Two Firewire Cards, one is Reliable and the other isn't, why?

[M]

I connect external hard drives to my PC using Firewire. I have found this
to be more reliable than USB as with a USB connection I get frequent
'Delayed write failure' error messages. I have recently added a second
Firewire card and but was unable to buy one exactly the same as the first.
I didn't think that this would matter as both would user the XP SP2 driver
(which they do).
The original card which is described in device manager as Texas Instruments
OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller and the second one is described as
VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller.
Unfortunately while the Texas card works very well the VIA does not. I have
several identical external Firewire drives that work perfectly on the Texas
card but sometimes refuse to work when connected to the VIA card because
they need a driver, but will work perfectly at other times.
The second problem is that sometimes if the drive is not detected, usually
when plugged in after the PC has been booted my usual trick is to disable
and then enable the Firewire connection in device manager. This works
perfectly with the Texas card but when tried with the VIA card the PC either
demands a reboot or crashes.
I would appreciate any suggestions as to how to fix this.
I can't find a way of finding out what chipset a card uses before I actually
purchase a card so I don't wont to buy another and end up with a box full of
useless cards!

 

[Pavel A.]

This is a old, well known fact that TI based 1394 cards do
usually "work well", and others do not.
Also there were warnings in other newsgroups against using
1394 external disks with WinXP or win2k, because
of serious defects in Windows firewire drivers.

I don't know all the details, you can post a query about the current
status of 1394 support in the following NGs:

microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware-devices
microsoft.public.development.device.drivers

Regards,
--PA

 

[Paul]

I connect external hard drives to my PC using Firewire. I have found this
to be more reliable than USB as with a USB connection I get frequent
'Delayed write failure' error messages. I have recently added a second
Firewire card and but was unable to buy one exactly the same as the first.
I didn't think that this would matter as both would user the XP SP2 driver
(which they do).
The original card which is described in device manager as Texas Instruments
OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller and the second one is described as
VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller.
Unfortunately while the Texas card works very well the VIA does not. I have
several identical external Firewire drives that work perfectly on the Texas
card but sometimes refuse to work when connected to the VIA card because
they need a driver, but will work perfectly at other times.
The second problem is that sometimes if the drive is not detected, usually
when plugged in after the PC has been booted my usual trick is to disable
and then enable the Firewire connection in device manager. This works
perfectly with the Texas card but when tried with the VIA card the PC either
demands a reboot or crashes.
I would appreciate any suggestions as to how to fix this.
I can't find a way of finding out what chipset a card uses before I actually
purchase a card so I don't wont to buy another and end up with a box full of
useless cards!

Try the pictures on Newegg. Fortunately, the VIA chips are quite visible, and
easy to reject.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...10073+1187112432&Configurator=&Subcategory=73

Sort by price. Start with the most expensive cards and work down in price. The
above list should only contain Firewire interfaces. Reject the Firewire 800
cards and stick with the Firewire 400. Look for a picture where there are
two chips on the card.

Koutech 1394a card. TI chipset mentioned in review.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16815103103

StarTech 3 Port IEEE-1394 PCI Card Model PCI1394MP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158038

Note that StarTech feels they can change the design and keep the same part number.
This card uses a single chip TI device, to replace the two chip (MAC+PHY)
solution depicted on the Newegg site. Part number is still PCI1394MP.

http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemSpecs.aspx?productid=PCI1394MP&c=CA

Another possibility is a Lucent (Agere) chip. Google around and
see how people feel about it. This one is out of stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815107101

Paul

 

[Lil' Dave]

I connect external hard drives to my PC using Firewire. I have found this
to be more reliable than USB as with a USB connection I get frequent
'Delayed write failure' error messages. I have recently added a second
Firewire card and but was unable to buy one exactly the same as the first.
I didn't think that this would matter as both would user the XP SP2 driver
(which they do).
The original card which is described in device manager as Texas
Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller and the second one is
described as VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller.
Unfortunately while the Texas card works very well the VIA does not. I
have several identical external Firewire drives that work perfectly on the
Texas card but sometimes refuse to work when connected to the VIA card
because they need a driver, but will work perfectly at other times.
The second problem is that sometimes if the drive is not detected, usually
when plugged in after the PC has been booted my usual trick is to disable
and then enable the Firewire connection in device manager. This works
perfectly with the Texas card but when tried with the VIA card the PC
either demands a reboot or crashes.
I would appreciate any suggestions as to how to fix this.
I can't find a way of finding out what chipset a card uses before I
actually purchase a card so I don't wont to buy another and end up with a
box full of useless cards!

I"ve always stayed with TI, whether built-in, or an add-on firewire card.
Can't help with multiple firewire cards, as I'm afraid of the hardware irq
usage requirements at the bios level overlapping/sharing with another
device. Firewire, like LAN, should have their own hardware irq unshared at
the bios level. I keep 2 firewire enclosures with hard drives always
connected to the firewire interface. I don't have problems with either not
showing, ever. I only turn them on or turn them off when XP is fully
booted.

I usually do some in-depth research on any hardware before I buy. People's
opinions of same, I take with a grain of salt.
Dave

 

[philo]

This is a old, well known fact that TI based 1394 cards do
usually "work well", and others do not.
Also there were warnings in other newsgroups against using
1394 external disks with WinXP or win2k, because
of serious defects in Windows firewire drivers.

I don't know all the details, you can post a query about the current
status of 1394 support in the following NGs:

microsoft.public.windows.vista.hardware-devices
microsoft.public.development.device.drivers

aaah that explains it as I have given up entirely of firewire as I've never
been able to get it working reliably.
have never yet had even the slightest problem with USB2

 

[M.I.5¾]

aaah that explains it as I have given up entirely of firewire as I've
never
been able to get it working reliably.
have never yet had even the slightest problem with USB2

There have been various versions of the Firewire chipsets over the years.
Some of the older ones have had all sorts of unwanted baggage. The current
TI chipsets operate without problem on a wide variety of devices. The only
'gotcha' that still remains is if you daisychain devices that operate at
different speeds (in that they won't operate).