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Level 2

268 points

Firewire issues after Snow Leopard...

Greetings.. I have a first-gen Dual Dual Mac Pro, that is experiencing firewire issues after the 10.6 upgrade.

I first noticed the issue when trying to copy files to a Western Digital Passport 500GB 2.5" external HD. After the Snow Leopard upgrade, the drive is virtually un-usable with frequent hangs when attempting to copy even small files. In addition, I am having an issue where my Sony Firewire external DVD-burner is not recognized after the patch. Hmmm... All is well under USB ironically (Since the Passport has both FW 800 and USB 2 connections)

Overall. I am having real firewire issues after the patch, and it was running flawlessly before the patch.

Anyone else having similar issues? The only thing I changed was my software.

Thanks in advance...

MacPro, MacBook Pro unibody, and many iPods..., Mac OS X (10.6)

Posted on Aug 31, 2009 9:14 AM

244 replies

Oct 5, 2009 6:09 PM in response to Strongbmw

Another post on this thread.

I agree, as I did try the various proposed solutions, more than once; I did notice some variations in "messages" as windows poped-up after installing/transfering/copying the various files (one, five, or all six!). Permissions showed distinct repairs and the Alt-Cmd-P-R posed no probelm.

But, the Firewire 800 connexion will not function, although the FW 400 and USB will. What is really going on, as the solutions are clearly working differently for different users. The hard disk works OK on another machine; I even got a trio of connectours just to be on the safe (sure) side.

Confused.

Oct 5, 2009 10:24 PM in response to Chris Heric

This affects macs across the board. I have a 1,2 MBP and cannot get drives to reliably mount. Forget completely about plug and play -- remember that? It is something that was touted when both firewire and USB came about.

The same problem surfaced on my brother in law's brand spanking new iMac.

Incidentally, this is a problem with USB drives and readers such as those used to transfer photos into iTunes.

Possible work arounds I have discovered are logging out and back in -- at least they sometimes mount. Also, the disk utility sometimes works.

Like you, I think Apple needs to fix this. Since this was not a known issue before 10.6 then this is their fault. Apple has introduced a problem and ought to take the responsibility for fixing it.

Chris Heric Author

Level 2

268 points

Oct 9, 2009 7:39 AM in response to David T. Moore

Well.. since my tape backup is useless now under Snow Leopard... I had to install 10.5 again on another internal drive. While more than an annoyance, it now works fine. I still say that this is an unconscionable bug, and not making any acknowledgment of it (And subsequently making me spend literally days of time diagnosing and testing solutions) is really poor form. I have been using Macs since 1984, and Apple II's prior to that, and this is hands down the worst upgrade experience I have encountered without a simple "We are aware of the problem and are working to fix it as soon as possible."

I know 10.6 is an upgrade and that things are always potentially rocky after a major update, but it has now been almost 2 months with no firewire support on my MacPro. I have gone beyond annoyed and fully into cranky. A major I/O of my computer is useless under the current OS. Two months?

Sorry... I just had to vent that... this has gotten ridiculous, and I am tired of being a non-paid QA Engineer.

Chris

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Oct 9, 2009 8:38 AM in response to Chris Heric

No 'new features' only optimizing what they had.
Oh, but we did remove some features and functionality!

😟

Oct 12, 2009 4:48 PM in response to Community User

Just some thoughts, all us experiencing this problem that isn't resolved by the fixes mentioned earlier...are we all on macpros versus other models? also did everyone do an upgrade to snow leopard versus buying a new machine that came snow leopard pre-installed? I would hope pre-installs have less issues, but that might just be wishing. I'm curious what the problem spread is across models.

Sauri

Level 1

0 points

Oct 12, 2009 5:11 PM in response to Strongbmw

are we all on macpros versus other models? also did everyone do an upgrade to snow leopard versus buying a new machine that came snow leopard pre-installed?

I have this problem on Mac Pro and Macbook Pro. Snow Leopard has been installed on both computers from scratch (including disks formating), instead of updating the old Leo istallations - that's the way I always prefer with new OS major versions. Both SL have been updated to 10.6.1 later, which didn't fixed the problem (I didn't try any methods from this thread though, because my external drives have usb interfaces as well, which I switched to, so I can patiently wait for some official fix from Apple).

Oct 12, 2009 7:45 PM in response to Sauri

I am seeing the problem on both an iMac and an MBP. That said, I reinstalled 10.6 and 10.6.1 onto the MBP. I got an error message that FireWireStorageDeviceSpecifics.kext was invalid. But, this time (so far) everything seems to be working correctly. I have used both the FW800 and FW400 buses -- and find they both mount.

I am running a Time Machine backup (complete) as I write this form my iMac.

Oct 14, 2009 2:19 AM in response to David T. Moore

Since installing the kext files and repairing permissions don't work for everyone, please note that there is a application from the OSX86 Hackintosh world that even helped me when my firewire drives weren't recognized: Kext helper (b7). I guess that it is issuing the following command in order to obtain the kext registration from Mac OS X: sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/kextfile.kext.

Easy way:
1. download kext files and kext helper from my idisk: http://public.me.com/amaurymac/
2. unzip both
3. put the kext files on the kext helper icon, kext helper will open
4. enter admin password
5. click easy install
6. reboot and enjoy !

Amaury

Oct 14, 2009 12:46 PM in response to Chris Heric

I'm not having this issue at all, with either a LaCie or an Iomega Firewire drive (one on FW 400 and the other on FW 800) into a 2-year-old aluminum iMac Extreme. On the other hand, my internal drive failed completely immediately after the upgrade, forcing me to boot off of an external USB2 drive until I could get it replaced. Maybe, just maybe, it's the drive itself and not Snow Leopard... or rather, the drive firmware.

Oct 14, 2009 1:37 PM in response to Chris Heric

Same problem here. After installing Snow Leopard my two Freecom HD with FireWire 400 connection are totally useless. 2TB of documents that I can't get access to. Yes, I can downgrade to Leopard again but... why? I thought that SL was the great deal.
I've tried the "two possible answers" described in this thread. I replaced the kext files and it worked flawlessly for a quite time but now my two external drives don't even mount. It's driving me crazy, really crazy.
I only hope that Apple will take care of us with the next upgrade. *Knock on wood*

thetzar

Level 1

0 points

Oct 18, 2009 10:05 PM in response to Joel Vila

I am also having this problem on my Mac Pro; cropped up out of nowhere the other day. ktext replacement doesn't seem to help. Mayday!

somi

Level 1

40 points

Oct 19, 2009 10:26 AM in response to Chris Heric

Hi,

my WD myBook Pro is no longer recognized on my almost three years old MacBook Pro 17". I usually connected the drive using the FireWire 800 interface but after upgrading to Snow Leopard, the drive is no longer recognized.
If i connect the drive using USB it works!

I want my FireWire 800 connection back! Please!

Regards,
Michael

somi

Level 1

40 points

Oct 19, 2009 10:44 AM in response to somi

Hi again,

after searching the web for solutions i found something 😉

For me this solved the problem:

1. Zap the PRAM
To do this restart holding down COMMAND ALT+PR
Hold down those buttons and listen for the chime 3 times!!!
After hearing the 3rd chime release and boot.

2. perform a SMC reset (procedure for MacBook Pro)
Shut down!
Take out battery!
Press Power Button for at least 5 seconds!
Put in battery and boot...

My FireWire devices all work again!

Regards,
Michael

Oct 19, 2009 11:08 AM in response to somi

Zapping the PRAM still not working for me... sad, pretty sad.

T-boz

Level 1

0 points

Oct 19, 2009 8:52 PM in response to jacp

Thanks jacp. The hardware/RAM reset worked for me too. But for how long. I thought I had it fixed after the 10.6.1 update. Turns out I just got lucky.

Firewire issues after Snow Leopard...