FIREWIRE CONNECT PROBLEM with Maxtor

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Level 1

8 points

FIREWIRE CONNECT PROBLEM with Maxtor

I am using my 4 Seagate Maxtor External Harddrives ( they all can be used with USB or FW ) for years and without any problems and at least 2 of them always were connected during start-up and wake - up of my iMAC.Never any trouble whatsoever! Then suddenly this morning,instead of my familiar desktop I found a gray screen with a big black square and the spinning wheel.I disconnected all external devices and restarted and all was fine.I then decided to reconnect one Maxtor first to USB which mounted just fine and then I tried the same with the Fire Wire Port. Immediately the gray film covered the screen with the request to restart the MAC. Since I also have a Mac Book X , I tried it there,but only the USB Connection will load the disk icons and nothing with the FW connect. I then connected both Mac's with FW and that worked fine as well.
Does all this make any sense to any of you experts?
Totally confused,I do not know where the problem lies and what to .I do not know very much about the technical part of this Mac. I use it mostly for the iLife feature.
Please help!
Thank you GEG

iMAC OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 9, 2008 1:29 PM

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Answer 1

SAdoctor

Level 2

310 points

Aug 11, 2008 10:35 AM in response to GEG

I was thinking it might be a loose or malfunctioning (firewire)cable. If it happens again, try replacing the culprit drive's cable. Make sure your drive's power cables are connected well (firm). My PowerMac was getting kernal panics and I discovered it was the USB hub with a pad power supply. I also had a Maxtor drive acting funny (not mounting consistently) so I replaced the firewire cable which fixed the problem.

Hopefully it is not your computer.

-Ted

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Answer 2

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Aug 11, 2008 12:28 PM in response to GEG

Hey GEG,

I tried it there,but only the USB Connection will load the disk icons and nothing with the FW connect. I then connected both Mac's with FW and that worked fine as well.

Well like SAdoctor says it's probably the FireWire Cable or the input/controller on that external FireWire drive. Swap out the cable first as it's the most likely culprit since they get a lot of flexing.
Richard

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Answer 3

GEG Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 11, 2008 3:58 PM in response to SAdoctor

Dear SAdoctor and spudnuty,
I really appreciate your input to my question,but unfortunately the problem is not with any of the cables , because while testing originally, I changed them all to brand-new ones.
The same problem every time ! As soon as I connect ( while iMac running ) to either of the 2 FW Ports a black film comes over the screen with the request to restart .If I try to start up with a FW connected I get the black square and nothing else.
Now,if the problem is the Computer itself what can I do ?

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Answer 4

SAdoctor

Level 2

310 points

Aug 11, 2008 8:12 PM in response to GEG

If you are having intermittent mounting or kernal panics with the drive(s)s connected to both your iMac and MacBook, firewire or USB, that to me suggests a problem with the drive(s); if not the communication cables, perhaps the power supply. Do you have 4 drives and 1 power supply? Do you have 4 power supplies?

It would be useful to borrow a known working external drive to see what happens if you try to mount it. If a borrowed drive mounts OK, that suggests something on the external drive(s).

You still have not excluded a software issue, but it does not sound like it to me. Try booting from your install disk with a drive connected (via firewire) and connected after you have selected the language for install (do NOT proceed with the install, of course) and see if you get a kernal panic.

It could be you need to update the disk drivers (but much less likely).

-Ted

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Answer 5

GEG Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 12, 2008 11:01 AM in response to SAdoctor

Hi Sadoctor,
I really value your answer and I tried all your suggested fixes and this is what I came up with:
Not all,but some of my Maxtors successfully connect to my Mac Book,but when I try to connect the ones that do work onto my iMac I get the old problem,having to restart .
I trashed the old and then re-installed the new Maxtor software- no help.
I changed all the cables and switched from power strip to a single outlet for everything.
I ran disk utility - checked out fine.
When I try to reboot from the install disk by holding down the C key I get nothing but the language choice on screen after which I have to turn off the iMac manually.
I did re-install Disk Utility from the install disk - nothing changed !
Thank god my USB still works so I am not completely lost.
I am also trying to upgrade to Leopard ,that is if my iMac will let me.So far ,by the first restart command after inserting the disk it will not do so.This is another problem I have listed in the forum. My question to you is : do you think that installing Leopard could fix my present Firewire problem?
Thank you for your concern and help.
GEG

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Answer 6

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Aug 12, 2008 11:39 AM in response to GEG

Hey GEG,

Since I also have a Mac Book X , I tried it there,but only the USB Connection will load the disk icons and nothing with the FW connect. I then connected both Mac's with FW and that worked fine as well.
I trashed the old and then re-installed the new Maxtor software- no help.

What software was that?
Are these seperate drives?

When I try to reboot from the install disk by holding down the C key I get nothing but the language choice on screen after which I have to turn off the iMac manually.

That could be a bad disk or bad optical drive. Retail installer?

I did re-install Disk Utility from the install disk - nothing changed !
Thank god my USB still works so I am not completely lost.
I am also trying to upgrade to Leopard ,that is if my iMac will let me.So far ,by the first restart command after inserting the disk it will not do so.This is another problem I have listed in the forum. My question to you is : do you think that installing Leopard could fix my present Firewire problem?

Have you tried reinstalling your OS?

Richard

Message was edited by: spudnuty

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Answer 7

GEG Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 12, 2008 12:10 PM in response to spudnuty

Hi Richard,
Good hearing from you!To answer your questions:
Maxtor hardware is the install CD that came with it and it consists of Retrospect and one touch.I since removed it from my iMac.
I had the upgrade from Leopard to Tiger done at an Apple Store and they gave me the complete resale package from this update.
I probably could re-install the OX10 Tiger but this would require a backup first, right?
Will this also solve my Leopard install problem?
Thank you
Geri

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Answer 8

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Aug 12, 2008 11:33 PM in response to GEG

Hey Geri,

I since removed it from my iMac.

OK so shouldn't be a problem.

I had the upgrade from Leopard to Tiger done at an Apple Store and they gave me the complete resale package from this update.

OK to set the basics, what iMac is this? How much RAM?

I probably could re-install the OX10 Tiger but this would require a backup first, right?

Well you could do an archive and install but you're always taking a chance. So, yes a backup is always the safest way.

Will this also solve my Leopard install problem?

So this all started after the Leopard install?
Richard

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Answer 9

GEG Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 13, 2008 3:45 PM in response to spudnuty

Sorry,with all these Mac animals I had made a mistake.The Apple Store upgrade was done from Jaguar to Tiger.I had since purchased the Leopard Install DVD from Apple and I plan to install it as soon as my present problem is solved.
I back up my home folder,personal files,Address Book,Mailbox weekly and all my i Life work
( iTunes,iMovie + iPhoto ) is all copied on the 4 Maxtors,but I am not sure what else I need to backup if I re - install either Tiger or hopefully Leopard.I have no idea how to do an ARCHIVE
and how much space this will use up on my external hard drives.
My iMac OS X is presently Version 10.4.11 , Processor 1.8 GHz Power PC G5 and 256 MB.

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Answer 10

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Aug 13, 2008 6:20 PM in response to GEG

Hey Geri,

My iMac OS X is presently Version 10.4.11 , Processor 1.8 GHz Power PC G5 and 256 MB.

OK first thing I see is that you're in the wrong forum. This is for the G4 Flat Panel. That's the one with the half soccer ball on the bottom,
However, everything we've talked about would apply to the G5s.
Now that I see your specs me first impression is that the RAM is at the bare minimum. I would expect Tiger to run like crap w/ that amount of RAM and I'm suprised that Apple didn't tell you that when you did the upgrade. I'm here on vacation and my Folks' old slot iMac only had 512 RAM in it an it was real doggy. I bumped it to 768 and it's a lot better.
So I would increase the RAM to at least 768 MB (256 +512) 1 GB would be lots better.
According to Low End Mac on the earlier version of the 1.8:
http://www.lowendmac.com/imacs/index.shtml
"RAM - 256 MB, expandable to 2 GB using PC3200 (400 MHz) DDR SDRAM"

Then move this discussion over to the G5 Forum and see if anyone there has seen this problem. I've never seen it on a G4 or G3 (Well once but that lady blowed up the input chip on her external FireWire drive). I mean actual fire and pitting.

Good luck.

Richard

Message was edited by: spudnuty

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Answer 11

GEG Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 13, 2008 7:23 PM in response to spudnuty

Hi Richard,
You gave me very valuable advise and I will follow your instructions.Enjoy the rest of your vacation and
thank you very,very much!
Geri

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