miniDV camera not being recognized (aka IEEE 1394 troubles)

[B3_player85]

It seems the firewire port on my computer has suddenly decided to stop working. It actually started months ago. I would be capturing a video and the computer would lose the connection for a few seconds. This happened very randomly, sometimes not at all. Sometimes when I would first plug the cable in, the computer wouldn't recognize the camera right away. Originally I thought this was a problem with the cable so I would try not to touch the camera or cable while capturing. This seemed to work for a while. Then it started acting up again by not evening recognizing the camera. Assuming that the cable was bad (it was like $5) I bought a new cable that cost me about $25 hoping that would take care of it. Unfortunately, the problem still remained. Next I noticed the contacts inside the camera's DV out port looked bent. In an attempt to straighten them out, I busted the entire thing, so now it's totally useless. I was planning on buying a new camera anyway, so I bought a Canon Elura 100. With the new cable, and the new camera, I was sure this would work. I plug the cable into the computer and turn the camera on.....nothing, not even a sign that the computer knew anything was just connected. I tried plugging the cable into the back firewire port and still nothing. The other side of this though is, I can't remember if I have the back port connected to the motherboard or not. I still need to verify that. But for now let's just assume both ports don't work.

I've read some topics on here regarding IEEE 1394 problems, but I still wanted to get some input on my specific situation. If the front port is bad and the back port just isn't connected to the mobo, then that's an easy solution. However, if both ports are nonfuctional, what do you think the cause might be? I haven't installed any new hardware since I built this computer a year and a half ago so I doubt it's a hardware conflict.

Thanks for your time.

[B3_player85]

I took the liberty of trying a few more things. First I checked to see if the second IEEE 1394 port was connected to the mobo. It was not because there is only one available on the mobo and I chose to connect the front. So I switched them out. I also found out there is another IEEE 1394 port on the back that's integrated into the board. I tried both of those ports but got no results. I also tried uninstalling the driver then rebooting so it would reinstall. Again, no results.

This may not be related to my problem, but I noticed bootup hangs regardless of whether or not the firewire cable is connected. It hangs in 2 places. Once right after the XP bootup screen and a second time right after I log in, the background loads, and the startup sound is heard. Each hang lasts no more than 20 seconds, if that. Like I say, this may or may not be related to my problems with the firewire ports, but it's definitely not the cable or the cabinet as I've been trying the 2 different cables with my new camera.

[ahhaa]

I think you have too many variables to easily deduce what's going wrong...

it sounds like its in the computer; but if you can take your new camera & cables to another computer (camera dealer?) & verify they are 'known good' 1394 sources - including that any output setting on the new camera etc are correct - then you can confidently work on the computer.

you might also consider picking up a Firewire PCI card; they are dirtcheap these days, and that's the only way you can bypass an onmobo controller; there's only one tho it can be accessed at different points.

also, fyi, there was a discussion here recently where it was mentioned that VISTA apparently doesn't support Firewire. Hopefully this will change, or your new Elura supports USB?

good lucK!

[thecoalman]

Hard to tell exactly what you're connecting too but I had a similar issue where the cam would randomly disconnect but just on the front port. It was connected to the soundcard instead of directly to the mobo..... Connecting it properly fixed the problem.

[B3_player85]

ahhaa, I'm pretty sure this is a computer problem. I was having these problems only a couple of weeks before I bought the camera and I have tried with both cables. Something may have been fried on the motherboard, it's hard to tell for sure. The Device Managers says everything is working properly, yet it acts like nothing is plugged in. I could buy one of those firewire PCI cards, but I don't have any PCI slots left. I see they make external firewire interface boxes that connect to the computer via USB, but I'm wondering, does the audio/video quality suffer any loss?

EDIT:
I did some searching on the Abit AN8 forum (the MB I have) and apparently there is a known problem with IEEE 1394 ports using the Texas Instruments chipset with miniDV camcorders. That is in fact the IEEE 1394 chipset on my MB. Unfortunately, there is no known fix or solution other than a PCI card with firewire ports. I did some more digging and they do sell PCIe firewire cards. I have a couple of available PCIe slots free on my computer. They're a had more expensive (around $50 or $60) but this SHOULD take care of the problem. I'll let y'all know.

[ahhaa]

Ryan- don't think the TI prob would let it work for a while, then stop...

on some cameras that output both USB & 1394, I think you have to specifically set the output.

again- good luck!:]

[B3_player85]

Just thought I'd update everyone on this issue. I'm still facing difficulties. I decided that maybe it was time for a reformat of my machine. I did so this evening. I also purchased a PCIe firewire card (plugs into a very short black slot on the MB) and installed it. I don't understand it. The front panel the plugs into the MB and PCIe firewire card both do not recognize the camera is plugged in. I would blame this on the camera, but since it started with my other camera, that doesn't seem to be the root of the problem. I'm about to pull my hair out with this dilema.

I would try another computer, but I don't have any other computers with firewire ports.

Ryan

[ViRaL1]

also, fyi, there was a discussion here recently where it was mentioned that VISTA apparently doesn't support Firewire. Hopefully this will change, or your new Elura supports USB?

good lucK!

I thought that was just networking over firewire. Vista still supports firewire connections for peripherals.