1394 Firewire Will Not Work

I dont know if anyone can help me but here goes. Have Compaq 5660 11/98 DOP with Win98se. Has firewire port I never used or tried or needed. Now have external HDD and DVR+/-R/RW drives that are USB2/1394. The USB port works with these but not the 1394. Also have Compaq 5852 4/00 DOP with win98se and 1394 ports and on this PC both the USB and 1394 do work. The 1394 adapter in Device Manager is a Texas Instruments OHCI IEEE 1394 Host Controller on each PC. The 5852 has 8 drivers. The 5660 PC has one driver, C\Win\Sys\WN1394.VXD and Driver Update says it is the best driver, and I tried the 2 other choices but still didnt work. The drivers in 5852 are different but I have no way to install them and simply copying them did not work. I guess what I need is updated drivers but I find none on Adaptec (version 1.2.1.8 is on 5660 PC) or Compaq or Texas Instruments, although I could have not known how to search or recognize what I need. Also tried search in general for 1394 Firewire drivers but found none that seemed right. Although I listed as intermediate level, I know very little about hardware, drivers, etc but do believe I need an actual instalation file and not just copy files to folders. And never having used Firewire I do not know how or where to update it or how to get it to work. I also looked in bios and compared the PCs but found nothing where 1394 could be enabled or disabled. Just dont know where else to look or what to do. If there are any 1394 Firewire or Hardware savvy people out there that can give suggestions or point me in right direction I would appreciate it. I could simply use the USB port but 1394 would be much faster than USB 1. I have 2 other PCs but one has XP and USB2 but no firewire port and the other has Win98se and USB 1. Please help if you can. Thanks.

 

Bill248,

As a posting suggestion, next time break up your message in paragraphs. It will make it easier for people to respond to your question. Your posting was extremely long and difficult to read considering you could have summed it up in just 2 paragraphs.

Basically what you're saying is that you have an external DVD-RW drive and your Win98 doesn't recognize it - correct? If so, then read these 2 links - it sounds like it might solve your problem.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;221823&Product=w98

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;242975&Product=w98

 

Sorry. Didnt mean to make it difficult.
Probably should be in Hardware Forum also now that I think about it.
Will try to improve...new to forum. Will try links and let you know.
Thanks.

 

I tried both these things and it made no difference.
The USB part works but not the 1394.

 

Hmm... it could be possible that your firewire cable is bad. Try it with a known good cable.

Also the VXD aren't going to be of much help. Those are virtual device drivers and aren't going to solve your problem.

One other thought is to look at the manufacturer's website (of the external DVD-RW drive) and see if there is something you need for your Win98 OS.

 

Bill, something i forgot to mention:

Both USB and Firewire are fully hot-swappable and Plug n' Play compliant. What this means is that there's no firedrill to run through before installing such a device. You simply plug it into your PC, the OS will recogize it and as long as you have the proper driver for your OS, you can begin using it right away.

Therefore, I suspect that it's possible your firewire port on the pc is defective. Although it's a small chance, it is indeed possible. But first try a different firewire cable and see if that works.

 

I finally solved problem by going out and buying an Adaptec AFW4300 3-port firewire 1394 card and installing it. Now it works fine. Other port is still there but still doesnt work. It only says its a 1394 device but the new one says it is a COMPLIANT 1394 device. There are 9 drivers listed for this device.

 

Bill glad you were able to get a workaround solution. You probably do have a bad firewire port on your PC, but now that you've installed the new PCI card, it's a probably a moot point. You could even ask HP to replace it if you had some sort of warranty left on your PC.