[1394] Re: FireWire drive likes G3s, hates G4s

[jeff chasick]

Do you know what chipset is on the bridgeboard?

Perhaps a firmware flash of the chip will help

Also 10.2.5 is not far away...


> I had a similar problem with a Granite Digital firewire box, after
> upgrading from OS 9.2 to 10.2. The drive would spin down, and then
> never spin up again. Any attempt to use the finder would result in a
> spinning beach ball (forever!). The only way out was to reboot.
> 
> I then discovered that there was a firmware update on the Granite
> website. This fixed the problem, ie the drive still spins down after
> maybe 15 minutes (never timed it) but it will spin up again when I use
> the finder or a program makes a disk access. Not perfect, because of
> the spinup delay, but certainly better than rebooting!
> 
> Perhaps a simple applescript to have the finder open and then close a
> new window, to run every 14 minutes, might do the trick...
> 
> Henry
> 
> On Thursday, Apr 3, 2003, at 12:53 Canada/Eastern, Richard Brown wrote:
> 
>> I use all ADS Pyro External Firewire drives, which use the Oxford 911
>> chip.
>> 
>> They functioned perfectly on all MacOS versions UNTIL 10.2.4. In
>> 10.2.4, external FW drives will function at the get go, either booting
>> the drives before or after the computer, but with NO activity, it
>> turns out there is a glitch in 10.2.4 which issues a hardware level
>> drive shutdown command to the external FW drives. A guru on the forums
>> of the Mac Knowledgebase informed me of this problem. It is a fatal
>> error, but does NOT cause data damage as far as I have been able to
>> tell with many, many repetitions of the issue. The drive shutdown
>> command is on a timer, starting from the last drive access. As I
>> recall it is 15 minutes, after which, all the external drives will be
>> shut down (I have 5 ADS drives externally, all go away), but to OS
>> 10.2.4, there is no acknowledgment, and the drive icons remain. Trying
>> to access a 10.2.4 shut down FW drive is a mixed bag. You'd expect a
>> "wake from sleep" thing... maybe yes, but usually NO. The forced shut
>> down is NOT a normal sleep mode, it appears, and thus, of my five
>> drives, one, two, maybe three might spin up, but usually more like one
>> or two.
>> 
>> The solution maybe to make a constantly running Unix utility to poll
>> the external drives all the time, to keep the 10.2.4 counter from
>> hitting 15 minutes.
>> 
>> As to compatibility, the ADS drives have worked with TiBooks, G4
>> Desktops, and G3's around here.
>> 
>> Richard Brown
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Thursday, April 3, 2003, at 09:01 AM, Mike Pickard wrote:
>> 
>>>> Message-ID: <list-5543512 at mail.ninewire.com>
>>>> Reply-To: "Macintosh FireWire List"
>>>> <FireWire at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
>>>> Sender: "Macintosh FireWire List"
>>>> <FireWire at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
>>>> To: "Macintosh FireWire List" <FireWire at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
>>>> Precedence: list
>>>> X-Original-Message-Id: <a05210500bab20114934b@[192.168.123.109]>
>>>> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 09:21:30 -0600
>>>> From: Mike Pickard <mike at gerfnit.com>
>>>> Subject: [1394] Re: FireWire drive likes G3s, hates G4s
>>>> MIME-Version: 1.0
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
>>>> 
>>>> My Madlogix external Firewire drive mounts fine on my G3 B&W at home
>>>> and an iBook at a local Apple Store.  But it doesn't show up at all
>>>> on my Powerbook G4 12" or the store's desktop G4.  The difference
>>>> seems to be the processor chip and/or the support chips in these
>>>> machines.  Every one was running OS X 10.2.3 or.4.
>>>> 
>>>> Has anyone come across a Firewire drive whose bridge card is CPU
>>>> chip sensitive?
>>>> 
>>>> Madlogix has disappeared from the Yahoo Mall or I'd ask them some
>>>> questions.  Anybody with a Madlogix drive having better luck?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for your assistance.
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The Great American {Alien} Novel
>>> http://www.gerfnit.com
>>> 
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>>> 
>>> ADS Tech.| PYRO Drive Kit: convert your drive to firewire!
>>> Dr. Bott | Now $169.00 <http://www.drbott.com/prod/ADS.html>
>>> 
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>>> FireWire | 2.5" and 3.5" FireWire hard disk enclosures
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>> 
>> 
>> ----------
>> MacFireWireTalk list, a listserv for discussion of FireWire on
>> Macintosh.
>> FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/FireWireFAQ.shtml>.
>> 
>> ADS Tech.| PYRO Drive Kit: convert your drive to firewire!
>> Dr. Bott | Now $169.00 <http://www.drbott.com/prod/ADS.html>
>> 
>>   Cyberian   | Support this list when you buy at Outpost.com!
>>   Outpost    |         http://www.themacintoshguy.com/outpost.shtml
>> 
>> FireWire | 2.5" and 3.5" FireWire hard disk enclosures
>> Depot   | starting at $95!!  <http://www.fwdepot.com>
>> 
> 
> 
> ----------
> MacFireWireTalk list, a listserv for discussion of FireWire on Macintosh.
> FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/FireWireFAQ.shtml>.
> 
> ADS Tech.| PYRO Drive Kit: convert your drive to firewire!
> Dr. Bott | Now $169.00 <http://www.drbott.com/prod/ADS.html>
> 
>  Cyberian   | Support this list when you buy at Outpost.com!
>  Outpost    |         http://www.themacintoshguy.com/outpost.shtml
> 
> FireWire | 2.5" and 3.5" FireWire hard disk enclosures
> Depot   | starting at $95!!  <http://www.fwdepot.com>