FW800 Port issue

Hi,
Recently, I'm not able to connecting any External Hard Drive via FW800 Port. That means, no matter how I try to connect to different external hard drive and change to others FW Cables, It still not showing on my desktop. But, Drive is showing on desktop via USB and FW400. Is this means FW Port died?

I have the same enclosure, and mine plugs into my MBP's firewire port very securely. When I plug mine in, the entire black end of the cable goes in. If yours does not, I wonder if there is some sort of a problem with the firewire port itself? Possibly it is misaligned with the opening in the case or something like that. If so, possibly it can be adjusted at the genius bar.
Good luck!

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Mac Pro USB and FW800 ports not working

I've been reading tons of forum entries in the Apple Support Community and in other forums. Nothing seems to answer quite what's going on with my Mac Pro Tower.
Here are the details and steps taken up to now:
- I'm running a Mac Pro Tower (MacPro 3,1, 2x 2,8GHz Quad Core, Early 2008 model), currently running OS 10.6.8
- I moved before the holidays in December and left my computer unplugged for over month while away. Didn't have any issues before the move.
- up until the last couple of weeks, I had actually been running on Leopard (yes, I'm a luddite!, please, no teasing )
- I was trying to update my ipod touch's iOS and kept getting errors preventing it from completing the process. At first I thought it was an ipod app causing the issue after having read a few threads on that topic...
- Also, on startup, the Mac started searching for a Bluetooth keyboard, of which I don't have, and would not detect my usb keyboard. I would disconnect and reconnect the keyboard and the majority of the time, the Mac would then recognize my USB keyboard.
- I decided to upgrade to Snow Leopard, which didn't help with the iPod update. I did not do a clean install.
- Then I noticed that my USB stick wasn't working and tried it in all the usb ports (except the ones on the keyboard)
- Also, I had removed and then reinstalled printer and scanner drivers for my All-in-one printer. After this I kept getting constant communication errors between the mac and the printer via the usb port, although I was able to print a test page.
- I've used Hardware Test once which didn't detect any issue.
- I reset the SMC
- I reset the PRAM, and for a few seconds I was able to read from my USB stick, then never again, even after another PRAM reset.
- I've cleaned the whole inside of the computer and checked for loose cables. Cables are in so tight it's so hard to loosen them!
- I now tested all the ports:
     ∞ the 2 front and 3 back USB ports are unresponsive to my usb key and to my VoyagerQ dock
     ∞ the front and back FW800 ports are unresponsive to my VoyagerQ dock
     ∞ However, the keyboard works in any fo the back ports and my USB stick is recorgnized by the USB port of the keyboard.
     ∞ I also plugged in my Logitech webcam into the keyboard and it works there but not in any other port.
     ∞ When I plug in USB powered speakers into any of the ports, they work fine
     ∞ And the FW400 ports are also working fine with my VoyagerQ dock
- a few times, including once today, my mac restarted by itself. The times before today, I thought it was because I was sort of moving back the computer in place, but today I was nowhere near the computer.
So what does this all mean? Should I do a clean install of the Mac OS? Or is it a problem with my Logic Board?
Any insight please would be helpful. I had Apple Care and missed the reminder to renew it so I really hoping not to spend more money than necessary.

Thanks Grant,
The battery is a start and something inexpensive to replace.
I did do a PRAM reset (command + option + P + R) and was able to hear the chime 4 times. I tried resetting it a number of times over the past week, as well as yesterday with no success in reviving the USB ports. But isn't it weird that my USB powered speakers work by plugging them in any USB port (with the mini jack pugged in the back or front earphone plug)?
I did not use the USB ports on the keyboard until yesterday, so that is not the cause of the other USB and FW800 ports failing. But I'll follow your suggestion and not use them except for the mouse.
Another weird thing that happened yesterday, I have 16GB of RAM and I spent all day trying to troubleshoot a RAM issue that is magically fixed after leaving the computer on overnight to do an extended Hardware Test. The issue was:
- Only 8 RAMS were being recognized
- a red LED light appeared on the top riser
- first I thought I had isolated the faulty RAM bar, and then a second one
- Then going pair by pair again, I no longer saw the LED light
- Put back all 8 bars, only 8 GB of RAM recognized
- Left computer overnight running Hardware test (said it took almost 3 hours, with no errors)
- Now all 16 GB are recognized!
Thanks again for the tips

Lacie Drives FW800 ports not working?

Hi all,
I have been browsing through the community trying to find out why my two D2's will not work.   I am trying to use the FW 800 connection. the drives work just fine using 400 and USB. I took the IMAC in and the retailer and we were able to connect FW 800 devices-so we - know that it is not the Imac. Also when looking at the system I get this following:
Also in looking at the
Manufacturer:     LaCie
Model:     0x4136
GUID:     0xD04BA30104BFB4
Maximum Speed:     Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed:     Up to 400 Mb/sec
But when tried to connect the Lacie's into another MAC F W 800 port, it was a no go. This has happened to "both of the drives". BTW-I never have used FW 800 before.
Two have 2 external Harddrives experiance the same problem just sounds off. Has anyone every heard of FW 800 ports crapping out on external HDD's?

Thanks Grant,
The battery is a start and something inexpensive to replace.
I did do a PRAM reset (command + option + P + R) and was able to hear the chime 4 times. I tried resetting it a number of times over the past week, as well as yesterday with no success in reviving the USB ports. But isn't it weird that my USB powered speakers work by plugging them in any USB port (with the mini jack pugged in the back or front earphone plug)?
I did not use the USB ports on the keyboard until yesterday, so that is not the cause of the other USB and FW800 ports failing. But I'll follow your suggestion and not use them except for the mouse.
Another weird thing that happened yesterday, I have 16GB of RAM and I spent all day trying to troubleshoot a RAM issue that is magically fixed after leaving the computer on overnight to do an extended Hardware Test. The issue was:
- Only 8 RAMS were being recognized
- a red LED light appeared on the top riser
- first I thought I had isolated the faulty RAM bar, and then a second one
- Then going pair by pair again, I no longer saw the LED light
- Put back all 8 bars, only 8 GB of RAM recognized
- Left computer overnight running Hardware test (said it took almost 3 hours, with no errors)
- Now all 16 GB are recognized!
Thanks again for the tips

How to connect many devices with only one FW800 port in iMac?

Hi,
I am upgrading to a new Intel iMac from a 2004 vintage Dual2.0GHz PowerMac. I currently have 8x d2 Quadra drives chained by FW800, and 2x Iomega drives connected vis FW400 hub which also connects HD cams.
My questions is that with only one FW800 port in iMac, I think my devices connectivity is the following?
(1) Get a FW 800 hub (I can only find 2 port ones at the Apple store and BestBuy)
(2) Connect the d2 Quadras to one port of the FW800 hub
(3) Get a FW 800 to FW 400 cable
(4) Connect my 6 port FW400 hub to the 2nd port of the FW800 hub
Thanks for reviewing this solution, and I would also appreciate other suggestions or hear about your experiences if you have a similar set-up.
Will

In addition to your listed considerations, you should consider the following.
Many storage needs do not required FireWire 800 speed. For example, USB 2.0 works fine for your Time Machine backup drive. If you are just storing user data such as your iPhoto or iTunes media files, USB 2.0 is more than fast enough. So, as much as possible, if any of those external drives have USB 2.0 connections and the data storage does not need FireWire 800 speed, offload as much as possible to USB 2.0. I used to be a +FireWire snob+, but since getting an Intel iMac, I find that USB 2.0 works quite well for most data storage purposes.
There are new hard drives that are power efficient and as large as 2TB. Consolidate your data storage needs onto a smaller number of very large drives, partitioned as needed. This will make your setup more reliable (smaller number drives), and save reduce power consumption. If any of your current externals are SATA, you can probably replace the existing drive with an extra large one.
So, I think you setup should be, extra large FireWire 800 drive connected to the FireWire 800 port directly. Using a 9-pin to 6-pin cable, connect the FireWire 400 hub. Connect any non-storage FireWire 400 devices there. Do some data transfer testing to make sure having the 400 hub there on the chain does not cause the 800 connection to slow down.
Connect other drives as needed using USB 2.0, existing or new. Retire the smaller of your external drives.

How can I check the data transfer rate of my FW800 port

I have an iMac 2.4 20 inch (MB323LL/A) with a Lacie external rugged hard drive (320 GB). I have attached it using my FW800 port with the cable supplied with the drive.
It seems slow to me so I was wondering if there is any way to see what the current data transfer is for a backup in progress. Of course it should be 800Mbps but is it really moving at that speed ? How can I tell what speed it is transferring at ? Can I use the same method for USB ports too ?

When you move a large file, you are more likely to see a sustained transfer rate than a small file. Small files have to be individually read/write back and forth, thus slows the actual transfer rate down. If you are moving any file up to 4 GB and probably over 1 MB you'll see more realistic transfer rates. Furthermore your hard drive access time, and RPM figures into the equation too, as well as how much RAM you have. 800Mbps works out to 100 Megabytes per second under ideal conditions.

Any known 'porting' issues between 8.2.2 and 9.0 ??

Hi all,
we are in the process of evaluating LS ES2 (9.0) and would like to know if there are any 'porting' issues between the two versions. Asked another way, are there any issues in deploying a 8.2.2. LCA onto 9.0 ?
Dan

8.2 LCA's will run fine in 9.0 if they are just deployed into it. But in 9.0 a new application model has been introduced, so in order to make changes to anything after you've migrated it you'll need to create an application and migrate your processes and resources into it. You may want to take a look at the Leveraging Legacy Solution document available online. Here's the link: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/9.0/workbenchHelp/help.htm?content=leveragingLegacy. html .
Chris

FW800 port spits fire????

Hi, Couldn't decide where to post so since I'm an FCP user .... I connected my LaCie 2T drive I've been using for 6 mos. thru its top FW800 port and sparks and even a small flame flew out the second FW800 port on the drive. The drive still works but that port is fried. I would have assumed its the LaCie but recently daisy chaining my video hard drives has not been working and I've had to connect each singularly. Any possibility it may be crazyness from the Mac's FW800 port. My G5 is 6 years old now so ....

Thanks for all input.
In my situation when connecting a drive the computer is on and the drive is off. (as the manuals say - plug and play).
+"FireWire, eSATA and USB external devices feature “plug &+
+play” connectivity, which means that your drive can be connected+
+and disconnected while the computer is running. To+
+prevent failures, however, it is important to unmount or safely+
+disconnect your drive before switching interfaces. See section+
+2.5. Disconnecting Your LaCie d2 Quadra, for proper disconnection+
procedures"
I never disconnect a drive while its on or mounted. When I plugged in the FW800 line from the ON computer to the OFF LaCie the "spark show" happened with that smell of fried wiring. The FW800 port below the one the cable was connected to did the spark/fire show. With the drive still OFF I disconnected the cable and reconnected to the original non-spark port. No problem. Turned on the drive and it mounted and played some HD on it and no problem. Later I unmounted the drive, turned it off and reconnected the FW cable (computer is still on) to the "spark" port and Sparkarama.
I think I'll call it solved and that for some reason the second FW800 port on the drive shorted out.
Here's what I've learned though .... and this is important .... even though the lying corporate bastards say you can connect the cables to drives that are off when your computer is on - which I've done millions of times over the last 6 years .... The safest policy is to have your computer off too. How could something short when both are off. It even makes sense in a way.
All your post were helpful and appreciated.
Thanks again.

Connecting a Thunderbolt external HDD to FW800 port

Can I read/write from my late 2009 iMac to a Thunderbolt external HDD by connecting from the FW800 port on the iMac through a Thunderbolt to FW800 adaptor on the external HDD? I have a new MacBook Pro and want to be able to swap an external HDD between them with maximum tranfer speeds on each.

It's for video files for editing depending on which computer I want to work on at the time (and location). It's not a drama, just trying to make it easier for myself and not keep too many big files on the internal drives. I can also put one of my FW800 drives on the MacBook and transfer between the two external drives (or MacBook and FW800) and plug it back on the iMac.
Or I could buy a new iMac when I win the lottery!
Thanks for you help and suggestions anyway. Much appreciated.

Which one external hard drive is better for my G5's FW800 port?

Hi,
I use a late G5 under 10.4.11. Last two weeks I used two different Western Digital disks, My Book Studio & My Book Studio Edition II but both of them don't operate well with the FW 800. They conflict with my audio interfaces (FW 400 devices). Only at FW 800. At FW 400 and Usb 2.0 they operate fine.
Because of this I have to replace the WD disk and unfortunatelly I have two options from the store I bought it. And here is that I want your help please.
Which one external hard drive from these two is better for my G5's FW800 port?
Lacie Quadra 1TB External HDD by Neil Poulton or Verbatim Quad Interface External Hard Drive 1TB. Formatted HFS+ for Mac OS?
I'll very appreciate any answer. Spyros

Hi-
I think that looking at your other devices is needed.
Check out the Mackie troubleshooting guide for one:
http://www.mackie.com/support/documents/TechFAQno.1.pdf
Page 8 has specific suggestions regarding firewire and chipsets.
The same for the Presonus:
The firewire ports on a Mac (FW400 and FW800) run off the main logic board and share system resources. PreSonus interfaces are designed to be run in series with other firewire peripherals. If you are experiencing erratic performance or pops, clicks, and dropouts, daisy-chain your FW400 peripheral from the secondary firewire port on your PreSonus interface. If you must use a FW800 device, it is recommended to purchase a firewire expansion card for your Mac.
http://support.presonus.com/entries/119100-optimizing-your-computer-for-audio-ma c-osx
It appears to me that both devices require enough resources that the firewire controller of the G5 may be unable to properly support both FW400 and FW800 transfer rates.
It appears that the bandwidth requirements of the devices are forcing the machine to drop FW800 in lieu of supporting FW400.
Both makers suggest use of third party PCI cards for Firewire 800, and it may be that you need additional power to the firewire card to keep up with the I/O and bandwidth demands being placed on the machines by you audio devices.
You mention that someone told you to not use the Oxford chipset, but the best external drives are all those that have the Oxford chipset.
It is important to note that not all WD MyBook drives have the same chipset, and few of the WD drives have the Oxford chipset.
Asrock and VIA are other chipsets for the WD drives.
VIA is notoriously poor as far as Mac compatibility goes.

Connecting FW400 device to FW800 port

I suspect this has been asked and answered before, but after searching here for quite a while, I couldn't find it.
Question is, if a camcorder is plugged into the MBP 17" FW400 port, is there any problem having a FW400 external HD connected at the same time to the FW800 port? I realize I would need the appropriate cable for the 400->800 connection, but other than that, I'm assuming this should work just fine. Correct?
I have a MBP on order and it's scheduled to arrive in a couple of days. Just want to make sure I won't fry either the MBP or the HD.
MBP 17" on order; aging G4 but still smokin' Mac OS X (10.4.7) FCS, CS2 pkg

Richard, thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try after I get my apps loaded in the MBP, but I don't think that'll work. Or, at least it doesn't work with my G4 tower Mac.
I use Final Cut pro, and what works best is capturing the video files to a second internal drive, which is an option not available with a notebook. Lacking that, then next best is capturing to an external drive. Even tho the firewire ports are on the same bus, its also best to have the camcorder and external HD connected to separate FW ports on the Mac.
Connecting the camera to a FW port on the external HD that the video files are being saved to, at least with a G4 tower Mac, is asking for trouble.
But, with all that extra horsepower inside a MBP, it might not be a problem. Whatever the case, I think I'll have a FW800->400 cable standing by, just in case.
MBP 17" on order; aging G4 but still smokin' Mac OS X (10.4.7) FCS, CS2 pkg

ESata - is that a seperate bus from the FW800 port?

I'm thinking of sometimes booting from an external FW800 drive, and having video data on another such external drive. One using the FW800 port, the other the eSata port with a FW800 card.
If I were to daisy chain them they will be using the same data bus, so I figure that by using the eSata port I'll get a gain in performance.
Am I correct in believing this? Any tips, like which to have the OS on, and which the data?
Cheers!

Your comment is a little confusing. You can connect a FW800 drive directly to your FW800 port. As you have a 17 MBP, you have an express card slot. You can get an eSATA express card that will allow you to connect an eSATA drive. They would not be sharing a data bus. Daisy chaining two FW drives will share the FW bandwidth. If that's not what you're asking, please clarify.

FW800 Port

Is the FW800 port on my 15" G4 1.5gHz Powerbook really faster then the FW400 port, or is it merely stepped down to FW400 speed right away when it gets into my PB?
Thanks in advance.

The G4 PB's have a FW 800 port that can transfer data at upto 100Mbytes/sec and a FW400 port that can trasfer at upto 50Mbytes/sec. So no there is no 'throtting' going on. As regards the lack of a FW800 port on the intel Macs, this was apparently down to limitations in the chip-set used in the intel Macs. How many PC's have you seen with FW800? Even FW400 seems to be an after thought on most PC's with often only a 4-pin connector rather than the full sized one.
I would imagine that FW800 would reappear once they have fully sorted the chip-set out for the intel Macs.
The current intel Macs were 'rushed' out to get something in the market place I would imagine, I mean they are not even 64bit yet either!
I have a LaCie 250Gb FW800 drive connected to my PB and it flies.
Phil

Airport Extreme Skype works, but not mail or Safari? Port issue?

So I have a weird issue with my AE.
Often the internet will just go away...Safari will not work, iChat will not work and mail will not work. Today when it happened I noticed Skype was still logged in and working. I hadn't noticed this previously since I just this week installed Skype. When I am having an issue with my MacBookPro the MacBook in the house also has the same issue so it can't be my computer.
I also don't think its comcast because of the whole Skype working fine thing. Also when I "borrow" someone elses wifi connection everything works...mail works, Safari, etc...
So it must be something with my Airport Extreme. The only thing I can think of is some port issue. The AE has the lastest firmware from a month ago or so...
This tends to happen about once a week for a few hours and then it suddenly gets better for no apparent reason. The AE is in a cabinet in the entertainment center so it gets a bit warm in there sometimes but this morning it was pretty cool in the house and it still did it so I don't think its heat related...
Any other thoughts?

naw i'm back in the states now so it's pretty much no longer an issue. thanks though! If you know anything about mirror agent and logout issues you could look at my other question in using mac OSX Tiger called "mirror agent & failed logout -- HELP!"
thanks!!

Is 10.9.4 having USB port issues?

Is 10.9.4 having USB port issues? I'm noticing copying files to USB ports on my Mac Pro (the front two anyway) seems to be like molasses and give me the pinwheel of death.
Anyone?

Try resetting SMC.
Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
Choose the appropriate method.
"Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".

Devices not working on FW800 Ports on Macpro

Since purchasing the MacPro I have not had the need to connect any FW800 devices to my system.
I have since decided to use an old FW800 external Lacie Hard drive I have been using on my old 15" Al 1.25GHz Powerbook, on the MacPro. I also have a new Sandisk Pro FW800 CF Card reader I want to attach to the Macpro.
I sent the computer to an AppleCare Centre and they told me there was nothing wrong with the ports and the fault must be due to a faulty hard-drive, or a bad install of the system software.
I have since moved the boot drive onto a new larger drive (The old drive WAS faulty!). The system is faster, but my FW800 ports still don't work!
If I want to access the Lacie drive on my MacPro I have to Target disk my Powerbook and access the drive through the Powerbook.
Any clue to what is going on? Is there a way of refreshing the system software without a reinstall?
Cheers to any help

Have you checked to see if there is a LaCie firmware update? That is actually first thing I would do and is very likely, and has been noted previously.
There are a few out there with a FireWire port not working at all.
Your LaCie has FW400/800 ports?
You can always run the combo update to 10.4.x.
I would look for a new FW800 case if LaCie doesn't have any firmware or help.
http://www.macsales.com/firewire - I have half a dozen FW800 etc from here.

FW800 Port issue

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