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Oddball question about firewire

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by limelight, Apr 20, 2005.

  1. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    I feel like an idiot asking this, but i bought a firewire card for my pc and installed it. To my understanding, i thought it was plug and play. Windows doesnt recognize it, and i dont have any software. This is what

    i got: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6758940686
    Does it need a seperate power source like the hard drive and optical drives have?
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    according to the picture it uses the same connector as your floppy drive. what does the device manager show. does the motherboard see the card & what windows are you using??
     
  3. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    Im on XP SP2, when i plugged it in windows didnt recognize it, then when i went to "add hardware" in the control panel, it still didnt show up.

    So that connector that looks the same as the floppy, that would be a power connector correct?
     
  4. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    In the device manager, what category would it be under?

    The only thing that has a question mark is "Other devices" -> Multimedia audio controller.
     
  5. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    the firewire is an ieee 1394 controller & not multimedia audio controller but that problem might cause the firewire to be not seen so see if can get audio controller working
     
  6. gizmobob

    gizmobob Member

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    First isolate the Audio Controller problem... remove the card and boot back into windows and check the device manager. May guess is that you have an Audio Controller and onboard Audio on your Motherboard. You prolly never installed those MB Drivers cause you never used it. Just reboot the computer and hit the Delete Key at the POST screen and enter "Setup" for your CMOS Settings on your BIOS Chip. Once loaded, navigate to Advanced Settings or Integrated Peripherals, etc, and locate the On-Board Audio Controller and disable it. Save and Exit the BIOS and boot back into windows. Now, check the Device Manager and see if you still have the same Audio Controller problem. It should be gone.

    Now, turn off the PC and install the Firewire Card. You do not need to connect a Power Connector to the card as it pulls power from the PCI Slot. The 4 Pin Header is for Data Cable. If you are using XP SP2, the card should easily Plug-n-Play. If not, search the internet for these drivers... VIA_VT6306_1394FIREWIRE.zip. I found them here http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=287003 but you need to sign up with their free service in order to download them...(ehem... spyware?!?) The Controller will either be listed in the Device Manager as an IEEE-1394 Controller or a SCSI and RAID Controller. Do not plug a power connector into the 4 pin header. If your PC still doesn't see the controller, move it to another PCI Slot. If you are not using SP2, find it and install it. Good Luck!

    -Bob
     
  7. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    The problem with the audio has been fixed. On the firewire card, i switched a set of jumpers so that "internal 12v" would be on. Windows now recognizes the card being there, but when i try to install the drivers from that link you gave me, windows says that it cannot find one better than the one i have. heres a screenshot of what i have:

    [​IMG]


    what else can i do?

     
  8. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    check to see if can change the resources
     
  9. baabaa

    baabaa Active member

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    Now you have found that windows can recognise it, why not just uninstall it completely and reboot, let windows find it and see if it can configure it instead using that driver from the link.

    Not suggesting that, that link is no good, but it may have a conflict with some drivers that have already been installed.

    Also have you any other PCI slots free that you could try it in?

     
  10. gizmobob

    gizmobob Member

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    BaaBaa is right... first uninstall the Device by right clicking and "Remove" from the system. It doesn't really remove the drivers, just a setting in the Registry the Hardware and Drivers are linked. Then reboot and install the card into an empty PCI slot. Reboot and Windows should automatically load the drivers for the card when it recognizes it. If not, open Windows Explorer and click on the "+" next to My Computer, then the "+" next to the C: Drive, then the "+" next to Windows, and then click on the folder called INF. Move the 1394.inf file out of that folder into another folder somewhere else. Don't put it in the Windows folder or System, or System32, and then try the process again. You are prolly just experiencing conflicting drivers. Moving windows default INF file may let you install the OEM Drivers.

    -Bob

    PS: Answer me this... did you name your PC HOTTSTEVEN? LOL!
     
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2005
  11. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    Well ive tried putting it in a different pci slot, that didnt work.
    Then i took it out, rebooted, shut off, then put it back in, rebooted, now the card doesnt even show up. I think im just going to buy a different card with a software/drivers cd and see if that works.
    and yes, my pc is named hottsteven :)
     
  12. gizmobob

    gizmobob Member

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    You really shouldn't have this much trouble with a card that costs only $10. I recall an instance where I spent 3 hours troubleshooting a Floppy Drive on a PC, only to realize that I didn't have the Power Cable attached to the damn thing.

    3.5" Floppy Drive... $12
    3 hours of Tech Support @ $50/hr... $150
    Actual Cost to Customer... $0

    The laughter shared by my stupidity... Priceless!
     
  13. limelight

    limelight Regular member

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    I really do think that the white part of the card is a for power. when i took out the card and had my pc off, i unplugged the floppy drive's power source and plugged it in to the firewire card. fit perfectly. then i rebooted with it still plugged in and now it doesnt show anything on dev manager. go figure.
     

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