Firewire connection not detecting external hd

Scruff

Ive a dell inspiron 9100. Bought a external hd case last week that has usb2.0 and firewire on it. Installed hd to case, enabled the firewire on the laptop, plugged in the hd and nothing, didnt detect it at all.
On my tool bar there is a new network connection that tells me that the firewire connection is enabled at 400mbps, regardless of whether the external hd is plugged in at all.
In the end i had to resort to the usb connection which picked up the hd straight away. any ideas why the firewire connection wasnt picking it up?

ARGINITE

1. Have you tryed any other firewire devices on the laptop before or since?
2. Have you tryed the harddrive using the firewire connection on another computer with a working firewire port?

Also try moving the firewire connection to the laptop a wee bit, that can some times help.

But the first two will point you to the source of the problem.

Scruff

1) Nope, have no other firewire enabled devices

2) Nope, have no other pc\laptops with firewire support.

snookered there eh?

ARGINITE

Ya very much, its really the only way to check.