XP and 2 DVD-Writers via Firewire

[RacerXRed]

I have a Sony VAIO tower with XP and dvd externals, a Sony DRX-720UL and a Sony DRX-810UL connected via firewire. One is connected to the rear 6-pin connector, the other is connected to the 4-pin in the front. XP is not recognizing either drive, and I'm getting the yellow exclamation marks by them in the device manager. Anybody else have this issue?

[ofbarea]

Yes but with an add-on firewire card and a Nec drive in a generic external firewire case.

The only way I was able to fix it was to move the card to an alternate PCI slot so windows would recognize it and re-install the drivers again.

On the other hand it could be that the firewire chip is damaged, it could also be caused by a faulty cable.

You may also try removing all and all related firewire drivers.

[TaoTeWingChun]

I second ofbarea's advice - I too had to move my firewire card to another slot, and once I did I found paradise again.

Good Luck!

TTWC

[RacerXRed]

Thanks for the advice. The firewire ports came standard on the pc, never used both at once. The pci firewire cards are inexpensive right now, maybe I will give that a try.

[TaoTeWingChun]

Instead of buying a new card, try connecting only one of the external devices to one of the built-in ports and see if that works.

If it does, then remove that device and plug it into the other firewire port. It it doesn't, then try the other device first on one port, then the other.

Post your results back and we'll go from there.

Thanks!

TTWC

[RacerXRed]

Ok, did some tests. I have 2 firewire cables, the original OEM one and a one that I purchased through ebay.

Using the 4-pin port in the front of the pc:

810: works with both cables

720: works with the OEM cable only

Using the 6-pin port in the rear of the pc:

810: works with both cables

720: works with both cables

I now have both writers connected without any issues:

810 : ebay cable/rear 6-pin port

720 : OEM cable/front 4-pin port

I'm a bit confused but everything works.