MacBook Firewire Failure

Has anyone had problems with the Firewire port on the MB? Mine was 31 days old when it stop mounting my external HD. I then took a second external HD which is for my wife's G4 iBook (which mounted fine in her machine) plugged it in and it still wouldn't detect. Even worse now it won't mount on her iBook either! Both of these external HDs are FW400/USB and the USB mode still works great, so it seems my MacBook has fried the FW ports on BOTH drives. Took the machine into an Apple store, the Genuis Bar cofirmed the port was dead and shipped it off, but told me I'm SOL on the drives it zotted. So far AppleCare has given me the same answer.

Interesting. My Firewire plug on my new MacBook remains live, but it only works with other Macs running 10.4.x -- not with any earlier OS, including 10.3.9.
Don't accept the SOL answer. Ask why they think the port died; their answer could give you a way to argue a claim.

Similar Messages

Wich is the best output audio on macbook: firewire, usb or optical?

wich is the best output audio on macbook: firewire, usb or optical?

Very hard to say at this stage. What is it you're trying to do? Do you want to listen to audio through speakers or a hi-fi? Do you want to transfer audio files to a different medium? Do you want to record audio from your MacBook to a recording device? You need to give us more to go on!

Penryn macbook firewire status

I intend to buy a laptop for two purposes:
1) guitar fx processor for playing live.
2) mobile recording of nature.
Playing live requires a firewire interface, for lower latency than usb, and nature recording requires buss power for the audio interface, since there are no ac outlets in the woods. I intend to use Logic and Mainstage.
I am only interested in the newest (penryn) macbook. I don't want a macbook pro because I'm not comfortable taking a $2k computer into the forrest and to gigs.
However, as with all things computer, macbooks have had a known issue with firewire audio interfaces since October of 2007.
I am asking anyone with direct experience using firewire audio interfaces with a penryn macbook (not pro) to provide an account of the experience, either success or failure, including the specific firewire interface used.
Thank you,
Soma

I'd say that your charger is likely defective regardless of what the 'Genius' told you. The charger should always be powering your machine when connected(the charger light should ALWAYS be on when connected to electric power and Magsafe attached to your MBP).
Try another charger and see if the problem persists.
Removing/ reinstalling the battery to get electric power supply to function is NOT acceptable. Something is obviously wrong.

Macbook pro Failure Code

I have a Macbook Pro 15inch which I purchased in November 2011 and I have a Failure Code on the hardware diagnostics showing 4MEM/61/40000000: 0X843ba098. What does this mean.

I double checked the RAM are seated correctly, reinstalled, switched the them around and still show the same error in report. I copied for your review, any ideas? Is there another scan or system test I can try?
Version: 3A222
Test Suite: Extended Test
Result: Failed
Failure Code:4MEM/9/40000000: 0x84675018

Opinion needed on MacBook Firewire workaround

I've never really used iMovie and I've got a Firewire camcorder and I want to be able to get the video on to my new MacBook (w/o firewire)
I plan on buying an HD (aka USB) camcorder when new models are released in about a month. But, I need a workaround in the meantime.
I am able to import the video using an old G4 & iMovie 2.0. I figure that I should be able to transfer the imported video from my G4 to my MacBook (Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.)
What I really need to know is if iMovie 2.0 video will import to iMovie '09 and are there any disadvantages to importing via iMovie 2.0?
Thanks for the advice,
Double_A

Hi
Guessing department.
I would if I had an old Mac with iMovie 2
• Import from Camera to this
• It doesn't create an iMovie movie project icon as iMovie 4-6 does BUT a plain folder
• in this there is a folder named Media and in this Your imported material are stored as
QuickTime.mov files
• Copy them to an external Mac OS Extended formatted hard disk (UNIX/DOS/FAT32/Mac OS Exchange
will NOT work)
• as You only have USB/USB2 then it has to be used and when You connect this external HD to Your MacBook
drag the movie material over to the internal hard disk of this.
To work with it on an external USB2 hard disk might work for a while but will
be more and more problematic (stuttering etc.)
This is the way I would try to do it.
I would also see if I could find a more modern version of iMovie that would run on an Old Mac eg iM4
Yours Bengt W

MacBook/Firewire/ExternalDrive Question

This is my first post on the forum, and I have kind of a convoluted question.
I have a recent MacBook with Final Cut Pro. I usually save my scratch disks to my LaCie external hard drive. Since the MacBook does not have a FireWire port
, I use a USB cable to connect the drive to the MacBook.
I was under the impression that when I was capturing footage, I could connect my camera through a FireWire cable directly into my external hard drive. However, when I do this, FCP does not recognize the camera, although the camera reads that I have the FireWire plugged in.
I been able to successfully capture footage like this on other Macs without any issues, and I'm not sure what the problem is. Is it because I have the external drive connected through a USB cable, and the camera through a FireWire? If so, is there any way for me to digitize footage onto my MacBook with a FireWire cable?

Hey Roger,
Just a little etiquette for you... you just hijacked this thread. Not a super biggy, but next time it would be better to start your own.
As for your question... As stated below, it is underlined.
Requirements to install all Final Cut Studio applications
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of RAM (2GB of RAM recommended when working with compressed HD and uncompressed SD sources; 4GB of RAM recommended when working with uncompressed HD sources)
ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor _(integrated Intel graphics processors not supported)_
128MB of VRAM
Display with 1280-by-800 resolution or higher
Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later
QuickTime 7.6 or later
DVD drive for installation
4GB of disk space required to install all applications (Final Cut Pro, Color, DVD Studio Pro, Soundtrack Pro, Motion, Cinema Tools, Compressor, and Apple Qmaster)
46GB of disk space required for optional content
9GB for DVD Studio Pro content
7GB for Motion templates
22GB for audio content
8GB for LiveFonts
Message was edited by: Adam White

Liquid spill; macbook pro failure 6 mos. later?

I need some help on this one, sorry it's kind of long:
We bought a macbook pro from a large appliance store here in the chicago area at Christmas 08. We were told that while it was returned unit, it was in fine working condition. We had purchased extended warranties from this store before that covered physical damage, and used said warranty on a camcorder that one of my kids dropped. Since I have 2 tweens, I bought the extended coverage, was assured by the salesman that physical damage was covered.
Used the computer on a Sunday night, wouldn't turn on Monday morning. We brought it back to the appliance store, since it was only 6 mos. old and we had the extended warranty.
Results back were that the logic board, RAM, and fan were all shot due to massive corrosion. They said we spilled something in it. After researching online what happens when liquid is spilled in a laptop and the steps required to attempt to fix it, I knew we could not have spilled anything in it. Because my husband and I use it every day, we would have certainly known that there was a problem because it seems that if liquid is spilled it has to be taken care of immediately or the damage is immediate and fatal.
What we've theorized is that whoever returned it could have spilled something in it, let it dry out for a few days, and returned it. It would have started up and operated, so the store would have taken it back. Over the last 6 mos. that we owned it, is it possible that corrosion from whatever was left of the liquid spilled on it would be so pervasive that it would cause the massive system failure described above 6 mos. later?
Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Yes, it's possible. That's actually why there are moisture sensors inside the case.

Gray screen of death ... macbook boot failure

Three weeks old and getting the gray screen of death. Power up works but MacBook just keeps trying to read a video disk I left in the ROM drive. Gray screen with nothing else (no processing circle, no apple logo, just a plain gray screen). I could hear the rom drive cycling.
I worked with support via telephone and their solutions failed also:
1. power up, hold down the eject button (nada)
2. power up, hold down the mouse button (nada)
3. power up, hold down the apple key, the cntl key, the P and the R keys for two chimes (got the two chimes but nada)
Now it chimes when i start up but still sits there cycling the cdrom which has a movie disk in it.
The support rep asked me if there was a small extraction hole by the drive. HELLO: are you really Apple ??? On the new macbook?
The MacBook was delivered with 10.4.8. Wanting the large 10.4.9 update on CD for any future need, I downloaded the 10.4.9 intel combined update (larger than the other choice) and went with that not knowing which to use. However this was three weeks ago and the computer has been perfect. my session yesterday was perfect but I did 'brag' on the new macbook when a friend saw me using it. why does bragging cause boot failures? Murphy?/??????// HELP.
Black MacBook intel core 2 duo 120gb drive 2 gb memory Mac OS X (10.4.9)

My apologies to everyone if I raised an alarm. The hardware (i.e. the MacBook) is fine and the problem was that I am a new user. I have to say that Apple Support was unprepared to address the issue but I did resolve it myself by accident. Here is the resolution:
I looked up the SMC reset instructions on the Apple Support site as a next step and the instructions said to try 3 things before doing the SMC:
1. Force Quit (Option - Command - Escape)
2. Restart (Control - Command - Power)
3. Force Shutdown (hold down pwr button for 10 seconds
As a new user I could not know that the key with the Apple was the Command key, but I guessed since the words control and option were called out, it had to be the Apple key with the Squiggle.
I did each step but nada. I did get a different alert tone (lower pitch) after doing step 3. Each time I turned the computer off.
I then started over and tried again turning on the macbook from being off each time. I did step 1 and turned the machine off and then did step 2 and the computer came alive.
The system is just like I left it and the rom drive works fine. Again, my apologies to all you macbook users for raising any alarms. We are new to using Apple and have much to learn. I did not have any cheat sheets to work from so it took time. Many thanks for the responses.
Black MacBook purchased in March 2007 Mac OS X (10.4.9) I love this MacBook

MacBook HD Failure - worry of carrying over file structure errors?

Hello all
Please excuse my intrusion .... I'm a composer and usually hang out on the Logic forum but have popped in to see if anyone has any experience with MacBook Internal Hard Drives?
I have a 2008 MacBook Duo 4,1 and have today had a hard drive go down for the second time this year. The Hardware test says ... ALERT ERROR 4HDD/11/40000004:SATA(0,0) I tried to bring it round with Disk Warrior but no joy.
My worry is that having once again installed a new hard drive and re-built everything from a Time Machine back-up, a clever Mac friend suggests that I may be carrying over a FILE STRUCTURE ERROR that exists on the TM back up which could cause the same issue over an over again?
If this is a possibility - is there anything I can do that negates my having to re-install everything again from scratch? (including copious authorisations and licenses for a huge amount of software from Quicktime AVID codecs for use with locking movies to my DAW and Music Sample Libraries!)
Does anyone have any experience of File Structure Errors being carried over from HD back ups?
Many thanks in anticipation of help.
Best
Dick

Hey Dick,
just to get down and technical, since it feels like you did not understand all the facts (no offense, please, I will try to explain).
When a hard drive fails mechanically or physically, and, let's say, makes the computer crash, there is a pretty good possibility that files that were open at the time of the crash were not saved properly, and thus are broken. It's just a consequence from the failure and the crash, if it happened. It's not DUE to the failure itself.
So, if you have a TM backup, which, as was stated before, is just files copied to some other drive somewhere on the network, there is no way you could reintroduce some physical damage, that was on your internal drive, back to a new one. If you HAD a utility that would do a 1:1 copy of a drive, there would be the possibility that defective blocks would be copied, but not with TimeMachine.
Let's be theoretical.
Let's say your hard drive failed in stages. Let's say you were working on a project. And let's assume you had a bunch of files open, when the drive initially failed. The system crashed, and some of those files were damaged. Let's further assume that you rebooted the system, and did a backup. And let's finally assume that you THEN changed the drive and restored the backup to the new drive.
Now, in THIS particular case, that would mean that there is a possibility that you backed up one or more damaged files to the TM (since a damaged file is still that: A file) and then restored it.
Now let's finally assume that THEN, after the restore, was the first time you tried to open those particular files after the first crash. You would then see that they are broken.
To sum this up: That's the only scenario I can imagine how to get something damaged "back from the grave". Apart from that, it may just be bad luck that your drive failed for the second time, and I am pretty certain that you don't have a defective backup.
I hope I made some things clear. Please let us know if you have any further questions, and don't be afraid if they might sound dumb to you. There's no such thing as a dumb question. Just dumb answers
i.

MacBook firewire question

Not sure where else to post this question:
What kind of Firewire port does the MacBook have? 4 or 6 pin?
I just bought a Canon Elura 100 MiniDV camcorder, and it didn't come with a firewire cable...
thanks =)
Mac Book Mac OS X (10.4.6)

yeap
all macs from notebooks to desktops are equipped with the 6 pins FW port !

PC Using Macdrive Wont Read Macbook Firewire

So I'm about ready to give up. I'm trying to use a Data Recovery Program from a PC I cant get on a Mac so I connected a firewire cable 800 9 Pin to 4 Pin from the PC to my Mac. When I reset the Mac holding down "T" in firewire mode it wont read on the PC. I got Macdrive on PC and it wont read. I tried just about everything I could find online for help checking disk management to disabling the 1394 in Network connections and then restarting and nothing.
Is there anything I can do? I checked the Firewire in MORE INFO in this ABOUT THE MAC and next to Firewire it says Warning: Unable to list firewire devices. Does that mean the firewire on my Macbook is turned off? Big thanks to any help.

Run disk utility on the hard drive to repair it, also repair the permissions.

MacBook Firewire limitation - Daisy chaining Firewire

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I purchased a MacBook, Canon ZR800 and a LaCie drive in hopes of playing around with some basic video editing. I didn't take into consideration the single firewire port on the MacBook. Currently I have the Canon ZR800 hooked up to one of the FireWire 400 ports on the LaCie drive and the LaCie drive connected to the Mac via the Firewire 800 port on the drive. This setup is not working as the Mac doesn't see the camera at all.
I realize that silly to route the video through the LaCie only to send it back but I'm not clear on what my options are.
I'd prefer not to capture directly to the system drive. I've read that the firewire hubs are junk and I know that USB doesn't have the bandwidth. Is my only option capturing directly to the Mac then moving it to the LaCie for editing?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I am going to commit a heresy and tell you to connect your LaCie to your MacBook with the USB 2.0 socket!
It is quite possible to capture and edit using USB 2.0 with no problems.
Give it a try and see how well it works for you - you will probably be pleasantly surprised. Obviously you will plug your camera directly into the Mac.
I wouldn't advise anyone to go out and buy a USB 2.0 HD, but if you already have one there is no harm in testing it out.
Some people, depending on their equipment and editing circumstances, do have problems. If you have any, you can always return to FW.
Ian.

Firewire failure on my emac

I have had a Firewire port failure on my emac. Have tried unplugging overnight - no joy. Have tried the advice on http://homepage.mac.com/psexton/Resume5.html about resetting nvram. No help. No other faults with emac noted and everything else working fine.
Any thoughts?

Keith,
After following macjack's tip, try using a different Firewire cable, preferrablly a known-good one borrowed from another computer, or a new high-quality (read: expensive) one. I've had strange Firewire port loss on more than one computer that eventually turned out to be the cables originally supplied with some peripherals. If a thin cable developes kinks or frays slightly internally (especially where the cable is attached to the connector), you can get intermittent shorts from the cable and than cn knock out the Firewire ports.
One way to check: after unplugging everything and waiting 30 minutes, re-attach only the power cord (and keybord and mouse, of course) and resatrt. Immediately check Apple System Profiler and see if the Firewire ports are recognized at all. If it is, then reconnect one Firewire device; if the ports disappear from ASP, either the device or the cable is suspect.

PowerBook to MacBook firewire trouble

(x-posted to PowerBook discussion forum)
I just bought a new MacBook, and the firewire connection to transfer files doesn't complete. I go through the process correctly, and the PowerBook icon pops up on the MacBook's desktop. Disk Utility recognizes and identifies it correctly.
When I click on the icon, the cursor switches to the spinning colourwheel, and the spinning doesn't stop.
If I use Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant, it goes through the process properly but hangs up at "Waiting for disks to appear."
I can't find anyone else with this problem, and Apple's help-line is "researching the problem." Any advice for me?
(And I can't connect the other way, because the Intel disk won't mount on a pre-Intel Mac!!)

Actually I'd found that reference already. It says you can't place the drive from an Intel-driven Mac on a pre-Intel Mac, and I'm having the reverse difficulty. My old Mac isn't showing up properly on the new Mac.
Update:
I took the MacBook into the store I got it from, and they hooked it up without difficulty to a new iMac also running 10.4.7. Prevailing theory: Firewire doesn't want to break the 10.4 barrier. Two machines running 10.4.x can talk to each other. Machines running 10.3.9 and 9.0.8 can talk to each other. One running 10.4.x won't talk to 10.3.9 or to 9.0.8 -- maybe.

Macbook Firewire Trouble

I have a mid 2007 Macbook 2.16GHz
when I plug in anything firewire the computer doesnt recognize it... I need to reboot (restart) the computer with all firewire devices attached first! Then it will work ok.
Is there any help for me or am I screwed? Warranty is over.
And a side note, my keyboard drops the first letter 80% of the time when I start typing in a new field or window... annoying

Actually I'd found that reference already. It says you can't place the drive from an Intel-driven Mac on a pre-Intel Mac, and I'm having the reverse difficulty. My old Mac isn't showing up properly on the new Mac.
Update:
I took the MacBook into the store I got it from, and they hooked it up without difficulty to a new iMac also running 10.4.7. Prevailing theory: Firewire doesn't want to break the 10.4 barrier. Two machines running 10.4.x can talk to each other. Machines running 10.3.9 and 9.0.8 can talk to each other. One running 10.4.x won't talk to 10.3.9 or to 9.0.8 -- maybe.

MacBook Firewire Failure

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