Pismo Firewire Ports Dead

My firewire ports are no longer working. They do not show up in the About This Mac. Any suggestions where to begin troubleshooting?
ELM

ELM,
You might try these resets in the order presented; disconnect all peripherals first.
- Reset the PRAM...allow three startup chimes before releasing keys, then test:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
- Reset the Open Firmware, then test:
Boot into Open Firmware by holding down the 'Command-Option-O-F' keys from a cold start while the chime is being played. You will see a command-line screen...enter these commands:
1. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-nvram
2. Press Return.
3. At the Open Firmware prompt, type: reset-all
4. Press Return.
Example:
0 > reset-nvram
Press Return
0 > reset-all
Press Return
The reset-all command should cause the computer to restart. If this occurs, you have successfully reset the Open Firmware settings.
- If still no success, run the Hardware Test CD (after the resets) that came bundled with new Pismos if you have it.
- If you boot into 9.x, do the ports appear and can you mount the drive? If 9.x is not on the HD, boot to your 9.x CD, then see if the drive will mount.
- Can you test your FireWire device on another Mac to verify its integrity?
If all fails, you can buy an inexpensive FireWire CardBus PC card for the PCMCIA card slot. However, if your FireWire device(s) does not have its own power supply, it will not work via the FW PC card. Built-in FireWire ports supply bus power for devices like a FireWire 2.5" HD, but FW PC cards do not supply bus power. You can, however, buy a FW PC card that also has a separate power supply so that bus-powered devices will work.

Similar Messages

Firewire ports 'dead'

Heello again,
Further to my previous query, the one directly before I think.
I think my firewire ports have some kind of problem - I've tried hooking up a camera on iMovie and it can't fin it / acknowledge it is connected.
Could I have inadvertantly done something / altered a setting or something to render them inactive?
Thanks again
Dan

May just be a simple Firewire Chipset lock up. Happens sometimes. Turning the computer "off" often does not fix it because there is still power applied to the logic board and keeping the chip set powered and locked up. So we have to remove power and allow it to reset.
To check/fix, on a desktop machine, power down the machine, unplug the computer from the wall (yank the power cord completely). Also unplug everything from the computer except mouse and keyboard. We don't want any peripheral devices providing indirect power via Firewire that might keep the chip set powered and locked up. Now let the system sit unplugged for about 5 minutes to allow all internal capacitors to discharge. Then reconnect the power cord, boot up and see if you see your Firewire ports back in the profiler. If you do, plug in your Firewire device and it should work.
Patrick

Ethernet port dead on Powerbook firewire

ethernet port dead on my Powerbook Firewire 400MHZ G3 1GB RAM 40GB HARD DRIVE DVD-ROM
I tried Open Firmware Reset and PRAM RESET AND WOULD I NEED TO GET A NEW LOGIC BOARD.
Joshua Lich
The port stopped working for 2 months and i have no AHT DISKS OR PROPER IMAGES TO DO SO

Hi, and Welcome to the Forums..
Ok, since you already did a PRAM reset and that didn't resolve the problem.. there is ONE LAST step before we can say it is or could be the logic board.. Do a PMU reset. This is a hard reset where you would have to do the following:
A full (PMU) reset of the Pismo (Apple calls it a 'PowerBook (FireWire)') follows: If the computer is on, turn it off. Press and release the reset button located on the rear panel of the computer between the external video and modem ports. Wait 5 seconds. Press the Power button to restart the computer.
If and only if you do this and the problem is not resolved, either you will need the Apple Hardware Test which came packaged with the Pismo or you will need MacTest Pro also called: Apple Service Diagnostic to do further diagnostic checking on the Pismo's ethernet port.
Try the PMU reset above and report back.. Try to then plug in an ethernet cable and see if u can get any response from it. If not, I would suggest getting the AHT or MTP from someone.. Actually, if you email me I might be able to further assist as I DO have the tools to make your Pismo work again, hopefullly assuming its not a logic board issue.
Romko

FW800 Card causes G4 all firewire ports to go dead

I tried to install an Allegro Firewire 800 card from Sonnet into my G4 1GHz Dual Processor G4. I put the card in, connected my firewire drive and got the following outcome.
1. When I re-booted, the computer hung at the blue screen that comes right after the gray screen. It stayed there for a very long time 5+ minutes but finally got through it.
2.When I logged on I found that the firewire ports on the Sonnet card AND also the native FW 400 ports no longer worked.
3.I removed the card, rebooted, and the machine still hung at the blue screen for a long time. It finally got through it, but the FW ports were still dead.
4. I worked for almost two hours, rebooting, trying to reset the PRAM, although I just got a black screen and no "restart" as is the usual case.
5. Finally, I unpluggd the machine completely and re-booted one last time and magically, the native FW ports started to work. So now I am back where I started.
Any ideas what is going on here? Should I try to install the card again? I am thinking that it was a mistake to hook the drive up before the machine had a chance to recognize the card, so I am tempted to try again that way, but I am afraid of getting the same results. Or should I just throw the card in the trash basket, call it a $50 loss or be content with FW 400?

Hi-
Finally, I unpluggd the machine completely and re-booted one last time and magically, the native FW ports started to work.
Doing so reset the PMU, and also reset the FW bus. Good job on stumbling onto the fix.
Any ideas what is going on here?
Bad card, maybe......
Should I try to install the card again?
Scary thought, huh.......
I am thinking that it was a mistake to hook the drive up before the machine had a chance to recognize the card, so I am tempted to try again that way, but I am afraid of getting the same results.
So, this means that you installed the card, connected a FW800 device, and then started the machine?
It would definitely be best to install the card, startup, and check the System Profiler, prior to connecting devices.
You don't need to shut down to connect a FW device. Hot plugging is fine, as long as you "eject" the device before unplugging it.

Dead firewire port

Seems my firewire port suddenly died. I tried plugging in my iSight and it's not detected, and I tried a firewire hard drive as well, and that is not detected.
Any steps I should try on my own before contacting Apple for APP repair?

After installing firmware password protection, I found out that it disables your firewire ports.
So I disabled the password, but my firewire ports are still dead, i can use targetmode, but my mini never mounts, I tried connectiong isight and it didnt work also, I did some research on this and found the code that checks the firmware for this setting.
is located on the file IOFireWireController.cpp
it looks to me as if the security-mode is set to none, once it was set to anything else other than "NULL" value it will still disable the firewire. so i tried to set it to NULL also but no luck. My Firewire is dead, and also my other laptop that had a firware password has the same problem. I've tried:
altopt+of
setenv security-mode none.
rest-nvram
reset-all
return.
Then
reset the PMU.
but nothing.

Firewire ports on Cube seem to be dead

The firewire ports on my Cube seem to be dead, in that the Cube is not able to see an external drive connected to either of the ports (and the external drive can be seen when connected to another computer). Is that sufficient evidence to conclude that my firewire ports are dead? Is there any software test I could perform? Is it possible to repair the firewire ports?
I'm afraid it's about time to retire the Cube.

I see a PDF on the top of this search page. And a little lower down is link to a video on removing the board.
http://www.google.com/search?q=replacelogic+board+mac+cube&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&clien t=firefox-a#q=replace+logic+board+g4cube&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=slH&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivfd&ei=_ UG6TPyDB8P6lwep6IDFDA&start=10&sa=N&fp=6b353df19b06cafa
Thank you, WZZZ. I'm afraid I can't find the link to the video you mentioned. Would you give me the link itself?
Thanks,
John Link

2009/2010 iMac Firewire 800 port dead - can anyone help?

My iMac i7 firewire port is dead. I've tried PRAM reset and SMS reset, and clean OS instal. I'm terrified as soemone told me it's connected to logic board and could cost £700 to replace if hardware is faulty. Need firewire port to connect to Pro Tools Digirack 003, have tested it on various other firewire devices and nothing is recognised. Any help would be greatfully appreciated x PS Running Mountain Lion.

Ok, for connecting the camera to the iMac I used a 9-4 pin cable that externally looks like the one you linked in your post and unfortunately I can't test it with other devices.
However, I tried to connect my Iomega MiniMax HDD (1 TB) via FireWire.
The HDD has a 400 FireWire port and I used a cable like this http://www.smelectronics.com/images2/FIREWIRE96.jpg to connect it to the FireWire 800 of the iMac.
Again Snow Leopard can't see the external device.

EMAC 1.2 mg 2 Dead firewire ports

EMAC 1.2 mg, 2 dead firewire ports neither will mount, but have power

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
You should reset the Power Management Unit (PMU) by removing the user access panel and locating the push button switch to the right of the drive connector and just below the right end of one of the two DIMM slots on your logic board. To do so…
• shut down the computer
• unplug all cables EXCEPT the power cord from your machine but not from a grounded AC source
• place it face down on a stable, level surface
• remove the user access door by removing the center screw which mounts it to the frame
• equalize your electrical potential to that of the machine by touching the exposed metal case
• once you have done so, remove the power cord from your machine
• do not move around, which would change your electrical potential
• press the PMU reset button ONCE and once only, as second and subsequent presses can crash the PMU itself, and rapidly drain your backup battery
• wait 10 seconds, replace the AC cord and power on the computer using the case mounted switch
Replace the plate, place the machine upright, and reconnect your keyboard and mouse.
Plug in a FireWire device to see if it appears in the Finder as a mountable volume and verify this by using the Disk Utility if it is a storage device.
If your issue has been resolved, it is the PMU reset which has done so. If you have not but still have power available at the FireWire interconnect socket, then your FireWire PHY controller is likely damaged, a condition which requires a logic board repair or replacement.

Firewire ports are dead

My firewire ports seemed to have died. Not only will my Lacie Drives no longer mount, my iPod won't either. The system profiler doesn't seem them. They don't mount on the desktop. However, it seems as if power is still getting to the devices.
I've tested the devices and cables in question on my powerbook. They all seem to work.
Any ideas?

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!
First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.
Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.
If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try. Yours is the 10.4.3 Combo update. Others reading, download the Combo that applies to your system.
If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release.
For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good!
Good Luck!
Cheers!
DALE

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.

Recent Leopard Update Messes up Cinema Display Firewire Ports

Okay, this is really odd. I have a Lacie Porsche DVD-RWDL Firewire drive hooked up to my Mac Pro via my 23" Cinema display. The cinema display firewire cable was connected directly to the back of the mac pro. Lastly my iSight was connected to the open firewire port on the Lacie. This worked just fine for the longest time under both Tiger and up until very recently in leopard.
Now tho the DVD Drive is not recognized by any programs (Toast, etc) or by System Profiler (Unknown Device) when it is connected to the cinema display. Oddly enough it is detected when connected directly to the mac pro (or for troubleshooting sake I tried my G4 cube w/ Tiger... it also detected it). On top of that the iSight will work when plugged into either the Lacie or the Cinema Display... so its not like the cinema display's pots are dead (the USB works fine).
This is pretty obscure I know... but has anyone ran into something similar? I figure its either some very, very weird hardware problem or or one of the many recent updates to leopard has things acting goofy.
Thanks

I have a similar problem with my 20" cinema display. Try unplugging and replugging the device. That's been working for me, although it is an annoyance.

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!

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

Firewire is dead. But what do you think about this idea?

I know that the firewire port is saudered onto the logic board on my computer and I use to use it all the time but I was connecting my 12" powerbook to a powermac G4 through target disk mode and I accidently plugged in the firewire end in the powermac upside down. I had the other end alreay plugged into my powerbook and since then I got my firewire port has been unresponsive. I also got the ozone smell of death which made me wonder if the smell is the computer chip that controls the throughput of the firewire port or the actual firewire port itself? Because I use to use firewire a lot and so I am very sad to see something that I did, kill the port.
I had 2 hard drives and dv camcorder and my ipod and of course a firewire hub so I could plug it all in simultaneously. So what I am willing to do is take apart the computer and try to sauder on a new firewire port but now we are back to my original question, is it the port or computer chip. One thing I do know is that my ipod will still get charged even when its directly connected to the computer but nothing will mount.
If anybody has an input on my dilemma please feel free to add to this.
Thank you, Kenny
12 PB 1.5 Ghz 100Gb 5400 rpm, 1.25Gb ram,8x superdrive, 40Gb ipod, 120Gb ext hd Mac OS X (10.4.6) B&W G3/350, 640 mb ram, 2/120Gb int hds,2*FW800 hds 240Gb, dvd-rw, 100mb zip

Hi!
I had coffe all over my 12" powerbook and was forced to resolder much of it to get back my ethernet, firewire and usb. Here is what you'll need to care about when you decide to open the machine:
The keyboard assembly is held by 4 screws, 2 of whose are hidden under function keys F1/F2 and F11/F12. Remove caps by gently lifting up their LEFT side.
Heatpipe assembly must be removed too. I managed overtighten one of screws, and part of it which is soldered to the mainboard got loose. Don't do that.
Almost everything else must be removed, which involves many different screw lengths. Keeping track of them somehow helps later when you put everything together.
Don't start the machine with any components (such as hard drive or screen) disconnected. Hardware identification takes ages to perform and will confuse you, because machine appears to be dead most of the time.
Soldering: Use antistatic iron, lead-free tip and solder. Residue-free flux-pen helps a lot. Almost everything you'll find onboard is SMD, which means that removing components with improper tools or using force will damage the board.
Using camera to document how components were placed before you remove them gets handy later.
Good luck!
powerbook g4 12" Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Power shortage caused by mini-display touching firewire port.

I discovered if you touch the in firewire port with a mini-display adaptor the power cuts and you need to restart the machine.
Has anyone else discovered this happens or is it jsut this one machine?

Well that would create a dead short between the pins on the FW port, as the mini display adapter has a metal outer surround, I would think that it cause an issue with any machine as these pins are not intended to ever touch. BE CAREFUL!

Pismo Firewire Ports Dead

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