XP won't recognize camcorder

[vertigoman]

I just started having a strange problem while trying to capture some DV.

I have a Panasonic Palmcorder PV-DV401 that's worked perfectly from the day I bought it. I'm using a fairly new Dell computer running Windows XP.

Normally, all I have to do is plug the DV camera into the computer's firewire card. Then the computer recognizes the camera, and everything works just fine.

I plugged my camera in, and nothing happened. I checked in the device manager, which said that the firewire card was working fine - yet it wasn't detecting my DV cam.

I tried removing the firewire driver and then letting Windows reinstall it automatically when the computer was rebooted. It did that fine, but it still doesn't recognize my camera being plugged in.

I tried three different cables to make sure it wasn't a cable problem. I also used my ADVC-100, and it didn't recognize that either, so it's not the fault of the camera.

I'm at a loss as to what to do. I'd appreciate any help or suggestions you might have -- my email address is vertigoman@aol.com if you would prefer to email me privately.

Thank you for your time,

Josh

[rcb]

Since you indicate the problem to be somewhere in your computer hw/sw setup, you might consider using xp's troubleshooter (see help and support utility) to diagnose your firewire function... or if possible use xp's system restore to roll back to a date where you knew all was working right...

beyond that, could only suggest a call to dell service.

[vertigoman]

XP troubleshooter doesn't detect anything wrong with anything, and I tried a rollback but apparently there's nothing to rollback on since the computer is so new. thanks for the suggestions, though.

[proxyx99]

Happend to me with a bad iLink cable. Make sure that you PC gets the signal first and then troubleshoot pc. If the cable is bad... well, you get the picture.

[D_Knife]

Are you running SP 1 or 1a ??
they have DV / firewire connection fixes

[vertigoman]

I still haven't been able to make it work. Since my last post...

I've reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP from scratch, and only installed the video editing software. Same problem - when I plug my camcorder in, it won't recognize that anything has been plugged in. Device Manager says that the firewire card is working fine - it just doesn't detect anything.

I tried my camcorder on a friend's computer and my friend's computer recognized it and captured from it without a problem.

I noticed when I checked the device manager that it detected a "multimedia device" (when the camera was NOT plugged in) that was unknown (you know, where it has that little yellow icon next to the listing). Since I've installed the proper drivers for everything in my system, I have no idea what that multimedia device could be. Do you think this might somehow be a part of the problem?

I can't figure out what "multimedia device" could be for the life of me - the new hardware wizard recognizes "multimedia device" but can't identify what it is or what drivers work with it.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for your time and help.

[proxyx99]

WinXP has no reason to not to see your Cam. Try your friends cable (most common issue is bad cable, I'd say 80% of cases) it is necessary I'm afraid. If cable bad, it will never work... You can remove (delete) this device in Device Manager, if needed winXP will ask you for drivers again (yellow means attempted by WinXP and failed, safe to remove).

[vertigoman]

I tried using three different firewire cables, and that hasn't made a difference.

In the device manager, it does not recognize any device being plugged in, so there is no device to remove and reinstall.

This is incredibly frustrating - I'm usually pretty decent with computer stuff, but I've never seen anything like this in my life.

[proxyx99]

Then only one conclusion can be made. WinXP is wating for drivers (MOBO, sound etc.) that you have not installed yet. Some of the hardware in your pc is taking resources which cannot be properly assigned(allocated) by winXP due to the missing drivers. Subsequent installation of devices that request acces to these resources cannot be processed as windows cannot resolve wich are taken and which are still available (this is as old as windows history). Those resource ranges will then be excluded and new device installation will fail as long asthe issue is not resolved. Check what else (if you say multimedia device then most likely sound related) you need to install (go through your hardware manuals and software).

[vertigoman]

On a whim, my friend insisted that I remove my firewire card and install his into my machine. It worked perfectly. I guess even though XP swore my card was functioning properly, it was wrong. I'm kinda surprised the hardware is actually busted since I've only had the computer for a couple months and haven't done anything that might damage anything in it, but, hey, that's what warranties are for.

[proxyx99]

Great.
Good to have insisting friends, they may come handy in times of trouble.

[GeoPappas]

On a whim, my friend insisted that I remove my firewire card and install his into my machine. It worked perfectly. I guess even though XP swore my card was functioning properly, it was wrong. I'm kinda surprised the hardware is actually busted since I've only had the computer for a couple months and haven't done anything that might damage anything in it, but, hey, that's what warranties are for.

I have a friend that had a similar problem with his Dell computer. He called Dell support and they said to try and switch the Firewire card to a different PCI slot. Sometimes one slot works better than another. It's possible that the card wasn't seated right in the slot.

[vertigoman]

I have a friend that had a similar problem with his Dell computer. He called Dell support and they said to try and switch the Firewire card to a different PCI slot. Sometimes one slot works better than another. It's possible that the card wasn't seated right in the slot.

I did try that first, and that didn't do it. Go figure. These things are probably made for about a nickel somewhere with cheap labor and cheap parts, eventually some are gonna break through no fault of the user.