I have a 80 GB external maxtor that is in a separate companies case, that has USB and fire wire, on my old IMAC i used the usb and everything was fine.... I just purchased a used powerbook g4 1 gh with superdrive 15 inch....

so I thought great now I can use the FW port... well nothing comes up on the desk top when I use the fire wire... if i go back to the USB it works fine, but that is no solution...

are there any common connection prooblems I may be overlooking??? is there a way to test the FW port on the powerbook, as I have no other FW devices yet (will be getting a video cam someday)

any help would be appreciated...

The only way you could really test the firewire port would be to attach a different device to it, and see if it works. If it does, the port is good.

Do you have another system to try the hard drive's firewire connection out on?

Hello,

I would plug it in, and go into the System Profiler, and see if the Powerbook G4 sees it. IF so, great. If not, then there may be a problem.

If the System Profiler correctly identifies it, then I wonder if there is a security issue on the device. But I think the device should be "mounted" first, before any such warning is displayed.

Also check to see if the G4 is up to date on system software.

Christian

it definitely did not recognize it on the profiler, it does when hooked up on the usb though... I sure hope the port is not dead on the computer as it is not under a warrantee.....

the only other thing I have with a FW connection is my wifes fujitsu, but it has a MINI connection, so if I get A FW to miniFW connection I could see if it sees other computer???

well. it may be the connecton on the back of the drive, I bought a cable that would connect my mac to my wifes windows, and it showed up on the profiler, and then I hooked the drive up the the windows pc and nothing registered... i really hope it is the drive connection, as i can still use it on the usb output at least......

any other thoughts let me know...

Hello,

I hope you are able to get that working. I have not upgraded to Firewire technology, so don't know everything about it. I am still working with SCSI and USB, although I think I have left serial behind.

Take care, and let us know.

Christian

well I had a friend with a Powerbook try it on his FW port and it did not work, so the good news is by Powerbook seems to work fine, the drive case seems to be the problem...

very good news and somewhat bad news...

I think the drive case may still be under warrantee... so that may be a help...

Hello,

Looks like it's time to contact the manufacture and have the drive swapped. The Firewire will be much faster (assuming the drive mechanism can keep up) than the USB package is.

Take care, and hope all is well.

Christian

you might just need to reinstall the software for the port or just reconfigure it if you can

hi, i had this problem before.. i have a western dig drive in an enclosure by belkin... i found the bub would work but the fire wire would not..

i later found it was something silly by me. i hadn't set the drive to master.. it was set as a slave as it was in my pc as a slave.

when i chanded it it worked fine after..

try looking at that..

DAVE