Firewire continues to drop out.

Hi All: I've posted on this once before, and more or less got the message: "like it or lump it" Are we sure there is no "fix "?

PCI firewire (1394) card that magically appears and disappears.

What happens is that on boot or reboot, sometimes the connection is missing and in device manager it has that familiar yellow exclamation point. Even on a reboot when the connection was working previously.

All firewire drivers are native Windows XP

I can uninstall and reinstall 'till I'm blue in the face, but still get no connection and Device Manager says: "Device cannot start, code 10 "

If I uninstall the card in device manager, shut down the machine, reboot, the new hardware wizard finds it and re-installs it as a disabled item. (can't start, Code 10) System events tells me that the drivers failed to load. In device manager, driver details, all the native drivers are there.

I've tried a number of times updating the drivers from the XP CD, same results, with the exception that sometimes on boot, after the machine has been shut down for a long time, the connection magically reappears. When it does, it works as advertised.

I was about to go on line and order a new card & try that, but I thought I'd give the geniuses on this board one more shot at it.

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Martin

 

Try doing this...

Uninstall the card software wise then physically wise. Restart and make sure the computer is running oks, you know the usual stuff.

Put the card back in and let XP do its stuff. Go to the company website and download their drivers. That usually works for any problem dealing with hardwear recognition. And install that, you should have your problem fixed then.....hopefully.

If that doesnt happen I suggest that you throw some holy water at it and see if it doenst catch on fire at that point. =^_^=

NeoSpawn

 

Hi NeoSpawn: Holy water huh? Sorry I didn't think of that. Reminds me of one of this board member's signature:

ERROR MESSAGE

COMPUTER POSSESSED EXORCISE? y__n__

I think that error message has some merit.

In my post I said help before I go out and buy a new Firewire card. That was 2 days ago.

I had already tried your suggestions, they were right on target for a card that worked. Too bad the one I had didn't.

I too would have sworn it was a software problem, since the card worked some of the time and when it didn't, on start up, there was a system error, " 1394 drivers did not load "

Being the impatient soul that I am, I bought a new card this morning at Walmart, jerked the old one out, put the new one in and viola, constant connection. No failures. No "1394 drivers did not load" error message. So for at least 12 hours, steady as a rock.

Which all goes to demonstrate that no matter what I'm sure is wrong, it will turn out to be something else.

One of the mysteries I would like an explanation of is why does the XP OS treat this as a network connection?

I appreciate your response. At least you took a shot at it. More than I can say for some others on this board. I think I must scare them.



Yes, I'm cool!

Martin

 

1394 .........
why does the XP OS treat this as a network connection?

Best I can surmise, it passes various requirements of a "Network" defintion, primarly the ability to "connect ".....

A group of two or more computer systems linked together.

Automatic device discovery and configuration, peer-to-peer functionality, self-configuring network, IEEE 1394 is simple.

As FireWire is a high-speed serial bus system, and can be used to connect one computer to another, one of its most natural applications is to build up a network of PCs.

 

Hey Dennis: That is very interesting.

So, why don't we network through Firewire?

Firewire cards are relativley inexpensive, lots faster than my ethernet. (4X)

Could run Firewire cables instead of Cat5?

Any wireless Firewire cards out there? Winning idea for some card mfg?

Windows would recognize a Firewire network?

Like I said, very interesting, never heard of a Firewire network.

Thanks for the response.

Martin

 

So, why don't we network through Firewire?

Same question was rolling through my mind, but I've never seen the request or
"see what I've done" here on the boards. NEWT... any comments??

 

Thanks for the link Pete.

Well I'll be darned........

I wonder why this has been kept a secret? Well, maybe not a secret, but I've been running XP for two years, 98 3 years before that, had Firewire for a year, maybe more I think, and I have never seen anything published. Or heard anyone talk about or mention it.

You can connect 69 computers together, provided that each one is within 15 feet of the next one? And they will automatically be networked?? With no adapters, no additional drivers, nothing but a Firewire cable and a card if not on MOBO? 4 times faster than ethernet?

Why do I find that so hard to believe??

Martin

 

Same problem, no Firewire cards..... anyone up for the challenge?

Do have a few questions per 1394 link...
Where does the router position? Leave as config/ ethernet connection? Not only as a shared dedicated internet provider, but as a firewall.
Creating Network printer share service? Also if no 1394 connection port on printer?
What, where, how in XP / w9x's would you manage disk / folder "access and permissions "? The question being, does "Network Neighborhood" interact in 1394 connections?
Firewalls.... Must they be "configured" to manage / monitor
"ethernet -(and)- 1394" connections?

 

The way I read it, you do not need a switch or router, you would connect machine one direct to a modem (cat 5 or POT to any modem, cable, dsl, dialup), connect machine two to machine one with Firewire, go from there, 3 to 2, 4 to 3, and so on and so on. (I could add a whole bunch more "so ons ")

That certainly would explain why MSFT treats this as a network connection. Do I need to firewall it?

I must be missing something here.

Only one Firewire equipped machine here too.

Smilies still not working, maybe new firewall. got "error on page" this response.

Martin

Shut down firewall, edit page, smilies (as you can see) working. Kerio personal firewall. Setting??

Wrong again, you can see the problem next to "Martin" Wrong again, now it works.

 

The way I read it, you do not need a switch or router, you would connect machine one direct to a modem (cat 5 or POT to any modem, cable, dsl, dialup), connect machine two to machine one with Firewire, go from there, 3 to 2, 4 to 3, and so on and so on. (I could add a whole bunch more "so ons ")

With currents conditions on internet, I would NOT go online without a NAT/router in front of my computer(s). It is much smarter and quicker than myself trying to configure a software firewall. I do use the latter, but as a second line of defense for "call home" activity. Also the router provides a "always active" shared connection to the internet. Multiply connected computers directly attached to the router (or via hub breakout) only require one computer to be powered up if it requires a internet connection. The 1394 pass through connection requires all computers powered up if the last computer requires a internet connection. The same access disadvantage when using XP's shared internet services and a ethernet connection.
My guess for a safe network which requires internet access and wants 1394 connectivity ....
Router / ethernet for shared internet access.
1394 for "local network" connecting each computer for file share between computers. If you have a 1394 connection on your printer, should / could be a simply plug in for network access? Now if there is a 1394 connectable router, this would simplify things.

 

Dennis, I agree, what you say makes sense. So, maybe that's why we never hear anything about "firewire networking" But something to keep in mind for future reference.

Martin