Logic board reset may repair non-functional FireWire

Dec 08, '03 10:37:00AM

Contributed by: Tom Dineen

I had an issue where my FireWire stopped working -- it would not recognize an external drive, a CD-R/CD-RW drive, nor an iPod. This remained true even after I purchased a new FireWire card (which I was able to return).

So after some troubleshooting (trying each device on its own), and then plugging the iPod into the CDR/CDRW or the External drive without any connection to the G4, neither would charge it. I then tried zapping the PRAM, but this also failed.

I then took a "risk" and pressed the disrupt button on the motherboard to completely reset all settings on the board. Bingo! Now all the drives work, and I am able to use all three together -- the external drive daisy chained through the CDR/CDRW to the G4, and the iPod directly to the G4. Hope that this may help somebody out there; it seems the FireWire thought it was no longer communicating with the drives, but the reset started it back up again.

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