Asus P4P800S Firewire?

  • Thread starter Thread starter T009
  • Start date Start date
T

T009

The manual that came with my computers case shows a different front view that
is on my computer. I never had a firewire jack, but there is something in the
front next to 2 usb ports, that looks like a firewire port. Call the vendor,
and they are of no help. I checked the asus MB and see nothing referring to
firewires. I cannot see if the wireing is there, because of its hidden
location. I checked asus web page and nothing there. i left them a message
weeks ago and no answer...typical, right? Is there a fool proof way to detect
this? BTW, I could not find anything in the bios, or on the MB disk. I do not
want to buy a product with firewire if I don't have it, even if one can install
a cheap firewire card. Just want to know what is that port in the front for? My
ethernet port is in the rear.
 
have you ever heard of a generic case??...it is universal...the case isn't
built for any specific M/B but as a universal one to be able to take all
that is available.
 
The manual that came with my computers case shows a different front
view that is on my computer. I never had a firewire jack, but there
is something in the front next to 2 usb ports, that looks like a
firewire port. Call the vendor, and they are of no help. I checked
the asus MB and see nothing referring to firewires. I cannot see if
the wireing is there, because of its hidden location. I checked asus
web page and nothing there. i left them a message weeks ago and no
answer...typical, right? Is there a fool proof way to detect this?
BTW, I could not find anything in the bios, or on the MB disk. I do
not want to buy a product with firewire if I don't have it, even if
one can install a cheap firewire card. Just want to know what is
that port in the front for? My ethernet port is in the rear.
Click to expand...

You can see from this catalog page, that there are small four pin,
larger six pin, and also the latest nine pin (1394B 800mb/sec)
connectors. If you see a really small one, it could be the four pin.

http://granitedigital.com/catalog/pg20_firewiregenderadapters.htm

1394A (400mb/sec) 4 pin - used to connect to a Firewire peripheral
that has its own power supply
1394A (400mb/sec) 6 pin - used to connect to a Firewire peripheral
and the computer gives power to the
peripheral via the two extra pins. The pins
are typically labelled VP and VG.
1394B (800mb/sec) 9 pin - latest version of Firewire, not likely to
be on the front of a computer case.

In terms of terminology, it is possible that Apple computer owns
the "Firewire" trademark, and that is why an Asus manual may refer
to "1394" instead, as it is the IEEE standards number, and people
can use the standard number to refer to the interface, without
incurring trademark issues.

I don't see the word 1394 in the P4P800S motherboard manual, so
you may need to buy a separate card if you really want Firewire.
Do you have any peripherals that use it ? If you don't, you
might just give it a miss. The connectors on the front of the
computer don't have to be wired up, if you don't want to wire
them.

If you buy a Firewire card, don't expect to find a 2x5 or 1x8
header on it, to wire the computer case wiring harness, to the
PCI card. If you buy a Firewire card, the connectors will be
available on the back of the computer. Computer case front wiring
is a PITA, and on my computers here, I don't bother any more,
as there are too many computer case wiring assembly errors in
manufacturing, to make them worth using. You can trust the
connectors on the back of the computer, and can always run
extender cables from the back of the computer to your
desktop, if you want access without reaching down behind the
computer. I don't put my computers on the floor (pick up too
much dust), so I can always get at the front and back of the
computer anyway.

HTH,
Paul
 
right click my computer
choose properties/hardware/device manager

do you see IEEE 1394 Bus Host controllers?

if not then you dont have firewire!
 
Back
Top