IEEE 1394 connection problems

[y_not]

Having just completed a small upgrade to my Win2k PC I am having problems with the firewire connection.

Before the upgrade (new tower, CPU & HDD) capture worked fine from the port; since upgrading the software (Pinnacle Studio Plus & Ulead Video Studio 7) both fail to see the port. Win2k recognises the card (I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the card in the hardware manager) and reports the card to be working with no conflicts. When I plug a DV camera to the port it totally resused to see the connection. I have also tried two different firewire cables, two DV camcorders (I know! a bit geeky) and the firewire connector on another PC all to no avail.

Does anyone please, please have any ideas ... the tapes are building up at an alarming rate; parties, BBQ's, karting etc.

Even if you can't help thanks fro takiing the time to read my rambliings

Tony

[TaoTeWingChun]

Hi y_not,

I swear I had the exact same thing on one of my Win2000Pro systems, it was so annoying I thought I'd pull all my hair out by the roots.

Then a friend of mine suggested I wipe the drive clean and re-install the OS and all of the programs I needed, and guess what - it worked!

Evidently the Registry had gotten corrupt somehere along the line such that it refused to engage the driver correctly for the FireWire card I had installed. Once I wiped it clean and started over I never had the problem again.

One more thing you can try is to re-install over the existing Win2000 installation (or use the Repair Console to try to repair the OS installation), but in my case the re-install definitely did the trick.

I hate to suggest it, maybe you can take your existing drive out and use a different/spare drive to check this out on first.

Either way, try it out and let us know, ok?

Post back with your progress.

Cheers!

TTWC

[pchan]

Before you wipe the your disk, just unplug your firewire card(make sure you shutdown your PC and pull the plug) and boot up. Shutdown the PC and pull the plug. Re-install the firewire card preferably in another PCI slot. Re-boot and see if it works.

BTW, you firewire card happen to be VIA chipset ?

[edDV]

The applications you mentioned use DirectShow, a part of Direct-X to access the IEEE-1394 ports.

Make sure you have installed the latest Direct-X for Win2K.

Latest applications, like Sony Vegas, also require the MS NET Framework update.

[y_not]

TaoTeWingChun - thanks for the reply. As suggested I tried repairing the installation ... disaster! Halfway thru loading Win2k the system blue screen'd with a "physical memory dump" message.
I settled for a full reinstall - just completed and ... same problem!!! Aaaarrrrrrrgggggggggggg

pchan - thanks for the reply - I had already tried removing the card (via device manager and physically) I chose a spare PCI slot three rungs down - still have the problem!! - going for a lie down in a minute One question though - how do I find out if its a Via chipset and why do you ask??

edDV - thanks again for your reply - I am running Directx 9.0c which, according to Microsoft, is the latest version. I'm not using the MS NET Framework and, to be truthful I wouldn't know what it is/where to find it! Do I need it?

Could it be the firewire card - maybe damaged during the transfer - I don't think so but how sensitive is it to static etc? It seems to be the only bit I've not replaced/got a spare for?

[edDV]

edDV - thanks again for your reply - I am running Directx 9.0c which, according to Microsoft, is the latest version. I'm not using the MS NET Framework and, to be truthful I wouldn't know what it is/where to find it! Do I need it?

9.0c should be good for IEEE-1394.

.net framework upgrade may or may not be required by the application. It shows up in your Windows Update list.

[y_not]

edDV Thanks for that.

I have installed the Win2k service pack 4 (straight after installing Win2k) so I guess it must have installed the .net framework at the same time?

[edDV]

edDV Thanks for that.

I have installed the Win2k service pack 4 (straight after installing Win2k) so I guess it must have installed the .net framework at the same time?

I don't know for Win2k.

I doubt that it has anything to do with your firewire problem but may be needed for running the latest editing software.

http://www.andymcm.com/dotnetfaq.htm
http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a8335...displaylang=en

[y_not]

Where now?????????

Okay guys - the update is as follows: -
I purchased a new Belkin 3 port firewire PCI card. Uninstalled the old one in device manager; shut down; removed the old card and fitted the new one; rebooted and the card was found by win2k ... but not by Studio 9 of Video Studio!!!!!!!!!!

So I have tried two firewire cards, used different PCI slots, reinstalled win2k, bought a new firewire cable, reinstalled the software and still two Sony DV camcorders refuse to see the connection ....... aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggggg

Oh! Nearly forgot, I also downloaded and installed the .net "stuff".

Please, Please does anyone have any ideas - I'm game for trying anything short of climbing a tall building and bungie jumping with the firewire cable .... but then; I wonder if that might work????

Thanks guys for all the suggestions to date - hope you'll help out with some more options

Tony

[TaoTeWingChun]

I just thought of something else - my apologies for not mentioning it earlier!

I am not the only one who's had a problem with a specific 1394 device driver (ohci1394.sys), especially under SP3 or SP4. Check to see if your card is using this specific driver. If it is, I remember reading that one had to back-level that driver to the one that came with SP2.

See if that is the case with your FireWire card, ok? And let us know....

Cheers!

TTWC

[edDV]

I doubt the problems are with ULead VS9. You need to solve the problems at the DirectShow level first.

Can you install Windows Movie Maker under Win2K? It is highly useful for making sure DirectShow is managing the IEEE-1394 connections well.

You might try WinDV to do the same.

ULead relies on DirectShow for connection and control but then does more.

WinDV is just a user interface over DirectShow so try that or WMM first.

[y_not]

TaoTeWingChun - as suggested I replaced the IEEE1394 drivers but unfortunatley that made no difference.

edDV - this sounds like a promising idea; I plan to try that later today and will post back the results.

One other thing I should mention - one of the two DV camcorders has streaming USB capability - I have installed the "clunky" Sony software and tried to capture from that - that option works although the settings and options seem very limited and I'm not so sure about the final quality.

I don't know if this has any bearing but thought I should at least mention it.

Regards

Tony

[y_not]

edDV, I have downloaded WinDV as suggested (seems a nice little programme).
When I try to run it it "Error no device detected"
Is this something as daft as a mainboard fault? I'm running out of ideas and money!
So Win2k sees the PCI card but the software doesn't?

Sorry to be such a pain - I've never had a problem like this one before.

At the same time as I upgraded this PC I built another (which I am using to email on now) The video PC is the 7th or 8th PC I've built from a "bag of bits" so I don't (didn't?) think I'm a complete novice.

Please keep the ideas coming and, when we finally sort it I promise to post what happened and how we did it for the benefit of other poor souls.

Cheers

Tony

[edDV]

edDV, I have downloaded WinDV as suggested (seems a nice little programme).
When I try to run it it "Error no device detected"
Is this something as daft as a mainboard fault? I'm running out of ideas and money!
So Win2k sees the PCI card but the software doesn't?

Sorry to be such a pain - I've never had a problem like this one before.

At the same time as I upgraded this PC I built another (which I am using to email on now) The video PC is the 7th or 8th PC I've built from a "bag of bits" so I don't (didn't?) think I'm a complete novice.

Please keep the ideas coming and, when we finally sort it I promise to post what happened and how we did it for the benefit of other poor souls.

Cheers

Tony

If WinDV reports errors then the problems are at the Windows DirectX, driver or hardware level. I don't have any machines running Win2000 so I can't help much more.

[TaoTeWingChun]

Hi guys,

sorry I was away for a bit, but I'm back now!

Tony, in reading your original post, you had said the problems began after you upgraded your PC and updated some software, namely Pinnacle Studio Plus and Uleave Video Studio 7. What I'd like to know is does your firewire card work PRIOR to installing the updated softwares at all?

I'm thinking their may well be an interaction issue happening here, and unfortunately I do have a Win2000 box, but I don't have either of these specific titles (although I'm pretty sure I could ask around and borrow a copy for testing purposees). More than likely one or the other softwares is trouncing all over the driver or the use of the port itself - it'd be useful to figure out at exactly what step during your install it seems to be failing - after Win2000? Ulead VS7? Pinnacle Studio+?

Please don't give up just yet, I will make several calls this evening to see if I can borrow these programs from a few friends of mine to see if I can get similar results. Meanwhile, see if you can answer exactly where in your build process everything wet the bed with regards to your 1394 connection, ok?

I will post back later this evening! Hang tough, my friend!

Cheers!

TTWC

[y_not]

TaoTeWingChun

Thanks for your help - hold fire for a while - there maybe a breakthough!

Prior to the updates the firewire worked fine (and has done for a couple of years) After reinstalling win2k I installed Studio Plus 9 and tried the card - it failed. I installed Ulead and tried again - it failed.
I updated win2k with SP4 and tried again - it failed.
I tried it on another PC (after installing Ulead) - it failed.
I/we THINK that the issue MAYBE related to a card that either got a static bite or something during the rebuild. If so it could have put a power spike back up the firewire lead and blown first one camera and then the other!!!
A friend is going to connect one of the camcorders to another (known to work) PC tomorrow and test the theory.
We both think that this has to be the problem now.
If we are right its going to be a very interesting conversation with the insurance company (New for old/accidental damage policy) trying to get them to understand how, by accident I have destroyed two camcorders!!

I won't be able to post back until late tomorrow (Friday nights/pubs etc - you get the picture) but IF I get a call during the day with a result I'll try and post then.
Really appreciate all the help.
Tony
p.s. The only reason for using win2k is because it seems less processor hungry than XP - am I wrong to stay with win2k?

[y_not]

RESOLVED!!!!RESOLVED!!!!!! RESOLVED!!!!!
(not that I'm really happy or anything )

Guys I really appreciate you all sticking with me on this one and all the help and advice.

The answer came back yesterday evening that there was no output from the camcorders. I found this out before the insurers closed so I rang them and, (nice people that they are) they have told me to take the camcorders and get an estimate for the repairs and send them the iinvoices for the computer parts that failed. They will pay for the computer parts, estimate costs, repair costs or replacement costs if beyond economic repair.

So the outcome is that I'll have these fixed (or replaced) and hopefully be able to download my recordings once again.

From your suggestions I found out about WinDV and I'm beginnning to think that I need to swap my OS to XP if win2k drivers are a bit of a problem.

Many thanks - maybe one day someone else will have the same problem and I'll be able to advise them!

Tony

[TaoTeWingChun]

Congrats on the resolution, Tony! We are all glad to hear that your insurance will cover the costs of the damaged equipment - that's very good news indeed!

Hopefully the new parts will allow you to get up and running quickly!

Cheers!

TTWC