FireWire ports not working, did I do everything?

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Level 1

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FireWire ports not working, did I do everything?

Today I discovered that my FireWire ports are not working. I tried the port on the front as well as the FireWire 400 and 800 on the back. None are working. USB2 is working however. In System Profiler, when I go to FireWire, it takes at least 20 seconds of the color-spinning wheel, and then there is nothing that appears other than “FireWire Bus:”

I have tried everything I could find by searching through the discussions including:

Repair Permissions in Disk Utility

Resetting FireWire ports by disconnecting all FW devices, shut down Mac and unplug it from AC power (wall socket) for 30 minutes. plug it back in and try FW.

I’ve tried numerous FireWire peripherals and cords.

Download and installed the combo update (10.4.8 combo update).

Reset the PRAM.

I even went to the Apple store and got a new internal battery (I thought this was it because my “date and time” was having problems here and there).

My G5 is older than 3 years so the AppleCare has expired.

Is there anything else I can do? What might this problem be?

Thank you for your time

PowerMac Dual 2.0 G5, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 2GB RAM

Posted on Jan 18, 2007 11:39 PM

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Answer 1

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,492 points

Jan 19, 2007 5:01 AM in response to Kontra

You've tried everything that I would have done with the exception of a PMU reset. Instruction are here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300341

Also, here's a link to the "official" Apple Firewire and USB Quick assist page
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303598#trouble

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Answer 2

FAI

Level 2

206 points

Jan 19, 2007 7:19 AM in response to Kontra

Kontra, like you, I have the same problem (started a week ago) on my G5 Quad and tried everything:

*repaired permissions
*SMU reset by shutting down and unplugging- and also doing the same in conjunction with pressing the PMU button inside on the logic board.
*Diskwarrior rebuild from the cd
*booted in Single User mode to do an fsck -fy
*booted into Open Firmware and reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all
*booted into the Startup Manager to attempt to force the external fw800 drive with a system on it to show up
*zapped PRAM
*re-ran the 10.4.8 combo update on my startup disk system

The Firewire section in System Profiler shows only:

FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec

In Console.app viewing the system log shows a continual set of lines repeated hundreds of times. A new line is added every second:

Jan 19 10:05:12 fais-power-mac-g5 kernel[0]: FireWire (OHCI) Apple ID 52 built-in: 100 bus resets in last minute.
Jan 19 10:05:13 fais-power-mac-g5 kernel[0]: Missing self ID for node 0!
Jan 19 10:05:15 fais-power-mac-g5 kernel[0]: Missing self ID for node 0!
Jan 19 10:05:17 fais-power-mac-g5 kernel[0]: Missing self ID for node 0!

Fortunately, I have AppleCare for the Quad. I called Tech Support and it wasn't long before they confirmed it as a hardware defect in the computer and sanctioned a logic board replacement. While on the phone with Apple Tech Support, after pressing the SMU button on the logic board, I got the front fw400 port back briefly, but then immediately lost it again when plugging in a fw800 device in the back.

Their local authorized repair vendor will be coming out to my home office to make the repair on location.
Sure glad I got the AppleCare- I'm sorry for your situation. Perhaps another attempt at a PMU reset would help.

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Answer 3

Kontra Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 19, 2007 10:50 AM in response to Kontra

No luck so far. I've tried everything at least 4 times. Looks like I'm either going to have to live with USB2 or buy a new logic board.

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Answer 4

SeaPapp

Level 7

26,492 points

Jan 19, 2007 11:07 AM in response to Kontra

Kontra, run the Apple Hardware Test and see if it reports anything regarding your firewire bus. If something on the mlb has gone bad you could always get a PCI firewire card.

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