FireWire port has died

[ZiGGY909]

Hi there, hoping someone can shed any light as this has confused the hell out of me.

A friend asked me to put his holiday video onto DVD, I've done a few captures over the years sucessfully.

It is a DV cam. It was working great, plug the firewire cable in, press play and capture with VirtualVCR.

But then all of a sudden - Nothing is working. I remember the camera was displayed in my computer and there was 2-3 network connections associated with the DV cam. And also in VirtualVCR the video capture device (something microsoft) was also listed in VirtualVCR. Windows also showed the cam connected (new hardware etc)

Now theres no device in VirtualVCR (blank, also saying "Sorry, you have no video capturing hardware).
Nothing in my computer, absolutely nothing at all.

I've also done a clean install of XP, still nothing at all.

The only explanation I have, is the firewire port has just died, the cable is faulty or firewire pins on the camera aren't making contact.

If you have any suggestions, I would be most grateful, thank you.

[redwudz]

I think you covered most of the common causes. If you have access to another PC with FireWire, you could test out the camcorder and cable. If it works there, then the PC is suspect. FireWire ports can be destroyed by static discharge, though that is rare. You could also closely inspect the FireWire port on the PC and see if there is any damage. Most PCs that have a FireWire port also have another on the motherboard, though that's no guarantee that it isn't the same as the external port.

You could try a different transfer program like WinDV, but if the PC doesn't recognize the device, unlikely to help.

Last thought is you could add a PCI FireWire card if you have a spare PCI slot. On some PCs the motherboard FW port was problematic. Though I think that was more common with combo audio/FW cards.

[ZiGGY909]

Hi Redwudz, Thanks for the help

My other pc and laptop sadly haven't got 1394 ports

Yes, there is an option on my board for more 1394's port, I've already tried this but with no luck.

I believe my board is on it's way out too (MSI k9n Diamond), not soo long ago the PCI-E slot1 died, I had to use slot2, lol.
Only 12 months old too, but 365 24/7 uptime probably didn't help

I'll do the obvious first like you suggested, I'll pick up a new cable today and then order a PCI Firewire on the internet (as locally the prices are ridiculous).

Cheers