Firewire device daisychain question...

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi all,

Hoping for some help with someone with experience in firewire
equipment...

I have the following components:

Laptop
IBM IEEE 1394 CardBus PCMCIA Card
External Firewire drive (oxford chipset)
Sandisk Firewire CF reader

I need to setup the laptop so that I can copy files from the Sandisk
reader to the external drive - sounds easy enough, right? (ha)

The hard drive works fine, but I can't get the Sandisk drive to work
on the laptop (it works on my desktop fine via a pci firewire card).
I've tried plugging it into the extra firewire port at the back of the
drive (daisy chained) with no luck. I've also tried plugging it into
the cable directly from the IBM card with no luck.

I'm kind of suspecting it to be a power issue since the cardbus
connector is a flat non typical firewire plug - but wouldn't the drive
enclosure power the extra firewire port on the back (there is a brick
power supply that it uses).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

ajf3_net@yahoo.com (Alex Ferguson) wrote in
news:3aee61e7.0405282320.7c15598@posting.google.com:

> Hi all,
>
> Hoping for some help with someone with experience in firewire
> equipment...
>
> I have the following components:
>
> Laptop
> IBM IEEE 1394 CardBus PCMCIA Card
> External Firewire drive (oxford chipset)
> Sandisk Firewire CF reader
>
> I need to setup the laptop so that I can copy files from the
> Sandisk reader to the external drive - sounds easy enough, right?
> (ha)
>
> The hard drive works fine, but I can't get the Sandisk drive to
> work on the laptop (it works on my desktop fine via a pci firewire
> card). I've tried plugging it into the extra firewire port at the
> back of the drive (daisy chained) with no luck. I've also tried
> plugging it into the cable directly from the IBM card with no
> luck.
>
> I'm kind of suspecting it to be a power issue since the cardbus
> connector is a flat non typical firewire plug - but wouldn't the
> drive enclosure power the extra firewire port on the back (there
> is a brick power supply that it uses).
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks!
>

Not sure from your write-up, but are you plugging the Sandisk into a
4-pin FireWire port? Your words "a flat non typical firewire plug"
seem to point there...

You need the computer end of the cable to be 6-pins plugged into a
6-pin jack (see http://www.sandisk.com/retail/ultra-firewire.asp)
since 4-pin Firewire ports don't supply power.

Note that if you plug a 6-pin cable into a 6-pin to 4-pin adapter
anywhere in the chain you will lose the power connection.

HTH,
Gino

--
Gene E. Bloch (Gino) phone 650.966.8481
Call me letters find me at domain blochg whose dot is com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Does your scandisk have SCSI Id #'s on the back. If so make sure that there
are no duplicate #'s.

"Alex Ferguson" <ajf3_net@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3aee61e7.0405282320.7c15598@posting.google.com...
> Hi all,
>
> Hoping for some help with someone with experience in firewire
> equipment...
>
> I have the following components:
>
> Laptop
> IBM IEEE 1394 CardBus PCMCIA Card
> External Firewire drive (oxford chipset)
> Sandisk Firewire CF reader
>
> I need to setup the laptop so that I can copy files from the Sandisk
> reader to the external drive - sounds easy enough, right? (ha)
>
> The hard drive works fine, but I can't get the Sandisk drive to work
> on the laptop (it works on my desktop fine via a pci firewire card).
> I've tried plugging it into the extra firewire port at the back of the
> drive (daisy chained) with no luck. I've also tried plugging it into
> the cable directly from the IBM card with no luck.
>
> I'm kind of suspecting it to be a power issue since the cardbus
> connector is a flat non typical firewire plug - but wouldn't the drive
> enclosure power the extra firewire port on the back (there is a brick
> power supply that it uses).
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On 29 May 2004 00:20:00 -0700, ajf3_net@yahoo.com (Alex Ferguson)
wrote:

>Laptop
>IBM IEEE 1394 CardBus PCMCIA Card
>External Firewire drive (oxford chipset)
>Sandisk Firewire CF reader
>
>I need to setup the laptop so that I can copy files from the Sandisk
>reader to the external drive - sounds easy enough, right? (ha)
>
>The hard drive works fine, but I can't get the Sandisk drive to work
>on the laptop (it works on my desktop fine via a pci firewire card).
>I've tried plugging it into the extra firewire port at the back of the
>drive (daisy chained) with no luck. I've also tried plugging it into
>the cable directly from the IBM card with no luck.
>
>I'm kind of suspecting it to be a power issue since the cardbus
>connector is a flat non typical firewire plug - but wouldn't the drive
>enclosure power the extra firewire port on the back (there is a brick
>power supply that it uses).

Flat Firewire connectors are 6-pin and provide power.
Square ones are 4-pin and don't. I'd have called the flat 6-pin ones
"typical", but no matter

Even though a Firewire device may be externally powered, it may still
refuse to work unless it sees Firewire power. I've had this problem
with some external hard drive units. Even though they had a
wall-wart power supply they would not work on a Firewire cable that
included a 4-pin connector. Maybe the wall-wart provided power for
the actual drive, Firewire power was required for the electronics.
Maybe the unit relied on sensing the Firewire power to know it was
connected. Either way, it didn't work. Making it useless with most
laptop computers, which tend to have the small unpowered Firewire
port.



I suspect the Sandisk requires a powered connection. This means a
flat 6-pin plug at both ends of the firewire cable. Is this what it
is getting?