Unable to boot from Firewire

Question

Unable to boot from Firewire

I had a Vantec FW external drive enclosure that went bad, but the drive was still good. Got a factory replaced enclosure, but now I'm no longer able to boot from FW. The drive can be seen in Sys Prefs and is being read perfectly. I've done a restore from Time Machine, no go. I've done a clean install, no go. I purchased a brand new drive with clean install, no go.

Firewire appears to be working fine. Any thoughts as to how I can get my external FW drive to boot (minus the Option key on startup... done that so many times I've worn a whole in the key)?

My thanks in advance for your help!

Dual G4 MDD 1Ghz, 2 Gb RAM, PowerBook 1.67Ghz 2Gb RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8), HP w2207h 22" monitor, ATI Radeon 9600 Mac/PC Edition

Posted on Feb 25, 2011 7:27 PM

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Answer 1

Allan Jones

Level 9

79,790 points

Feb 27, 2011 11:14 AM in response to Phillip Ramirez

It's likely not your PB at fault.

Is the enclosure the exact same model as the original? I ask because not all FW enclosures have chipsets that make them bootable. Even if the enclosure model is than same, the maker could have changed components (FW chipset types) during its lifespan.

You need to talk to the enclosure maker and let them know the old enc was bootable and the new one is not, and that you need them to replace yours in kind, i.e., one that is bootable.

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Answer 2

Feb 27, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks for the reply... I was seriously wondering if anyone would answer! 🙂

Same exact enclosure (Vantec). It's a great, sturdy and reliable brand that has never failed me yet. I will definitely check with them on the chipset. Now, here's something that I completely forgot as I misplaced the original cable I used to boot from FW.

I was running from the 6-pin on the enclosure to the 9-pin on the PB. I can't find the cable, after looking high and low. Would that matter, booting from a 6-to-6 or 6-9? My spider-sense is telling me that perhaps there's an issue with the 6-pin port and I really don't feel like paying $36 for a new 6-to-9 cable.

Again, my thanks for the quick response!

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Answer 3

Allan Jones

Level 9

79,790 points

Feb 27, 2011 5:32 PM in response to Phillip Ramirez

If the drive is recognized with the current cable, I would think that would mean it should boot. What kind of FW ports are on the Vantec enclosure? 400? 800? both? If it has a FW800 port, you can get an 800-to-400 cable for a lot less than $36:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/1394B96036/

Vantec support is still your best option. There are FW drives that are not PPC bootable. The FW chipset in my WD Studio Mac edition is not. I keep thinking that, due to supplier changes, Vantec may have used a different FW chipset in your replacement even though its the same model.

Can you post the exact model number from the enclosure so I can help research it? I'm retired--I have a lot of time to look up stuff!

I was seriously wondering if anyone would answer!

The traffic around here is getting light as people upgrade to newer computers, so some of the "usual suspects" may have been busy helping in other forum areas. I started to respond not long after you posted, but looked at my watch and realized I had to be someplace. Was tied up much of yesterday, but had a lot of time today to surf the forums.

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Answer 4

Mar 5, 2011 9:33 AM in response to Allan Jones

Sorry for such a late return on this post.

My thinking was the same as yours: If it can be read by using the current cable, then it should boot with the current cable. No such luck. That's why I mentioned the 800 port, because there was never an issue with it seeing and booting from that port.

The exact model of Vantec is the +*NexStar 3*+, the only one that has FW from what I've seen.

My thoughts were actually in three directions: Since I was successfully booting prior to the enclosure going bad, it had to either be the cable(s) themselves, which is unlikely, the FW 400 port or something on the drive itself is malfunctioning. WD told me it's a Vantec issue. Vantec would most likely say it's a WD issue... so no one owns up as to why my previously working configuration now ceases to work.

Since that external FW drive was my main drive for over a year and holds more than my current PB hard drive can hold, I am in the market for a 320Gb or higher laptop drive so I can image it with the info from my non-booting FW drive and install it into the PB. Either that, or get an iMac and install the FW/SATA drive in that.

That's why I love Apple... there's always a solution! 🙂

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Answer 5

Allan Jones

Level 9

79,790 points

Mar 6, 2011 6:54 AM in response to Phillip Ramirez

Looks like there are a lot of variants of the Nextstar 3.. Anyway, look at this Vantec page:

http://www.vantecusa.com/en/knowledge/index

and click on the subheading "Chipsets of enclosures." They didn't remain faithful to any one chipset for long. Note that one model shows the chipset changed during the life of the product. <palpatine> "It is as I have foreseen"</palpatine>. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Also look on the back panel for the full model number, not the name. It look like the format will be "NST-3**XXXX-XX" or "NST-3**XXX-XX" where "*" is a number and "X" is a letter.

I still thing you are stuck until you talk to Vantec. Not good in that if you type "Firewire boot" or even "mac boot" in their KB search field, it returns nothing.

If you need a guaranteed bootable drive for any older Mac, IMHO the only trusted source any more is Other World Computing.

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