Problems connecting external hard drive to Firewire

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Problems connecting external hard drive to Firewire

I have a LaCie external hard drive. If I connect it via USB, no problem. If I connect via Firewire 800 the Volume mysteriously mutes automatically.

Posted on Jun 10, 2010 2:05 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 10, 2010 2:56 PM in response to AndyPeardrop

Is this drive bus-powered or does it have its own AC power adapter? Do you have any other FireWire peripherals attached?

Message was edited by: DaddyPaycheck

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Answer 2

AndyPeardrop Author

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Jun 11, 2010 2:36 AM in response to DaddyPaycheck

It is bus powered. There are no other peripherals connected other than My USB keyboard (with a mouse hanging off the USB port of the keyboard).

Does this sound like a hardware problem with the Firewire port?
Or a software problem driving the Firewire device?

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Answer 3

Jun 11, 2010 2:48 AM in response to AndyPeardrop

Do you have other firewire devices to try? That would eliminate the port.

What is most likely happening is that the drive is pulling too much juice for the FireWire port but not so much that it won't work via USB.

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Answer 4

AndyPeardrop Author

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Jun 14, 2010 7:27 AM in response to DaddyPaycheck

I have two Lacie drives and have tried them both in the Firewire 800 port. Same problem.

I have tried the two drives in another Macbook Pro and they work fine. I am guessing that either the port is broken or needs cleaning. Or perhaps there is a bit of software that drives the external drive and that is corrupted?

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