[G4] Dead FW ports

[Brian Conner]

Sean, I don't find it odd. This is a school with curious kids. They try
stuff, you know. It's easy to plug a cheap FW cable in backwards. This can
fry a FW bus very quickly, and only the more recent G4s have a self-healing
FW bus. So it is no surprise if the FW busses on several computers are
fried.

Diannah, this is a great opportunity to teach the kids why it's important to
plug the FW cable in the right way.


Brian Conner


-----Original Message-----
From: Power Macintosh G4 List [mailto:G4 at lists.themacintoshguy.com] On
Behalf Of Sean
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2003 11:35 PM
To: Power Macintosh G4 List
Subject: Re: [G4] Dead FW ports


Did the controller show up? or just not the devices you plugged into it? 
IE when you are in the Apple System Profiler does it say: FireWire
Information -> Device not found 

Or does it say 
FireWire Information -> FireWire (built-in) 

and just not list any devices. 

I guess it really makes me wonder since I assume you are using the same 
devices, and are reporting two dead machines with bad FW ports if there 
really isn't something else going on. Like a bad cable, crosstalk, a 
device is drawing too much power, flaky chipset, corrosion, etc. etc. 

I know I have a really early ADS Pyro case that won't work with the G4 
although it works fine with the 8500 and the firewire card. I was 
supposed to send that in on a recall but forgot to do it. It was actually 
really flaky for a long time with detection before I got it working. 

I am NOT saying you are wrong. I just think it is odd. And if the ports 
are in fact dead I would seriously be leary that something that is shared 
between the machines is actually causing maybe a power surge or whatever. 

Sean