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[betabaker18]

OK, I know I am retro man here....

Cutting with FCP 4.5, firewire 400 hook up to the same deck.  I go for lunch after saving the project.

I come back and FCP cannot find the deck...firewire is MIA.

Solved it by trashing preferences and QT preferences, only out of nothing left to lose, and now it works again.

WHY?

Is my system old?  Is version 4.5 buggy? Is this just another random FCP moment?

The hardware has run without fault since day of purchase.  I have basically cut this type of project before.  What has changed?

I guess there is no answer, but if the is...I'd sure like to know.

Thanks,

Dave

[Martin]

First of all I have to say that I'm a little jealous that you haven't had a fault since day of purchase. My G5 is a real lemon that has seen more crashes than a years worth of Break.com videos. This is seriously your first problem? You're lucky.

Trashing pref's is a pretty extreme fix. Did you try the basics first like re-booting or repair permissions before that?

No way for me to answer your question now, but seriously, this is your first problem??

[betabaker18]

OK, so perhaps this not my FIRST issue, otherwise how would I have found this forum.

This is the first time the deck has gone missing.

On the advice of another mac guru (one of my nine lives life lines) he recommended trashing the prefs and that seemed to work.

The next time (today) I fired up the system...same cables, deck, project etc...the deck was once again AWOL.

Could it be that the drives are too full?  That seems odd, but I am willing to try any recommendation.

Thanks in advance,

db

[Martin]

Let me say that I'm not shocked that you had the problem again. No offense to your Mac expert but that should only be last resort when you really have tried to fix the problem. That being said there's too much information missing from you post for me to help you. Like if you did what I suggested and how full your drive is. Take a look at our how to trouble shoot section take then take a fresh look at your problem. If just doing that doesn't help you find the answer then post again with more information.

[betabaker18]

What sort of info would be helpful?

I am cutting on a dual 867 PowerPC G4 -1 MB L3 cache per processor
2GB of DDR SDRAM
Two hard drives:
1.) 114 GB capacity with 86.29 gb of free space
2.) 127 GB capacity with 23.24 gb of free space

#1 is where FCP (version 4.5) lives
#2 is where my footage and other project files are stored.

I have a Pansonic AG-DV2500 miniDV deck connected to the G4's firewire 400 port.

The 'missing firewire' message was displayed by FCP after I returned from lunch.  The morning session offered no hint of trouble or malfunction.  Not knowing better, I trashed the preferences in the FCP folder (users library..my name) as well as the FCP related preference file in the preferences folder.

This appeared to solve the issue when FCP was next launched.  Today, the deck is still missing.  I have reset the P-RAM, used disk utility to verify and repair disk permissions as well as verify both disks.

Web research has suggested updating the firmware, logging into open firmware and ultimately suggested that my firewire port is toast.

I am puzzled as my other slower G4 (single 1.4 Ghz) recognizes the deck, the firewire port and has (touch wood) never had this issue.  So, what did I do?

Too much information, maybe, but those are the details.

Thanks in advance for you help.

db

[betabaker18]

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/firewire/topic2191.html

This link talked about booting into your open firmware and changing some items.

I have not do so as this is well beyond my depth.

Just FYI.

db

[betabaker18]

http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx/arch_boot.html

This one goes into more detail about open firmware.

Again, interesting, but well beyond my willingness to dabble.

It still don't believe the firewire port is toast.

db

[Martin]

Again I caution that you are using extreme methods. Resetting the p-ram should be done with great caution and only when somebody who knows more than you or I direct you to. As I understand the process your equipment can be damaged by resetting the p-ram.

That being said the most common source of firewire intermittent problems is the connector cable. There have been a multitude of poor quality fire wire cables even from high end brand names in the last few years. I haven't followed the issue recently so I don't know if they have it resolved.

That is not to much information. Really it's not enough. You didn't mention if when the problem first occurred if you shut down your system and powered it back up with out touching any of the hardware. That should be your first step. You also didn't mention if you checked all of the power cords to make sure that they were secure. This should be step one by the way. Always check the basics first. An interruption of power for 1 second will cause it to not be recognized. I had this issue last month with my external HD. It was simply a power cable that was barely making contact. Looked good visually, but giving it a good solid push made a solid connection and fixed the problem.

For those following this thread with a similar problem do not use the extreme methods that db is using. Trouble shooting should be done methodically and logically. Check the basics first. Using logical chains to establish if it is a hardware issue or a software issue. Always remember that hardware problems in particular can be intermittent. A cable may work perfectly always on computer A, but intermittently on computer B. It's the nature of physics vs ohms law.