P4C800-E 1394 Capture Problems

[Pilot]

Cannot get 1394 ports to recognize my Camcorder. I have tried 2 different cameras, 4 different
1394 cables, Win XP Pro, SP1, SP2, and Win 98SE. Port is configured in Bios, and also in XP Device
Manager. No other cards present in PCI Slots. I Have also tried disabling the Motherboard 1394
port, and tried 2 different PCI Firewire Cards which also do not work. I am able to run an external
1394 Hard drive successfully, though sometimes intermittently on the Motherboard port. Is there a
problem with this Motherboard?

I have googled back and found some posts on this here over a year ago..but unfortunately most of the
threads end without a resolution. I have had this board for about 2 months...my Abit IC-7G died and
wanted to try this board. Love it, but the Firewire problems are really irritating. Any help would
really be appreciated.


RJ

 

[Paul]

Cannot get 1394 ports to recognize my Camcorder. I have tried 2 different cameras, 4 different
1394 cables, Win XP Pro, SP1, SP2, and Win 98SE. Port is configured in Bios, and also in XP Device
Manager. No other cards present in PCI Slots. I Have also tried disabling the Motherboard 1394
port, and tried 2 different PCI Firewire Cards which also do not work. I am able to run an external
1394 Hard drive successfully, though sometimes intermittently on the Motherboard port. Is there a
problem with this Motherboard?

I have googled back and found some posts on this here over a year

ago..but unfortunately most of the

threads end without a resolution. I have had this board for about 2

months...my Abit IC-7G died and

wanted to try this board. Love it, but the Firewire problems are really irritating. Any help would
really be appreciated.


RJ

You left one possibility out in your testing. The port on
the camera is dead. Have you tried the camera on another
computer ? Also, have you run the model number of your
camcorder through Google - perhaps there is a known
problem with the port.

Firewire ports can be damaged just in normal use. This is
the only web page I know of, that tries to catagorize all
the ways they can fail. (Even if your mobo Firewire failed,
I would have expected one of those PCI cards to work.)

http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/FireWirePortFailures.htm

Paul

 

[Pilot]

Yes, I am suspecting that too, that the camera port is dead. I bought another used Mini-DV to try
but it didn't work either. Now I am wondering about a previous thread here about the possibility of
the P4C800-E 1394 ports frying camcorder ports. Maybe I now have 2 dead cameras? Also, tried
another PCMCIA firewire card on my laptop...neither camera worked there either. Guess I am just
stuck with analog capture.

Thanks for the reply.

RJ

 

[Pilot]

Yes, I am suspecting that too, that the camera port is dead. I bought another used Mini-DV to try
but it didn't work either. Now I am wondering about a previous thread here about the possibility of
the P4C800-E 1394 ports frying camcorder ports. Maybe I now have 2 dead cameras? Also, tried
another PCMCIA firewire card on my laptop...neither camera worked there either. Guess I am just
stuck with analog capture.

Thanks for the reply.

RJ
(RE-POSTED ... no archive flag was on)

 

[Pilot]

You left one possibility out in your testing. The port on
the camera is dead. Have you tried the camera on another
computer ? Also, have you run the model number of your
camcorder through Google - perhaps there is a known
problem with the port.

Firewire ports can be damaged just in normal use. This is
the only web page I know of, that tries to catagorize all
the ways they can fail. (Even if your mobo Firewire failed,
I would have expected one of those PCI cards to work.)

http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/FireWirePortFailures.htm

Paul

Here is the response from ASUS Tech Support for any who may be having this problem...seems like this
is something they should be doing on their end!!!

 

[Paul]

Here is the response from ASUS Tech Support for any who may be
having this problem...seems like this
is something they should be doing on their end!!!

What is a bit puzzling about some of these problems, is with
cameras, they generally have a 4 pin connector on their end.
And the computer has a 6 pin connector on its end. The computer
end is VP/VG (power pair), TPA+/-, TPB+/- (data pairs). The
camera generally doesn't have the VP/VG, and the camera
has to provide its own power during the transfer. If the camera
was run with an AC adapter (wall wart), you would think there
would be sufficient isolation via the transformer in the adapter,
to avoid any kind of power related problem.

If connecting a 6 pin to a 6 pin device, a poorly implemented
interface on VP/VG can result in excess current flow between
devices. The Asus end probably has a fuse, so that should prevent
the computer PSU from becoming a "weapon of mass destruction".

I would expect some problems could be caused if VP makes contact
before the data pairs, and the data pins become reverse biased.
A good connector design, where some of the pins make contact
before the others, plus tight enough mechanical tolerances to
prevent accidental contact possibilities, should greatly reduce
port destruction. That leaves electrostatic discharge, and as long
as the user is prevented from touching the data pins in normal
use, that should go a long way to preventing a problem.

I'm assuming in your case, that you've been using the motherboard's
own Firewire connector, and not the connector that comes on the
bracket. With those motherboard headers, it is always possible you
could hook up the bracket wrong (off by one pin kind of thing),
and it would be much easier to damage things that way, than by
using the Firewire connector on the I/O stacks.

About the only other test methods I can think of, to test an
interface like this:

1) Connect two computers via their Firewire ports. There is
an option for Firewire networking, where two computers can
be connected together, and that functions in place of
Ethernet. This article describes some of the fun.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040823/firewire-04.html

2) In hardware-land, some devices are tested in the lab by doing
a "loopback test". In this case, you would take a Firewire
connector, and connect TPA+/- to TPB+/-. Then, the tough
part, would be finding special software, to test that a signal
sent on TPA is seen on TPB. I tried a search using loopback
as a keyword, but didn't find any reference to this kind of
thing being possible with Firewire.

I wish I knew of a cheap test device, cheaper than plugging
cameras into the computer's Firewire ports. (I did see a Firewire
based card reader for $45, but that is the cheapest peripheral I've
located so far.) Even Firewire disk drive enclosures are a bit too
expensive to use as test devices.

"Domino" failures do seem to happen, as described here:

http://www.maymay.net/blog/archives/2004/11/02/firewire-failures-spread-like-wildfire

Example of just a few frustrated users:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/printthread.php?t=87855&pp=40

Paul

 

[Pilot]

What is a bit puzzling about some of these problems, is with
cameras, they generally have a 4 pin connector on their end.
And the computer has a 6 pin connector on its end. The computer
end is VP/VG (power pair), TPA+/-, TPB+/- (data pairs). The
camera generally doesn't have the VP/VG, and the camera
has to provide its own power during the transfer. If the camera
was run with an AC adapter (wall wart), you would think there
would be sufficient isolation via the transformer in the adapter,
to avoid any kind of power related problem.

If connecting a 6 pin to a 6 pin device, a poorly implemented
interface on VP/VG can result in excess current flow between
devices. The Asus end probably has a fuse, so that should prevent
the computer PSU from becoming a "weapon of mass destruction".

I would expect some problems could be caused if VP makes contact
before the data pairs, and the data pins become reverse biased.
A good connector design, where some of the pins make contact
before the others, plus tight enough mechanical tolerances to
prevent accidental contact possibilities, should greatly reduce
port destruction. That leaves electrostatic discharge, and as long
as the user is prevented from touching the data pins in normal
use, that should go a long way to preventing a problem.

I'm assuming in your case, that you've been using the motherboard's
own Firewire connector, and not the connector that comes on the
bracket. With those motherboard headers, it is always possible you
could hook up the bracket wrong (off by one pin kind of thing),
and it would be much easier to damage things that way, than by
using the Firewire connector on the I/O stacks.

About the only other test methods I can think of, to test an
interface like this:

1) Connect two computers via their Firewire ports. There is
an option for Firewire networking, where two computers can
be connected together, and that functions in place of
Ethernet. This article describes some of the fun.

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20040823/firewire-04.html

2) In hardware-land, some devices are tested in the lab by doing
a "loopback test". In this case, you would take a Firewire
connector, and connect TPA+/- to TPB+/-. Then, the tough
part, would be finding special software, to test that a signal
sent on TPA is seen on TPB. I tried a search using loopback
as a keyword, but didn't find any reference to this kind of
thing being possible with Firewire.

I wish I knew of a cheap test device, cheaper than plugging
cameras into the computer's Firewire ports. (I did see a Firewire
based card reader for $45, but that is the cheapest peripheral I've
located so far.) Even Firewire disk drive enclosures are a bit too
expensive to use as test devices.

"Domino" failures do seem to happen, as described here:

http://www.maymay.net/blog/archives/2004/11/02/firewire-failures-spread-like-wildfire

Example of just a few frustrated users:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/printthread.php?t=87855&pp=40

Paul

Thanks for all your input, Paul. Well, last night I went out and bought a PCMCIA firewire card for
my laptop and tried it with 2 cameras, and nothing. Running XP Pro SP1 on the laptop. So, I am
starting to suspect that something (motherboard port, cable) blew out the diode in both of my
cameras. However, I can still run an external hard drive on the firewire ports on the ASUS MB. I
have tried both the motherboard port, and the bracket port on my tests. I have triple checked that
the bracket is connected properly to the motherboard header and it is.
I have to find a way to see if any of my 2 cameras will work on another system. Since I just moved
a few months ago, don't have any local computer buddies around yet. I might try some computer shops
and see if they can check them for me.

Thanks again for all the input.