Mac Mini Late 2012 No Firewire ports found

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Level 1

4 points

Mac Mini Late 2012 No Firewire ports found

Hi, my name is Paul and I'm from Argentina.

I have a Mac mini Late 2012. I tried connecting a FW800 HD, and it's not recognized, and now I bought a FW400 mixer, and I have the same problem.

When I go into System Report and click on the Firewire tab I get a "No firewire ports were found"

Is this a hardware problem? I tried 2 different things with 2 different cables and nothing.

I really need the mixer working. Is there anything I can do?

Or should I take the computer to service?

Thanks a lot for your time. This community is such a useful resource for info!

Cheers

Paul

PS I've attached a print screen of the message, plus the specs of my mac

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Apr 23, 2016 1:10 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

tbirdvet

Level 6

14,417 points

Apr 23, 2016 1:19 PM in response to baunder

It should show "Firewire Bus" even if no items connected. You may need to take in for service but before doing that do a SMC and PRAM reset and check again.

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Answer 2

K Shaffer

Level 8

35,314 points

Apr 23, 2016 1:21 PM in response to baunder

• Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

• How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

If someone has upgraded the Mini at some point, perhaps something was affected.

Good luck ! 🙂

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

82,420 points

Apr 23, 2016 1:31 PM in response to baunder

Test and check for FireWire after completing each of the following steps.

1. Try resetting the SMC, as per >
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

(only in step 3. Wait for a minute or two, instead of 15 seconds.)

2. Reset the NVRAM, as per > How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

3. Check and try FireWire in a different User Account. OS X Mountain Lion: Create a new user account

4. Download and install the > Download OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.5 (Combo) over the top of your current 10.8.5 version.

5. Reinstall 10.8.5, as per >OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

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Answer 4

baunder Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 23, 2016 2:01 PM in response to den.thed

Hi den.thed

Thanks a lot for the fast reply. I tried the first 3 alternatives and sadly it didn't work. I'm downloading the combo will try that. Thanks!

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Answer 5

baunder Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 23, 2016 2:03 PM in response to K Shaffer

Hi K Shaffer

Thanks for your fast reply also. I tried that, but no good news.

I bought this machine used, and it was upgraded to SSD HD by the previous owner. Maybe the touched something 😟

Thanks anyway!

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Answer 6

baunder Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 24, 2016 3:47 PM in response to baunder

Ok then, so to update:

I tried apple's OS and EFI diagnostics and the computer passed both tests without a problem.

The weird problem, is that the diagnostics didn't test the firewire port. Just USB & Thunderbolt.

It's as if the casing of the mac mini didn't correspond with the logic board.

Will have to take it to service.

This is the bad thing of buying second hand computers (specially in Argentina). You never know who touched what, and why.

Thanks again for all the help!

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