Firewire problem

Yorky

In order to 'capture' mini DV footage onto my PC, the camcorder has to be connected via Firewire.

I first fitted a Firewire 4 Port PCI Card two years ago and it seemed to work then. On attempting to use it yesterday, I had to unplug and then replug the firewire cable in to the firewire port in order for the PC to 'find' it. I though that was it bur had to do the same thing again today.

Does anyone why this is happening and how to rectify it? The Firewire is a Safecom Firewire IEEE1394a internal PCI card.

Lazarus2.0

Have you tried updating the driver for the card ?

Yorky

Thanks for the reply. There was no driver with it so should I just do an internet search for the manufacturer's website and download the driver update from there?

Lazarus2.0

Either through the manufacturer's website or Device Manager~Update Driver . The former is probably the better option . What OS are you running ?

Yorky

Thanks again. OS is XP SP2. I've tried updating through Device Manager~Update Driver but it will only do this from software and not through the internet.

Yorky

Update:

Went on to the manufacturer's website and there is no driver or firmware available for this firewire

Here's the URL http://safecom.cn/code/support/DMF.aspx?pid=201

Does anyone have a solution to this?

Yorky

Further update:

Just uninstalled it and then allowed XP to reinstall it but has made no difference.

The only way the camera is 'found' by the PC is by unplugging the firewire cable from the back of the PC and reinserting it. This is a nuisance as my PC is on a large desk against the wall and surely I shouldn't have to do this?

Any other suggestions?

Lazarus2.0

Have you tried powering the camcorder off then back on while connected to the PC ? Not a solution , I know , but might save you the hassle of getting to the back of the machine all the time .

I dont suppose you have another firewire device handy to try determine whether it is the card at fault and not the cable/device ? If you can determine that it's a problem with the card I'd be inclined to just buy a different one - they're cheap as chips these days .

Sorry I cant come up with anything more useful than that ...

Yorky

Thanks for your replies. I've just tried a different PCI slot - a new motherboard was fitted last year and there was one spare PCI slot with a 'Powered by Foxconn' sticker over it which I scraped off.

When I started up the machine and checked the hardware under Device Manager there was a yellow exclamation mark beside the firewire card and the following message was displayed: This device cannot start (code 10). I rebooted it a few times but the same happened.

I then reseated it in the original PCI slot and the PC would not boot up. I had to remove it and reseat it several times before it would.

The PC is now runnning but the Firewire is still doing the same thing: I have to unplug the cable and re-insert it to get it to work.

Does this suggest it is the firewire card which is faulty?

Thanks again

Dinarius

I'm using one of these.........

http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?view_product=1&id=25579

and the driver is whatever driver the Windows Plug and Play assigned to it.

But, I'm having problems with it and would like to try another driver.

Any ideas where I might find one?

Thanks.

D.