FireWire STILL Does not work in XP SP2!

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Guest

This is going in Video because that's the likeliest forum to get a response
on FireWire issues, but this is affecting more than my camcorder.

As I look at My Computer, my camcorder is under "Scanners and Cameras", and
my external drive is nowhere to be seen. My camcorder is turned OFF, and my
external drive is ON. Shouldn't I be seeing my drive, and NOT seeing my
camcorder?

Here's the note I *attempted* to send via the online chat, which was
possibly submitted, but I never got a chat window, so I've probably been
charged for a chat without getting one. :( Yes I've installed the KB88522
fix, and bunches of others...but MS is greedily hanging on to some that might
actually help.

***************BEGIN POST********************************
FireWire is not working, and it just caused Explorer to freeze.

I'm trying to use external Firewire drives, and my video camera. I have
removed extra drives so that I just have 1 drive and my camera. When I
restart Windows with both devices turned on, Windows occasionally
acknowledges that the devices are connected. When I turn the camera off,
Firewire ceases to work. Windows fails to detect that the Firewire drive is
disconnected. Additionally, the drive becomes inaccessible. Please note
that Windows does not actually disconnect the devices--the devices are still
visible in My Computer. Attempting to access the devices causes an error
message (for the camera), or explorer hangs (for the hard drive).

Things I've tried:
1. Scoured the Internet and installed every MS "HotFix" I could find, except
those that require a call to your customer service.
2. Upgraded/downgraded my motherboard BIOS to every available revision.
Currently I'm at the most recent revision.
3. Tried a variety of different cables.
4.******PAY ATTENTION HERE: I've tested the devices on my wife's Dell
laptop, and the devices (and cables) work beautifully there. There is not a
problem with my drives and camera.
5. The motherboard has onboard 1394. So I purchased a Dynex 1394 card,
thinking the motherboard is at fault. I installed the card, and have exactly
the same problems. I also tried disabling the on-board 1394 to no avail.
6. I disabled the 1394 network adapters and rebooted.
7. I've tried removing various hardware components (SCSI units, CD Burner)
in various combinations and rebooting.
8. I've uninstalled Norton and Nero

My next step is to reformat my hard-drive and re-install, and turn off
Windows Update, unless you can give me an update that will fix this problem.
Everything had been working fine until I got some automatic updates from MS
within the last week or so.

System Information:

Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro-SLI
Athlon 64 X2 4200/2.2GHz
2G Corsair memory
Toshiba DVD Burner
Sony CD Burner
Two IDE Drives
1 SATA Drive
Adaptec AHA-2940 SCSI Adapter
1 ZIP Drive (SCSI)
Sony DDS Tape drive (SCSI)

Software of note:
Windows XP SP2, updated the crap out of
MS Office 2003
Adobe Collection 2.5 (Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore, Audition)
Nero 6 (updated via Nero's Website)
Norton SystemWorks
Gigabyte motherboard drivers.
*****************END POST********************************

I'm at my wits' end. My next step is to attempt an XP Repair
install--probably won't work. After that I'll try reformatting and
re-installing, unless someone can provide me a link to all those nice hot
fixes that are only available through a customer service call (how chintzy is
that?!?!? just give me the damn hot fix and tell me it's not supported--all I
want is to have my Firewire working!!!!!!!)

Please help,
Matt
 
Ok, I've reformatted and reinstalled. Windows XP SP2, video/printer/network
drivers. I thought maybe Nero was a problem, or perhaps one of the hotfixes
or updates. But nope, it's just Windows XP SP2 that's screwed up.

I think I can run my camcorder by itself. It'll suck having to share all my
external drives on a USB hub, because of the performance and speed hits.
Also, I'm pretty much screwed when it comes to my Firestore FS-4, which only
has a FireWire interface. It might work with just one device at a time on
the bus (although I'm *supposed* to be able to get 62 or 63 on the bus
simultaneously). Also, Windows refuses to acknowledge that I've turned off
the camera until I actually unplug it. On my wife's laptop, all I have to do
is turn the camera off. Of course, that machine is a Dell, and Dell is
probably better at making things work than Microsoft.

Has anyone actually gotten this stuff to work on a custom computer with an
XP SP2 upgrade disc? If so, could you tell me how you did it?

Thanks
 
Cari,
Thank you for the response. Unfortunately camcorders bear the brunt of the
blame becasuse camcorders are most often the device used with a FireWire
card. In pursuing this issue in response to a MS support communication, I
also attempted using multiple drives with no camera involved. I continued to
experience conflicts and disconnects. The reason I posted in a video forum
is because FireWire is most useful (IMHO) in a video capture/editing
environment, and there are likely to be more FireWire users in a video forum
than elsewhere (hopefully my logic works...).

I used to have problems with a PCMCIA FireWare 3-port card on XP SP2. I
thought the dropouts, etc., were a hardware problem, so I developed a
workflow of using just one device on the bus at a time. That workflow has
become untenable, and now I think the problem is not so much a hardware
problem as a Windows XP problem...ohfor $5000 to get a good G5 with FCP 5!

Anyhow, I'm going to go trade my Gigabyte motherboard for a different brand,
and see if that makes any kind of difference.

I did read that page a day or two ago, BTW, and there is some good advice
there just in general which I was not aware of, but it did not resolve my
problems.

Thanks,
Matt
 
Matt,
just double check to make sure your 1394 adapter is enabled in the DEVICE
MANAGER. Also, I am not an expert but I believe that if you install card
adapter over the onboard adapter you are only asking for trouble. I'd make
sure you only have one adapter active. I have a notebook XP - sp2 and I am
capturing video with a firewire capture device with no problems. Hope you
solve your problem.
Happy New Year.
 
How do you disconnect items connected via firewire? It's best to use "safely
remove hardware" rather than just turn off.
Your arguemnet that DELL makes better pc's than MS is a little odd, does
your wifes laptop run XP with SP2? If so, it's not a software problem as
such it's more of a set-up / hardware / configuration.problem.
How do you have the devices connected?
Can you list the hotifxes you've tried it'll make it easier in recommending
what else to try?


--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.co.uk
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com
 
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