Canon DV camcorder problem with Firewire under 10.5.6

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Canon DV camcorder problem with Firewire under 10.5.6

Never had a problem connecting the camcorder to my 3 macs under 10.5.5. Since upgrading to 10.5.6, the camera is not detected in all 3 computers. Under about this computer/firewire, I'm seeing:

FireWire Bus:

Warning: Unable to list FireWire devices.
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec

If I unplug the camcorder, my WD my book drive is shown under the firewire devices. I tried resetting the PRAM but that did not solve the problem. Any ideas?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.2), RAM 3Gigs

Posted on Dec 30, 2008 3:39 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 30, 2008 7:43 AM in response to vlj9r

I had the same problem with a LaCie Firewire drive and my Canon Camcorder. I found that disconnecting the Firewire Drive would alow the camcorder to connect and visa versa.

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Answer 2

vlj9r Author

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Dec 30, 2008 7:15 PM in response to Noiseboy2006

Tried it and it did not work on all 3 macs. I found a spare 500 gig drive and I'm thinking about doing a clean install to test it out.

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Answer 3

Dec 31, 2008 1:30 AM in response to vlj9r

Before you do that you might want to check if you camcorder is supported. You don't say which model you have or which software your using but this link might be useful:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014#4

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Answer 4

vlj9r Author

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Dec 31, 2008 1:37 AM in response to Noiseboy2006

It's a Canon ZR60. It's not listed on the page you posted but it used to work until the 10.5.6 update.

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Answer 5

Dec 31, 2008 1:49 AM in response to vlj9r

Did you reset the PRAM? (Hold option-command-R-P at startup)

Also try disconnecting all peripherals and disconnect from the mains supply for a while (10 minutes or so). Then reconnect to the mains, boot up and plug your camera in.

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Answer 6

vlj9r Author

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Jan 2, 2009 5:34 AM in response to Noiseboy2006

Tried all that and it's still not detected by the OS. Going to check the canon site but I have a feeling it's on Apple's court. The XP machine detects it just fine.

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Answer 7

Jan 2, 2009 6:05 AM in response to vlj9r

There seem to be a few discussions concerning firewire issues with 10.5.6 but not much in the way of solutions. Some have suggested rolling back to the 10.5.5 drivers. Have a look at this thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8630507

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,252 points

Jan 2, 2009 6:08 AM in response to vlj9r

Make sure the date on the camera is correct. Also, in researching some problems with similar cameras, I found a warning to always make sure the camera is off before connecting and disconnecting.

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Answer 9

vlj9r Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 16, 2009 3:24 AM in response to Barney-15E

It turned out to be a faulty firewire port on the camera.

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