Worst PC Problem For Me Ever

[Jeremy]

I have a new FireWire card which is detected by both PCs. Neither the External HD or the Digital Video Camera get detected on either machine. HOW can both deviced just not show up??? How do I fix this?

[Drewdatrip]

I have a new FireWire card which is detected by both PCs. Neither the External HD or the Digital Video Camera get detected on either machine. HOW can both deviced just not show up??? How do I fix this?

Have you taken my advice yet and replace the cable and/or Ac adoptor.

Or test with another firwire devise and seperate cable?

|Drew|

[Jeremy]

I had to get a new AC Adapter not long ago and I have two Firewire cables and no go with either of them when I have my DVC on and hooked into the FW port like I always used to....

*cries*

This inability makes me very sad...

1. New mobo.

2. Reformatted with normal XP Home SP1 OS.

3. New AC adapter

4. Two FireWire Cards.

5. Two Cables.

Nothing...

If it isn't my Mobo, my AC Adapter, my Drivers, how could both devices suddenly stop sending a signal to my FireWire?

I have downloaded Everest Home Edition v1.10 and copied all potentially relevant details about my FireWire card.

[Drewdatrip]

Did you get a chance to test them on another computer......?

I have a feeling the devices are the root of your issue...

I know its a slim chance for both to go bad...i just cant see anyother casue of this issue.

But for the hell of it, make sure the mobo is installed properly, ie all the brass posts are aligned, no extra, no less.

Take out all devise cards and and IDE aswell.

Just enough to boot into windows with the firwire card.

Side note- Consider a new or replacment PSU

Worst case scenerio find a computer store that has a decent return policy and get yourself a firwire device new cables etc and a new firwire card....knowing that mostly likly all these decives are good u can limit it down to the a card, device, one of the main boards etc.

|Drew|

[Jeremy]

Did you get a chance to test them on another computer......?

Yes, my girlfriend's PC, which happens to be right beside mine.

I have a feeling the devices are the root of your issue...

I know its a slim chance for both to go bad...i just cant see anyother casue of this issue.

Neither can I.

But for the hell of it, make sure the mobo is installed properly, ie all the brass posts are aligned, no extra, no less.

I had my new motherboard installed by a Technician the other night

Side note- Consider a new or replacment PSU

Got one not long ago.

I'll try and remove everything not needed for Windows boot and leave the FireWire in and see what happens. I will report back.

[prathapml]

I've always seen this kind of thing happen in the holidays (just when you have no school to worry about, and can give full attention to your computing).

As for your present pc problem, have you tried downgrading your BIOS?

I remember I flash upgraded once, and lost my firewire. Discovered later that it was a beta BIOS, so went back to the old one, and all was fine.

[Jeremy]

.........

Hmm, I did upgrade my BIOS but this problem was occurring before I did that. I had actually upgraded the BIOS in hopes of it being a solution. Maybe a revert would kick things back into swing? How do I downgrade my BIOS?

But I tried on my girlfriend's PC, which has never had the BIOS tampered with at all and it didn't work. I tried what Drewdatrip said. I tried with minimal booting hardware requirements, nothing. I tried different PCI slots, nothing. I tried both cables with both firewire cards, nothing. The PC recognises my FireWire no problem. Only devices connected via FW seemingly are "dead" in a sense.

So...about the BIOS downgrade....?

[Drewdatrip]

So...about the BIOS downgrade....?

Reflash the bios with an older rom

But if u tested it on a machine u know the firwire works on, and it still dident work....im sorry to inform you but the devices are bunk

|Drew|

[prathapml]

So...about the BIOS downgrade....?

Well, you downloaded an upgraded .BIN from your MoBo maker's site to change the version of your BIOS (flash upgrading), right?

The same site/page should have an older .BIN as well. Ensure its for your your MoBo model before applying that one.

As far as I know, Asus and MSI will have BIOSes for every board they ever sold. And they keep giving monthly upgrades. They keep the v1.0 of the BIOS (which is what the product originally ships with) as well available in their download sections. So if yours is one of those manufacturers, its very easy. Other companies, I'm not sure of their policies.

Hey drew is it possible that the power supply coming into (or going onwards out) the firewire is affected in some way? Could he just replace the molex (power) cables or something?

[Jeremy]

What are these cables you guys keep talking about? The only cables I have are one that link my External HD to the FireWire port and one that links my DVC's FW output to the FW port.

[Jeremy]

I finally found the BIOSes on Dell's site. There are 7 of them, the most recent being AO7. My new motherboard had AO1. I updated my BIOS and plugged my DVC into my FireWire and....

Nothing....

Drew, how can my devices simply not work with the FireWire anymore?

Is the brutal truthful solution to this to buy a new DVC? As for my External HD, I have years of various files on it that I really can't lose....

What has happened to my hardware?

[bart of borg]

You say that your stuff stopped working all of a sudden and you have replaced everything except the two devices right? It seem's to me that without at least trying other devices through your new hardware you just marking time....if you have been so eager to replace all the rest, what's stopping you from atleast trying a new firewire device? You don't need to "get rid" of your 2 devices...just try to get another one from someone and see if your comp "finds" it!

[XtremeMaC]

well i dunno about your dvc but throw the external box away and take the hdd inside it and put into your box and see if it works. also u can call up the company of your external hdd maker and dvc maker and ask for help.

well only thing i can think of is a power issue, maybe the electricity fluctuated too much and gave more voltage & ampere than u're devices needed and then it blew those up?

don't tell me that u never ever had that, u don't usually feel that unless the lights dim a little. otherwise i cannot think of a reason. except that maybe u poured water on your devices or your dog ate it,

[prathapml]

What are these cables you guys keep talking about?

Open up the cabinet, and look in. There's a data cable coming from a header on your MoBo to the port. There _might_ also be another cable coming into it - and this one is the power cable.

Anyways as said above, also try taking your devices to a friend's place, and if it doesn't work there either, its gone.

[Jeremy]

Ok, so...

Insufficient power layout may have caused more voltage to my devices and "blew the fuse"? Hmm, our cords/cables have been quite a mess, especially all tangled and spread out on 3 different power bars. Just last night, I unhooked everything, untangled them all and wrapped them around the guard rail behind the computer desk (since I live in an apartment which has two levels to it). There were several things we unplugged and put aside because of a lack of use.

So this cable...supposedly coming from my motherboard and going to the FireWire PCI slot? Did I understand this correctly?

I've never taken the harddrive out of my external and put it in my computer. Hell, if only I had an extra drive bay, I'd put it in there. Maybe I could get a different case and do it and never have to access my external drive via firewire anymore?