iMac Intel) my computer is "Unable to list FireWire devices," but sometimes, no warning message comes up and it simply displays the appropriate Bus speed.
    I also conducted a system restore using a backup from my 5TB G-Raid Drive C via USB, to a date before these problems started, but my ports are still not working.
    Summary :
    I am looking at a situation where all my FW ports on all my computers appear to be disabled, and possibly also on my four external hard drives (A, B, C, D), with one possible USB port malfunction on one external drive (B). The only root of this seems to be a malfunctioning FW-powered external hard drive.
    Is this possible? Has this happened to anyone else before? G-Tech assures me that it is impossible for my 250GB G-Drive Mini D to draw enough power from a computer to permanently disable any ports, but I have tried all of the FW port problem troubleshooting steps and am at a loss.
    I do not have AppleCare and would like to avoid bringing two iMacs, a MacBook and four hard drives to the Apple store and take my chances with the geniuses.
    I would appreciate any help or advice you all have. Thanks for reading and for your support!

  • How How can i install Mountain Lion with faulty firewire ports??

    Basically the firewire ports are fried on my MBP 3.1  (2007). My mac used to take hang on blue screen and take 10 mins to boot but I solved this problem by installing an ssd and deleting the following kext file...
    /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireFamily.kext
    My MBP now boots in under 20 seconds so if anybody is having the same issue then there is the resolotion..
    Anyway these are the steps I have taken but failed to properly install ML.
    Dowloaded Mountain Lion at least 3 times from the App store to make sure the download wasn't corrupted.
    I even tried making a Lion Bootdisk so I can install Mountain Lion on a USB drive (Install ESD.dmg).
    I have even tried installing Lion first thinking I would take it one version at a time but gets stuck on boot screen too.
    I even changed my hard drive to a new blank SSD drive to see any difference.
    Each time I install Mountain Lion or Lion, everything is good until the installer has to restart the laptop.
    Laptop gets stuck at the grey boot screen with the Apple logo and the loading circle. Nothing ever happens after.
    I always had to use/boot to the Snow Leopard CD so I can restart the laptop back to the Snow Leopard OS and then update to 10.6.8.
    I am guessing it is the ML dmg reinstalling the above file ( /System/Library/Extensions/IOFireWireFamily.kext ) which is leading to the same issue because of the faulty firewire ports.
    Is there anyway I can resolve this because its doing my head in and Snow Leopard is old and doesnt support newer software that I would like to use.
    Any help would be kindly appreciated. Thanks

    Kurt Lang wrote:
    Just some thoughts.
    I presume you already partitioned the new SSD drive as GUID?
    Is there anything on the new drive at all yet, or anything that isn't already backed up? If not, you could try erasing the drive and then installing OS X from the bootable flash drive installer you made.
    Ive tried that and yes it is GUID. Im going to get grey hairs soon and Im not even 30 lol .... yet
    I am not going to buy a new logic board as its just not logical (sorry for the pun) I got the mac for free and I want to spend as little money as possible. Im running out of ideas though

  • No FireWire ports were found on MacBook Pro 15.4" running Mac OS 10.6.4

    Hello all,
    I recently bought a Mac Book Pro with Intel Core i7 and 2,66 GHz with a 4 GB RAM. The system is good, until I connected my external hard drive from Mac Way that connects to the laptop through a Firewire 800. The HD mounts well with a USB but not with a Firewire 800. I then went to the System Profiler and found this message in Hardware/Firewire - No FireWire ports were found.
    I restarted the system and the system hangs or takes like three minutes to start, usually it starts in less than a minute. So I pressed on the power button for 5 seconds and again started the machine.
    This time, surprise the HD mounts and in the Firewire in System Profiler, I have Firewire Bus, and when I click on it I have OEM ATA Device 00 and below
    OEM ATA Device 00:
    Manufacturer: DMI
    Model: 0x0
    GUID: 0x30E002E0000983
    Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
    Connection Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
    Sub-units:
    OEM ATA Device 00 Unit:
    Unit Software Version: 0x10483
    Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
    Firmware Revision: 0x120
    Product Revision Level:
    Sub-units:
    OEM ATA Device 00 SBP-LUN:
    Capacity: 2 TB (2 000 398 934 016 bytes)
    Removable Media: Yes
    BSD Name: disk1
    Partition Map Type: APM (Apple Partition Map)
    S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
    Volumes:
    BW Time Machine:
    Capacity: 2 TB (2 000 263 774 208 bytes)
    Available: 779,33 GB (779 328 532 480 bytes)
    Writable: Yes
    File System: Journaled HFS+
    BSD Name: disk1s10
    Mount Point: /Volumes/BW Time Machine
    I am able to use the Time Machine function.
    Does any wise ones have suggestions out there? Thanks in advance for your kind help.

    https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Websites+or+add-ons+incorrectly+report+incompatible+browser

  • Audigy platinum ex firewire port

    We are having great difficulty using the firewire port on an audigy platinum ex. The audigy has worked very well for three years. The machine is an AMD Athlon 2GHz, AOpen m/board, Win XP with SP2.
    We recently bought a LaCie d2 extreme 200GB triple interface HD. When connected to the port on the external audigy box, or to the port on the rear of the PCI card, this dri've is not recognosed by the computer. It does not appear as a HD in the hard disk section of the device manager, and we can see no evidence of a firewire client running, though the PCI OHCI Compliant IEEE394 Host Controller is installed and working. From this we conclude that the OS is set up for firewire devices, but that for some reason it is not being detected.
    When we connect the LaCie dri've to a USB2 port on the machine, the device works fine; we can see the dri've, access it for directory & file lists, and read & write files to/from the dri've. We have also tried the LaCie on other machines fitted with USB2, with Win2000 & Win98 and it works fine. We therefore conclude that the LaCie does not have a fault itself. This hard dri've has its own power supply, and is not reliant on the power capabilities of either IEEE394 or USB2.
    We have 'discussed' the matter with LaCie. They have asked us whether the IEEE394 port we are experiencing difficulty with is engineered only for DV, or whether it is engineered to be connected to mass storage device such as a hard dri've. We were unaware that ther were such differences with IEEE394, and we have no way of checking this; the Creative labs specification does not go into this detail.
    Therefore, the questions we would like to pose to the community are as follows:
    . Is this port known for certain to be engineered for the attachment of mass storage devices?
    2. Has any body actually attached a mass storage device to the external dri've box port or the port on the audigy PCI card?
    3. has anybody actually use da LaCie d2 extreme 200GB dri've on these ports?
    4. What set-up procedures were followed to get a LaCie to work?
    Although we are 'newbie' status on this site we do have considerable experience of computers and computing going back to 966, and covering most types of machine that have been extant in the intervening period. This includews working with PC's since 983 and as systems engineers on Unix technical workstations. This problem does illustrate that no matter what ones experience level is, there is always something that can baffle, as this has done to us.
    We'd like to thank in advance anybody who can contribute information to solve this problem, or indeed anybody who reads the posting and could point us in the right direction.
    Regards
    John Smith

    I have been using a Maxtor One Touch external USB/Firewire hard dri've and a Canon digital camcorder on the Platinum Audigy Ex Firewire port for over a year with no problems except for the time the plug on the extension cable inadvertently got pulled out of the back of the Ex box when I moved some equipment around.
    I am running Windows XP Professional SP2, and I upgraded to it after I started using the Audigy Platinum Ex Firewire port. No problems either before or after.
    Bit Pusher

  • Leopard USB and Firewire Ports

    With leopard 10.5.1 loaded, I frequently get the grey screen of death (kernal panic) if I have a USB device plugged in (other than the mouse and keyboard). I have Pantones's Huey (Screen calibrator) attached to the USB on my keyboard. After reading many forum issues about USB devices jamming up Leopard, I decided to unplug the Huey sensor... no more problems! Also I have a 500 GB WD My Book Studio external HD plugged in the back Firewire 800 Port, it works well. Plug a Digital Camcorder in the front Firewire port.. not only does my camcorder not mount, but my machine spits out the external HD and gives me an error message about improper device removal. Please release 10.5.2 and include fixes for these external device issues!
    PS on a Tiger OS I have had zero conflict with these periferals

    When I first installed Leopard I got an "install media is corrupt" message about the Leopard Install disk right from the start. My first thought was the hard drive. So I purchased and overnighted an new 500 GB internal hard drive to back up the main hard drive. I erased and reformatted my main hard drive to install Leopard on. Same problem. I tried to install on the new 500 GB HD no luck. I also installed 2 GB dimms at the time. Turns out the dimms weren't agreeing with leopard. I returned the dimms for new only to have the same "corrupt media" message. Crucial explained that the memory should be largest dimms toward the processor (slots 1 & 2) and so on. I put all my memory back the way it was and everything seemed normal. I installed Leopard successfully. I started to get frequent Kernal Panics with everyday use (I do graphic design). I checked the forums and kept reading about problems associated with USB and this or that program. I unplugged my Huey (used for screen color correction) and Wha-lah. No more Kernal Panics.
    But, now my digital camera and my Dazzle 6in1 media reader do not mount and/or hang up my machine with a kernal panics. When I tried to boot from and use Leopards disk utility I got the "media corrupt" message again.
    I just hope 10.5.2 addresses the Leopard to hardware/USB/Firewire issues.

  • I have just upgraded from a Macbook to a Macbook Air. I have been using a iomega external hard drive for Time Machine, which use a Firewire. However, Macbook Air's do not have a Firewire port and i cannot find an adaptor anywhere. Can anyone help?? Thanks

    I have just upgraded from a Macbook to a Macbook Air. I have been using a iomega external hard drive for Time Machine, which use a Firewire. However, Macbook Air's do not have a Firewire port and i cannot find an adaptor anywhere. Can anyone help?? Thanks

    There has never been a reliable firewire ---> USB adapter suitable for external high speed storage.  This was a major issue when the MacBooks lost the firewire port a number of years ago (Apple subsequently brought it back).
    The only high speed port on the Air is the ThunderBolt port.  There are external ThunderBolt drive options out there, but they're somewhat more expensive than traditional USB/FireWire options.

  • USB/FireWire Ports Issue

    So before I go into the apple store and ask for this computer to be repaired/replaced, I would like to see if anyone knows if something can be done about this issue I have pinpointed..
    Basically when I have more than a few USB/FireWire ports connected, one or more of the devices does not function properly. This has happened with two external hard drives - which should have no problem being connected simultaneously.. When I try to eject one of them, I receive a message stating that it cannot be ejected because one or more programs may be using it.. although all programs are closed, causing me to have to force eject..
    Also, I plug in one drive and open the other in finder to back it up, and all of the folders in the drive are suddenly empty.. nothing inside. I go to Get Info.. Zero KB.. I try ejecting, but receive the same message, so I force eject, plug it back in, and wala, all the files are back in the right place..
    This has also happened in the past when my cinema display and a printer were plugged in simultaneously.. the computer won't detect the USB of the cinema display -- which only means that the speakers of the display won't work + no brightness control from the keyboard.. so i let it slide.. but now with this external hard drive issue, i need to solve the problem..
    Thank you for reading..

    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.

Maybe you are looking for