Firewire on iMac G3 (Generally)

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Level 1

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Firewire on iMac G3 (Generally)

Why does the firewire die on G3's? I am on my third G3 (CRT) and on each of them, the firewire has died, and I can find no logical answers on the Apple Store websites, or on these discussion boards.

Can somebody please reply to tell me that there is good news, and whether I should fork out the AU$ 2650 to buy a G5, with a possiblity that the firewire may very well die on them just the same?

cheerz

Bob

G3 Beige, G3 400, G3 500DV+, 7520/260, Mac OS X (10.3.9), various

Posted on Nov 28, 2005 3:39 PM

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Answer 1

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Nov 29, 2005 7:17 AM in response to miinfo

I have two iMac G3s. purchased 2000 and 2001. The FireWire ports are working just fine on both. My 2001 TiBook has no problems either.

Maybe it's just the luck of the draw.

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Answer 2

Nov 29, 2005 10:23 AM in response to miinfo

Thought you could use this info about getting FireWire to work!

First, you should always Repair Permissions in Disk Utility before and after any update; I would do that now. If you installed your update with FireWire plugged in, your Mac may not recognize it anymore.

Try resetting your FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down your Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 15 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.

If that did'nt work, download the combo update from this site (yours may be corrupt), not Software Update, disconnect all firewire + USB devices except keyboard + mouse, Repair Permissions, re-install update, Repair Permissions again + try.

If that still did'nt get it Zap the PRAM. While restarting Mac hold down the following key combo Command-Option-P-R. Keep holding those keys down till you hear the second start-up chime, then release. You will lose some of your settings so do this only if all the above fails.

For those of you with Macs that are not PowerBooks or iBooks, a bad internal battery can cause FireWire to not be recognized, so make sure it's good!

Good Luck!

Cheers!
DALE
Just in case you have'nt seen this.

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Answer 3

JosVDP

Level 1

0 points

Dec 3, 2005 12:30 PM in response to miinfo

I have never had any firewire problems for about 5 years now that I'm using my iMac with both a CD-Writer (one of the first on firewire) and an external HD drive. Why do you assume it's always the mac failing? In your case I would sooner assume it's the firewire device's fault. And in that case I would not go buy anything else without replacing the device first or making sure it works fine.

Joris

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