Dummy said:
Patrick, I appreciate your taking the time to respond. No help, but you
did
respond. Nothing has been damaged that I can tell, since deleting the
software driver and reinstalling corrects the problem for one time. The
solution I need is related to the software issue. Westinghouse tech and I
agree that it is a Windows XP issue. We just don't know what to do about
it.
I'd hoped that someone knowledgable about Windows XP would respond.
Thanks again.
There is also a Firewire fix in the MS KB that may help you (or may not).
This should have been rolled into SP2, but in case it wasn't, look for
these - I think they are the same number:
WindowsXP-KB885222-v2-x86-ENU.exe
WindowsXP-KB885222-x86-ENU.exe
I seem to recall that this did have some effect on the problems I was having
with Firewire devices, pre-SP2, which I don't have post-SP2.
You might also want to ask in any non-Microsoft newsgroups that involve use
of Firewire devices, like camera and audio groups (for example,
rec.audio.pro). These folks will almost certainly have some exposure to
similar or identical problems.
If the problem is software and within XP, I would think that it may well be
a registry issue rather than a file-damage issue. And, if your reinstall
of XP did not start with wiping the disk (including deleting all your data)
but was basically a repair install, you may not have addressed the problem
at all.
Repair installs often leave data and user settings behind - they don't make
a lot of changes to the registry, so things would be mostly as they were.
One certain way of determining this at low risk to existing data is to pop
in another hard disk (I paid about cdn$80 for 80-gig laptop drives last
week) and do a fresh install to that of only XP, no other applications;
apply XP updates only, then proceed directly to the FireWire issue.
Install only the drivers you absolutely have to to connect the camera.
If the problem still occurs, you may not have an answer, but you will have
eliminated virtually every other potential software factor beyond the
registry, and will have a smaller field to search.
If you aren't familiar with removing drives from laptops, it's normally
pretty easy. Just remove power and the battery first. There's often one
or two screws holding the drive tray in, then four screws holding the drive
into the tray. On some systems, if the drive is EIDE, there is often a
little header you have to pry off the pins and move to the new drive. If
the drive is SATA, as many new systems are, the header isn't there; the
connectors are simpler; and you *must* know before purchasing the spare
whether the drive is SATA or not.
HTH
-pk
