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Problems with Firewire?

post #1 of 16
2/22/05 at 1:28am
Thread Starter 
i just got my notebook from sager for repairs today and plugged in my brand new firewire/usb 2.0 drive

i was using the firewire and ran into problems where under high load, the drive would lose it's connection, and it wasn't until i unplugged the power to the drive and re-scanned the drives under disk management for it to become recognized again

then when i was running linux via vmware with the vm on the external drive, it corrupted the entire drive when i lost connection while writing to the drive.

i had to format and re-install the vm

it was at that point i decided to use usb 2.0 instead of firewire despite the 3mb/s faster speeds with firewire. and thus far i haven't had that same problem.


my concern now is whether it is my on board firewire port, or the external firewire enclosure. i don't have another firewire component to test out, but the fact that usb2.0 is working makes me worried it's my firewire port


are there any known problems with the firewire port?
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post #2 of 16
2/22/05 at 6:56am
I remember someone saying the firewire port, though 6-pinned, wasn't powered. Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not; most likely not, but it's worth knowing.

All I can suggest is try getting another firewire device. Camcorders, iPods, whatever. I've never had problems with mine and I use it all the time with my external drive and camcorder.

Are you still under warranty?
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post #3 of 16
2/22/05 at 8:04am
Thread Starter 
well the external case has it's own power supply so i don't think power is an issue

i'm not under the original warranty any longer, but i have the phillips warranty. but i still have lingering problems that weren't addressed by the original warranty that may require them to take the machine back for repairs. i might be able to squeeze in firewire problems when i send it to them
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post #4 of 16
2/22/05 at 11:06am
By all means, if you're already sending it in, get them to address the firewire issue at the same time.
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post #5 of 16
2/22/05 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
well i just got it back from them yesterday because of inverter issues, and the other issues i asked them weren't addressed. so now i have to fight with them about thme paying for me to ship my machine back and htem fixing the computer again
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post #6 of 16
2/26/05 at 5:31pm
Thread Starter 
no other suggestions?
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post #7 of 16
2/28/05 at 2:31am
I just figured it was a quirk with the machine as mine does it too. Late last year I got a firewire/usb drive and from time to time it will dissapear but all I have to do is turn it off and back on and it rescans and shows up again. I use it through the firewire cause all 4 usb ports are used up so I dunno if it does the same with usb.
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post #8 of 16
2/28/05 at 10:29am
I smell a Microsoft rat here. Could it be a bug in the FW driver? Check the Microsoft website and/or google for this problem, it might show up elsewhere.
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post #9 of 16
2/28/05 at 1:17pm
All it takes is the slightest bump against the cable and BAM!!! - it's disconnected. Make sure that the plug-in is properly seated. I had to "expand" mine just a bit so that it had a snug fit. Haven't had any disconnect problems in a long time.
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post #10 of 16
2/28/05 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
hmmmmm, well i think it's a pretty serious problem because it corrupts the hard drive and i have to format the drive each time i use the firewire
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post #11 of 16
2/28/05 at 3:20pm
That sounds like a different problem. See if the firmware (IEEE1394) of the enclosure is "up to snuff". Some of the cheaper ones sold were outdated and behaved badly - especially if you daisy chained more than one device to the IEEE1394 channel (That was a cause of loosing the format, etc...).
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post #12 of 16
2/28/05 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
well this is a bytecc drive that i bought from newegg. and unfortunately, i can't read mandarin which is what their website appears to be written in


edit: nevermind, www.byteccusa.com i found out the chipset in my enclosure is the oxford 911 chipset, so i downloaded a new firmware and am backing up the drive before i try to upgrade the firmware

edit 2: well the firmware update utility doesn't seem to be working for my drive. i'm not surprised cuz i don't think it was meant for my drive
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post #13 of 16
2/28/05 at 7:39pm
Kid,

I just removed the DVD from my BYTECC 5.25" external USB 2.0/IEEE1394 and popped in the hard drive that I had in my other 5.25" external that I purchased from Meritline. DAMN, the bugger ATE my drive shortly after I connected it with IEEE1394. I then set things back to normal, only this time I changed the DVD to use the IEEE1394 connection. It wrote 484Kbs and stopped working. I reattched to the USB and all is working fine. I have repartitioned and reformatted the HDD (160GB Seagate 7,200 rpm with 8 MB buffer) and everything is back to normal - except copying a couple of files from my redundant storage server.

I purchased my BYTECC from Newegg this past July. I think that I should have done some better testing back then and returned the unit for a refund as it doesn't provide the firewire support (or maybe it only does it for Apples).

Not pleased with BYTECC!!! You might want to RMA the thing or try using it under USB, if you have an open port.
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post #14 of 16
3/1/05 at 2:18am
Thread Starter 
yea i use it under usb flawlessly, but when i was using sisoft sandra to do some benchmarks, i got 3 MB/s faster with the firewire. but also during that testing the drive corrupted and i had to format it. i'll send an email to newegg now as well as give bytecc a call tomorrow. i called them today but they were in a lunch break and they asked me to call back in 45 mins. i fell asleep thanks to the free snow day and didn't call when i got up


glad to know i'm not hte only one with the problems. has anyone been able to use other brand firewire drives without any problems just so we know it's not our sagers?
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post #15 of 16
3/1/05 at 2:57am
I have another one that I haved used a 250GB HD (Now in my server) and a 160GB (presently in use). I have had up to 120GB on the 160GB drive and about 200GB on the 250GB drive in the past. I use it for streaming, MPEG2, and AVI video. SO I know that the firewire on the 8790's work. Can't say anything about the 8890 as I don't have one of them.
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post #16 of 16
3/1/05 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
well the fact that u had the same problem with the bytecc drive reasures me that my firewire on my lappy is fine
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