miniDV Firewire nightmare. 2 Camcorders, 3 computers, nothing works.

[BlizZ]

My old PC, which I had used to edit home movies, croaked a few months ago and I built a new system. Everything on my new PC has been running good and overall the system is more stable than the other one ever was, good benchmark scores, etc... The system is running Windows XP SP2 on a BIOSTAR TForce4U motherboard with a dual 2ghz AMD 64 X2 running at stock settings with a Radeon X850 XT video card.

Everything was fine until I wanted to edit some footage that I took on the 4th of July, and connected my Panasonic PV-GS9 miniDV camcorder to my new PC via FireWire.

Then, nothing happened. My computer acted as if nothing was connected.

So I was stumped. So what I did was search the web for quite a bit and figured that perhaps this was a Windows XP SP2 conflict, and I found 2 solutions. Disable the firewall on the 1394 port, which I did, and also download a Microsoft hotfix to fix the speeds. I did this and nothing changed.

Getting desperate, I followed a tutorial on reverting to SP1 firewire drivers, involving replacing files and renaming .cab files so that it can't revert them and that didn't work. So then, I renamed the .cab files correctly and went and did a full uninstall of service pack 2, reverting me back to SP1.

That did nothing either, so I decided to reinstall SP2.

After literally hours of troubleshooting, I was really pulling my hair out.

Now, when I plug in my Panasonic PV-GS9, the "START" button will light up, so I know it's getting SOME kind of signal from the firewire port. Furthermore, the blue screen with time/date on display will start to blink to a black screen and then back to the blue. Over, and over, and over. So there is SOME type of communication going on between my PC and the camcorder. I hear the camera making noises like moving the tape, and then moving it back, as the screen blinks. And I hear my hard drive producing small bits of activity. But I am not getting any notice or prompt on my PC that a new device was plugged in. Nor can I capture the footage using a program like winDV or Ulead VideoStudio. The only capture source that my PC sees is my DVR card, no camcorder.

I figured that perhaps my motherboard's firewire port was simply incompatible or faulty. So I went out and purchased TWO different PCI firewire cards, one with a Texas instruments chipset and one with a VIA (same as my motherboard's) Neither worked and I have since returned them.

So I decided to try out another camcorder. This one is a JVC miniDV camcorder, unsure of exact model. When I plug THAT in to the same firewire port, I get absolutely nothing on the camera, no blinking or anything, though I can hear my hard drive doing something at times.

At this point I started to suspect that the problem may be with my PC and not my camcorders. So I tried plugging it in to my iBook G4. Nothing happens, and everything on Macs is pretty much plug and play. I also tried my new MacBook and tried to plug in the Panasonic, and nothing. The JVC isn't working on the MacBook either.

I've tried 3 different firewire cables, and still these problems persist. I know from past experience that this type of thing is SUPPOSED to be pretty painless and auto-recognized by the OS, be it Windows or OSX. But I can't understand what is going on. I've tried 2 cameras, 2 computers, and 3 different firewire cables.

It's worth noting that the only firewire port that is getting the Panasonic to do ANYTHING is the front one on my case, the back firewire port produces nothing, just like when the camcorder is connected to the Mac. I am pretty sure both firewire ports should be active, unless the front one disables the back one.

I am really at a loss as to what to do next. The only possible thing that springs to mind is that my new PC killed my camcorder's firewire port the first time that I plugged it in, and then when I went to test out the other camera, it blew that one out too. Unfortunately I don't have access to any more computers with firewire or camcorders. At this point I don't know where the problem lies, and I am hesitant to purchase a new camera if I don't think it will solve my problems. Plus, I fear that my PC will fry the 1394 port on the camera, IF that is really what my problem is. I thought about reformatting my PC, but that wouldn't explain why the cameras aren't working on my Macs either, so I don't even think it would help.

Is there any suggestions you have? I don't know what to do next because nothing seems like a sure thing. Is there a diagnostic program or something I can run to check the firewire port on my PC out to see if it has the right voltages or something? Any advice or anything else I can try?

Your help is much appreciated.

[redwudz]

I would take the camcorders to a video store or to someone that has a working FireWire port and a camcorder that works with it, then try your camcorders. I think you want to know if your camcorders are OK. If they don't work anymore with FireWire, don't plug anything else into those computer ports. I hope thats not the problem.

You said you built that computer yourself. Did you also wire the front FireWire port? I can tell you that not all plugs and sockets on motherboards and cases match wire for wire.

But that wouldn't explain the PCI FW cards not working, unless its a camera problem now.

If the cameras are OK, strange. Especially the Mac not working as they seem to work with FW with less problems than PCs. Sorry, no more ideas for the moment. Good luck.

[edDV]

I agree with redwudz. It's difficult to get started until you know the camcorder and cable work first on another computer.

As for the computer, you have done most of the steps so one can only toss out ideas.

- XP SP2 should have installed a recent DirectX (required). Did you also install the IEEE-1394 port drivers from the BIOSTAR motherboard CD?

- Does the IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controller show in the Device manager?

- The camcorder should show in the "Select Video window" under "Video Source" in WinDV. It will also show in the device selection in Windows Movie Maker and other capture programs.

[moults]

I had the same problem with my JVC. I tried new cables and everything but to no avail. I then found out that the wonderful people of Microsoft stopped supporting my camera in the latest updates. It seems they don't support digital camcorders over 3 years old!!! I connected my neighbours new dv and hey presto no problem. I suggest you try and borrow anewer camera and try that. best of luck

[guns1inger]

I have a Panasonic that is well over three years old, and I have no problems with firewire support. Running XP SP2 with latest updates. If the firewire connection at the camera end has been properly implemented, it should just work, without the need for drivers or extra support.

[edDV]

I don't think XP SP2 is the problem other than the known update.

I connect about 6 different firewire devices, some go back to 1998.