hi well, is it is dead there is no repair only replace and you can do that yourself. what about booting it from a recent utility like Norton Systemworks CD and then seeing if a FW HD mounts. At least that way you will eliminate software from the equation. If it does not [ ... and the CD does on some other Mac ] then you need to replace. you have done oall the zapping your PRAM, re-installing your software thing? John <quote> well recently my fw devices have stoped working, and was wondering does anyone know of a sure way to know if i need to bring my cube in for repairs.