IMac firewire ports non-functional

A client of mine has an iMac G5 20" and it seems as though the fw ports are dead. I have reset them by unplugging everything for 15min (and more) and it still will not mount an external f/w drive. Is there anything else to check before I take this to be repaired?
-gl

Boot from an OS X DVD (or CD), Diskwarrior, Techtool, etc. and run a volume check (using the OS X CD or DVD run Disk Utility) - I lost mine but a simple Disk Utiity ran from An OS X DVD found errors - when I rebooted they were all back. Also did it ahile back and I ran Diskwarrior from another partition and it fixed it too! May not be the ports.

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IMac firewire port is not working

iMac firewire port is not working
Hi everybody, Happy New Year.
I am a 72 years old semi-newbie in video editing, because Iedit only 1 or may be 2 movies a year since 2007 and I have only very little computer knowledge.
I received a new 27” iMac as a birthday gift 14 months ago. About 10 months ago, with help, I successfully use the Migration Assistant to transfer some datas from my old power G4 to the iMac including two Final Cut Express projects. I had one project successfully done; burned to DVD and I save it with Print To Video. Last week, I have my second project done, I burned the sequences into DVD but unable to do a Print To Videodue to the iMac is not communicating with my Sony camcorders DCR VX1000, this is the same camcorder I used on the last job which was working a couple of months ago.As a result, I try to switch the Easy Setup with different Format and different Use; I refresh the Canvas window; I did a Mix down; move the Screen Saver to NEVER as well as the Energy Saver set to NEVER SLEEP. I also trashed the preferences (plist) folders; run the Utility repair, I replaced the firewire cable (4 pines – 9 pines 800), but nothing work. Up to this point, I think that there is no signal from the firewire port to the camcorder because I understand when the sequences is ready, the firewire is connected between the computer and the recording camcorder, the Print to Video is activated, then the word DV- IN should be seen on the recording deck screen. This time, I don’tread such words on the recording screen. Therefore, I think there’s no out going signal from the iMac to the recording camcorder and the iMac is not receiving signal from the recording camcorder. At this point, I try to connect my iMac to the power G4 to see if I can do some data transfer. Follow the procedures, I hook up the data transfer cable between the G4 and the iMac, I can the fireswire icon moving on the G4 screen but no indication on the iMac screen (there should be some indications in the source bar), this shows me the iMac did not recognize the G4 which worked on previous data transfer. It looks to me the firewire port on my iMac is dead. What has gone wrong? Could I accidentally disabled the firewire port by some magic keystroke? (i.e. accidentally fat finger some thing to make it stop working? Oh, by the way, during the playing around, went to the Final Cut tool bar, I click the View >Video Out > Digital Cinema Desktop Preview – Main, the result was a black screen and the esc key was my rescuer - LUCKY LUCKY! Are there any other trouble-shooting techniques to apply before bringing to shop? Please help!
Sorry for such a long statement, forgive me for unable to make it shorter. Thank you for your patience. Thanks to all the folks in this board for being so helpful.
p.s.

Not sounding good.
If the system Profiler does not see it then there is a basic communication problem between camera and the Mac.
I'm thinking the Firewire port is the culprit as some 800 ports were faulty.
I'd suggest taking the Mac, cable and camera to your nearest Authorized Apple Service Centre and get them to diagnose the issue. eg. let them try to connect the two devices.
Right (control)click the Sequence icon in the Browser and select Item Properties, do the same for a clip.
You can also post screen shots for the Properties.
Al

IMac FireWire port used for USB device

I have a 27" iMac which of course has a FireWire port, but I don't own any external FireWire devices. I'd like to put that empty port to use as a USB port to connect an external storage device. Is there a cable, converter, or adapter made to do that?

Common user always looks at the bottom line price on computer peripherals and USB devices are always cheaper. USB 2.0, in theory, should be faster than FireWire 400, but they usually aren't because of the way USB transfers data in short bursts or packets of data. FireWire 400 and 800 drives are faster as they transmit data in a more continuous, constant and reliable stream of data.
This is why devices that use FireWire or have both USB and FireWire connections are always more expensive.
So, those users never use the FireWire port.
FireWire is faster for external hard drives, especially data transfers and for booting and running a Mac from an external FireWire drive. FireWire optical drives are faster. FireWire audio devices and interface devices are even faster and more reliable than USB.
FireWire is more expensive, but more reliable data transfer protocol.
There is no way to bridge the two device protocols . It's either one or the other. The masses always choose the cheaper USB devices.
The masses don't care about faster and consistent data transfer rates or better reliability.
Especially if a user isn't some sort of creative like a graphics, designer, Illustrator, photographer, digital painer/3D-CGI Artist, engineer, audio or video/multimedia professional.

27" iMac Firewire Port fails after 300 days of use

I had to take my 27" iMac (purchased in 2012) to the "Genius" bar today because the firewire port failed.
Prior to this:
My Apogee Duet Firewire Sound Interface has given me all kinds of errors with the iMac. I wrote emails to Apogee complaining about the Firewire issues and they gave me a long list of possible fixes, all of which did absolutely nothing. Apogee claims that the problem is Apple's, but when I connected a MOTU Traveler to the firewire port it performed flawlessly. Many people had complained online about the awful performance of the Firewire Duet with Lion OSX so I wrote back to Apogee demanding that they replace the device with their newer USB "Duet 2" and they chose to ignore my email. So I went back to dealing with the intermittent cutting out of the Duet which is only remedied by either restarting the machine or unplugging & reconnecting the Duet.
2 days ago:
The Apogee Duet stops working (like so many times before), so I unplug the Apogee Firewire 400-to-800 cable and this time when I reconnect, it starts rapidly blinking and clicking, so I quickly shut the iMac down. After a waiting for a few minutes I plug the Duet in and it's dead -no lights & no click. To determine if I'd just killed my Duet, I plugged it into my 2009 Macbook with a Firewire 400 cable and the Duet works. So I think.."Maybe it was the Apogee FW400/800 cable". Next day I bought a new Firewire 400/800 Cable and connected the Duet to the iMac and I still got absolutely nothing. So I booked an appointment at the Genius Bar.
Today:
The helpful gentleman there quickly discovered that the main-board needed replacement because the "newer" iMacs have all the I/O stuff attached to the motherboard. It would have cost me 800 bucks with out a warranty. While I was there, I tested my original Apogee Firewire 400/800 cable with a Macbook pro and it worked fine, ruling out the possibility that my cable could have caused the Firewire port to fail. Lastly, I asked him to connect a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire Adapter to my iMac and - yes - the Apogee Duet worked fine through the Thunderbolt Port.
In Conclusion,
I'm glad that they are going to repair this problem but it would appear I really have no choice but to extend my "Apple Care" since, in my experience, the Firewire port can spontaneously fail. As a full-time musician it's lucky for me this happened while it was still under warranty, otherwise I probably would have just bought the Thunderbolt-to-Firewire Adapter and hope the Thunderbolt ports last longer than the firewire did.
Has anyone else had their main-board replaced due to Port Failure?

Not because of Firewire, but yes, my 2007 iMac had to have extensive things replaced twice under extended AppleCare.
I personally think $2,000 dollar items should come with more than a one year warranty, unless you expect them to die shortly after a year.
Didn't need any warranty on my Quadra/630, still runs every day, they don't make Macs like they used to.

2011 Imac firewire port

I have a 2011 imac. Has anyone had intermittent connection problems with the firewire port? When I have been importing video sometimes imovie would say there is no video signal and the imovie screen would turn blue. This happened only a couple of times. Once I went back to firewire plug and push it in and it came back. Also I am getting random messeges that a device wasn't properly ejected. I do have a cheap usb hub wih a couple of drives connected but if it is that I don't see how that would effect the firewire port.
Cassini

Not real important, but what FireWire Camera or device are you using?
I'd try another > FireWire 800 to 400 9 to 4 pin Cable first and then if that doesn't work go to > Apple - Support - iMac - Service FAQ

Firewire ports non-responsive

I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on a problem I'm having.
Both my firewire ports have power but devices fail to show in iTunes or Finder. I've tried my iPod and my Lacie hard drive with the same results.
I have done the following to try to resolve the problem.
1. reset SMU
2. reset Pram
3. did an open firmware reset (reset nvram, set defaults, reset all)
4. ran hardware test with logic board showing okay
Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

FireWire ports have been known to fail. The front port on my Power Mac G5 failed and I had to get it repaired (thankfully under AppleCare at that time). Mine also provided power, but no data connection.
You have done all the things I would have tried except for one. Starting up from a different system to see if that made any difference.
If you don't already have an external drive with a bootable system on it, you can use your Mac OS X installation disc. Start up from the disc to get to Installer. At the first Installer screen (after language selection), go up to the menu bar and select to run Disk Utility, from under the Utilities menu.
Then connect your external drive to the FireWire port. See if the drive shows up in the Disk Utility sidebar. If it still does not appear, there is a good chance you have a hardware issue with the port. If it does show up now, the port is probably fine, and there is some issue with your current system installation.

IMac FireWire Port Not Working

Hi guys, my system is a 24" 2.8GHz Intel-based iMac. Whenever I plug a device into the FireWire 400 port it powers the device but the iMac doesn't see the device - it doesn't show up in Disk Utility. There are no problems with the devices as they work perfectly with my other Macs. Any idea on whether I can fix this without taking it to an Apple Store? It seems like a Firmware issue.

Hi DrRGrant
First reset the SMC > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Unplug the computer's power cord.+
+3. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.+
+4. Release the power button.+
+5. Attach the computers power cable.+
+6. Press the power button to turn on the computer.+
Then if that doesn't work, give this a go: > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1317
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Disconnect all devices and all other cables, except the keyboard and mouse cable(s).+
+3. Disconnect the computer from the power outlet and wait for 3 to 5 minutes.+
+4. Plug the computer back in and turn it on.+
+5. Reconnect the device(s) (one at a time if there is more than one) and test. Test with each port if you have more than one.+
Dennis

B500 USB ports non-functional

The USB ports on my 18 month old, out of warrenty, Ideacentre B500-57115233 no longer function. Computer was powered on and hibernating, but would not awaken using wireless (USB, not bluetooth) keyboard and mouse. Technician at computer repair shop said all ports were dead, could not be repaired, and computer motherboard had to be replaced. Only way to access system is with a PS2 keyboard (which I do not have). Have accessed files remotely through network so system otherwise operates normally.
Any ideas about how to repair USB ports? If motherboard needs to be replaced, where do I get one?

code 31 is that the device is not working properly because Windows could not load the drivers required. A fix for that is to update your driver. You could read more about it at the link I posted below, there are also troubleshooting tips as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310123
Open Device Manager
In the device's Properties dialog
box, click the Driver tab,
and then click Update Driver to
start the Hardware Update Wizard.
Follow the instructions to update the driver.
Note You may be prompted to provide the path of the driver. Windows may have the driver built-in, or may still have
the driver files installed from the last time that you set up the device. However, sometimes, it will open the New Hardware Wizard which may ask for the driver. If you are asked for the driver and you do not have it, you can try to download the latest driver
from the hardware vendor's website.

IMac firewire ports acting up after 10.6.2

So I upgraded to .2 and then my external raid 1 hard drive no longer shuts down with my computer. It now goes into a "sleep mode" and blinks. This is annoying, because its a really bright light and preferred it the way it used to automatically shutdown. Another issue this is causing is that the hard drive no longer turns off at all with bootcamp so after shutting down xp the hard drive actually still spins.

Hi Peggy,
Thanks for the reply and the suggestions. I did run 'Repair Permissions' but that had no effect on the issue. I did your suggestion of downloading the 10.6.2. 'Combo Update' from Apples download page, and that did indeed solve the problem. All Numbers graphics look normal again.
I'll keep that one in mind in the future.
Thank You!
-Sol
Message was edited by: Sol Sims
Message was edited by: Sol Sims
Message was edited by: Sol Sims
Message was edited by: Sol Sims

IMac i7 Quad-Core firewire port and video camera

Has anybody tried to detect a video camera connected to the firewire 800 port?
I have already tried with two PRO tape-based DV video cameras: SONY PD170 and PANASONIC AG-HVX200E with no results. The same models do not have any problem with iMac 27" Core Duo 2.
Apple care protection plan has been useful only to know that if my iMac firewire port can handle an external Hard Disk, as it does, the compatibility with the camera is not a problem of Apple, but simply mine.
Any suggestion? Any help to find official pages by Apple with technical specification about firewire port and protocol of the new iMac 27" i7?
Thanks, Carlo
Message was edited by: Carlo G

Today my Mac has finally been fixed. I had to send it to Milano, to SATA srl, where they have replaced the logic board. Now I can import video from my video camera using the FireWire port. Thank SATA!!!
Message was edited by: Carlo G

Am I correct that none of the latest iMac's have a DVD Drive or Firewire port?

Am I correct that none of the latest iMac's have a DVD Drive or Firewire port?

I actually use an external optical drive as all of my family and friends (including the ones in other countries) prefer to get the movies I produce on a DVD they can put in their DVD player and watch on a big screen TV, so I will be using that technology for some time to come. I also prefer not to upload anything as most everyone thinks everything is free to download (steal) other people's content. I've used an external burner for years because the super slim vertically installed drives in iMacs were less than reliable and any media could shift by 1/100th of an inch.
My current (new) external burner is from OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F82SD24S/
(they have others, including bluray). Mine is quiet, sturdy, and offers several plugin possibilities.

Non-functioning Firewire ports

Help...!
I have a MacPro hooked up to an Apple 23in display. With the display's multi-plug attached to the rear FireWire port, the front FireWire port doesn't work, nor to the ports on the display. The USB ports work perfectly.
The FW ports are obviously connected as they draw enough power to charge my ageing scroll-wheel iPod, but the connection isn't strong enough to mount anything.
If I remove the display's FireWire plug from the back of the MacPro, the front port comes back to life. It's workable, obviously, but does anyone know why I'm having problems?
MacPro dual 2.66 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Thanks for the reply. It's not just the iPod, a Formac 250GB FireWire drive doesn't mount either. Spent an hour or so doing the five Rs with the iPod before I realised it worked fine on my old iMac.
I've unplugged the display's FW plug and I can use both the MacPro's FW400 ports at the same time - I'm just not too chuffed with the front one not working with the display attached. Perhaps the fault lies with the display rather than the MacPro?

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!

Capturing Video on New iMac with only 1 FireWire Port

Using one of the new Apple iMacs, what is the best way to capture digital video footage (Mini DV) into Final Cut using an external drive as your scratch disk? The iMac offers only one FireWire 800 port. Is it advisable to connect the camcorder to the FireWire port and use a USB 2.0 to connect the external drive? Or can you connect the drive via FireWire 800 and connect the output of the camcorder to one of the other Fireiwre ports on the drive? In this instance I am using a Lacie Rugged Hard Disk that has one FireWire 800, one FireWire 400, and one USB 2.0 port.

They often do not play well with other firewire devices on the same bus. And since all the firewire ports on a Mac are on the same bus, it can lead to incompatibilities during capture. On some computers they work fine, on others they collide.
Try it and see if it works for you. If it does, be happy. If it doesn't, you'll have to do the external drive/camera shuffle.
It goes like this:
• turn off the computer and all connected devices,
• disconnect the external drive
• connect the camera using a FW800 to FW400 cable
• turn on the camera
• turn on the computer
• launch FCP, set the capture scratch folder to the system drive then capture
• shut down the computer and the camera
• disconnect the camera and connect the external drive
• turn on the drive
• turn on the computer
• launch finder and move the captured files from the system drive to the external
• launch FCP and reset the capture scratch folder to the external drive
• open your project and reconnect the media.
Or, use a different (non-Canon) capture device.
Or, get a computer that has multiple internal drives or has expansion capabilites so you can add a firewire card to create a second independent firewire bus for the camera.
Good luck,
x

Imac G5 won't start with Isight plugged into the firewire port.

I went to turn on my Imac today and it wouldn't start. After checking all the usual culprits (power strip, outlet and power chord) which were not the problem, I proceeded by unplugging all the external devices from the back ports. After unplugging the computer for a few seconds and plugging it back in (which I read resets any power issues), it turned back on. I plugged my Isight camera back in and turned it on and the computer suddenly shut off. I reproduced this quite a few times and it did the same thing. It won't even turn on if any device is plugged into the firewire port. Does anyone have a clue of what this conflict could be or experienced anything similar.
I would greatly appreciate any input.
Thanks in advance,
Daniel

Welcome to Discussions - try resetting your PRAM, if that doesn't work, I'm afraid there is something wrong with your logic board, where the firewire bus is located. The best thing to do would be to take it in for servicing.

IMac firewire ports non-functional

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