urb Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Looks like my 2008 Intel iMac's Firewire ports are no longer working - I've tried every damn solution posted on the web to check /reboot them and I know it's not my FW cables or external hard drives at fault - I know it's almost inevitable that I'll have to take the machine to be repaired at a specialist shop but I just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar or had a clue about how much replacing these kinds of parts can be? My suspicion is that it might not actually be worth replacing them and saving for a new computer instead.... Any answers from those in the know on this subject would be appreciated Thanks guys and gals Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Book an appointment at a Genius bar in the Apple store..... they should tell you whats up FOC. I took my old G4 tower into my local apple store last week as there was an issue and they found the issue and it's now in for repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Have you been hot-plugging bus-powered stuff? That's apparently the kiss of death for Firewire ports. It may happen first time... it may happen the one-thousandth time... but it'll probably happen eventually. ZAP. Pfff. Dead. Or so I've heard. I've heard it so many times that I [b]never[/b] hot-plug Firewire stuff, [i]or[/i] power it from the bus. But like Crez sez, get thee to an Apple store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='BottomEndian' post='1278718' date='Jun 22 2011, 04:42 PM']Have you been hot-plugging bus-powered stuff? That's apparently the kiss of death for Firewire ports. It may happen first time... it may happen the one-thousandth time... but it'll probably happen eventually. ZAP. Pfff. Dead. Or so I've heard. I've heard it so many times that I [b]never[/b] hot-plug Firewire stuff, [i]or[/i] power it from the bus. But like Crez sez, get thee to an Apple store.[/quote] You know you've probably just hit the nail on the head - my Mackie audio interface was working great on Bus power then suddenly showed power surges - I wondered why it was doing it after working fine for ages - then an external hard drive is now not showing up either... I should have suspected something but it had all been working fine. Annoyingly it's reminded me of the limitations of my current set up and made me now think I'd rather put the money it could cost to repair towards a new mac! Thanks for your thougts guys - very helpful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='crez5150' post='1278684' date='Jun 22 2011, 04:28 PM']I took my old G4 tower into my local apple store last week[/quote] Where is local Crez ? Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='urb' post='1278883' date='Jun 22 2011, 06:49 PM']You know you've probably just hit the nail on the head - my Mackie audio interface was working great on Bus power then suddenly showed power surges - I wondered why it was doing it after working fine for ages - then an external hard drive is now not showing up either... I should have suspected something but it had all been working fine.[/quote] That does indeed sound suspicious. As long as you have the bus-powered device plugged in when you boot up, it should be fine, but if there's stuff being swapped in and out while the system's powered up... I've heard it said that it's equivalent (in terms of potential for power-surge mayhem) to plugging in a condenser mic with phantom power switched on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 [quote name='lowdown' post='1278939' date='Jun 22 2011, 07:38 PM']Where is local Crez ? Garry[/quote] Hey Garry Lakeside mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 The vital question is - did you let the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_smoke"]magic smoke[/url] out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowdown Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='crez5150' post='1279248' date='Jun 22 2011, 11:54 PM']Hey Garry Lakeside mate[/quote] Cheers ... By the way, the Mic turned out great - she is happy with that... Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='urb' post='1278883' date='Jun 22 2011, 06:49 PM']You know you've probably just hit the nail on the head - my Mackie audio interface was working great on Bus power then suddenly showed power surges - I wondered why it was doing it after working fine for ages - then an external hard drive is now not showing up either... I should have suspected something but it had all been working fine. Annoyingly it's reminded me of the limitations of my current set up and made me now think I'd rather put the money it could cost to repair towards a new mac! Thanks for your thougts guys - very helpful[/quote] Hot plugging Firewire is a known issue. Although the Firewire spec is designed to be hot-pluggable, it can cause chip failure. My Focusrite Saffire I/O's manual was keen to point this out. [url="http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063"]http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1279467' date='Jun 23 2011, 10:57 AM']Hot plugging Firewire is a known issue. Although the Firewire spec is designed to be hot-pluggable, it can cause chip failure. My Focusrite Saffire I/O's manual was keen to point this out. [url="http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063"]http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063[/url][/quote] Yeah me thinks i should have paid more attention to that.... doh! Looks like it's going to mean a new Mac for me now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycrowave Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I hot plug my usb interface all the time, should i stop doing so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Strange isn't it.... I've been hot plugging all my USB and Firewire devices for years and only just read about this. I've personally never had an issue though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='cycrowave' post='1279568' date='Jun 23 2011, 12:51 PM']I hot plug my usb interface all the time, should i stop doing so?[/quote] USB is (or should be) perfectly fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='crez5150' post='1279571' date='Jun 23 2011, 12:57 PM']Strange isn't it.... I've been hot plugging all my USB and Firewire devices for years and only just read about this. I've personally never had an issue though.[/quote] Like said I've not had any issues with it for ages then suddenly it all stopped working - it's a damn pain in the butt - and it's why I've just f***ed my Mac - I mean it works fine but without FW ports I'm a bit screwed in terms of various harddrives and audio interfaces - plus Logic has been moaning at me for pushing it with lots of tracks - such a bummer but to get the FW prts replaced means messing with the motherboard which will cost (for starters) £350... I think that's going towards a new machine Oh bugger - more dosh out the door... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Give these guys a shout.... [url="http://www.macrepairslondon.com/"]http://www.macrepairslondon.com/[/url] I've used them before and they are pretty good and not too expensive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='crez5150' post='1279611' date='Jun 23 2011, 01:38 PM']Give these guys a shout.... [url="http://www.macrepairslondon.com/"]http://www.macrepairslondon.com/[/url] I've used them before and they are pretty good and not too expensive[/quote] Cool man thanks - I did already call the Apple store on Regents St and got a ballpark figure on the kind of repair job I think my machine will need - so I don't think I'll get it done cheaper elsewhere - I spoke to an Apple repair place in London Bridge and the guy (who was really helpful) said as a third party shop they have to order in parts which can take a while too - though I may give these guys a try. On the upside I have a new Macbook pro and that's all fine so at least I can use that as my music machine from now on - the new desktop beast will have to wait a few months. Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHUFC BASS Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1279467' date='Jun 23 2011, 10:57 AM']Hot plugging Firewire is a known issue. Although the Firewire spec is designed to be hot-pluggable, it can cause chip failure. My Focusrite Saffire I/O's manual was keen to point this out. [url="http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063"]http://www.focusrite.com/answerbase/en/article.php?id=1063[/url][/quote] Do you power your Saffire from bus power or from power supply ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 [quote name='WHUFC BASS' post='1279979' date='Jun 23 2011, 06:44 PM']Do you power your Saffire from bus power or from power supply ?[/quote] Powered from the mains supply and connected directly to my MacBook Pro with a FW cable and 800/400 adaptor. It's the same as yours I think, Pro24 DSP VRM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHUFC BASS Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1280610' date='Jun 24 2011, 10:10 AM']Powered from the mains supply and connected directly to my MacBook Pro with a FW cable and 800/400 adaptor. It's the same as yours I think, Pro24 DSP VRM?[/quote] Yep, that's mine. Great little units I think. I was just wondering whether it was better to power from the mains rather than direct from the Firewire port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 [quote name='WHUFC BASS' post='1280675' date='Jun 24 2011, 10:54 AM']Yep, that's mine. Great little units I think. I was just wondering whether it was better to power from the mains rather than direct from the Firewire port.[/quote] I bought it because of your recommendation in another thread, it is indeed ace! I didn't realise it could be powered from the FW port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomEndian Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 [quote name='silddx' post='1280701' date='Jun 24 2011, 11:09 AM']I didn't realise it could be powered from the FW port.[/quote] It certainly can (I've got one too)... but like I said before, I don't and I won't if I can avoid it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHUFC BASS Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 That's interesting, I usually only power from the Firewire port. Might just start using the power supply from now on. They are great units, and the VRM Software is a great idea.especially if you can't afford a decent set of nearfield monitors - superbly designed, compact and sound great when combined with Logic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Urb - have you run the hardware tests on your Mac? It's a partition on the system DVD that came with it. Restart with the DVD in the drive and hold down the Option key as the Mac restarts. You will see a set of icons for the different start up disks available one of which will be called Hardware Test. Click on this and follow the instructions. Note down any error messages/codes you get. If you book an appointment at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store they may well ask you to do this first anyway. I managed to fry the FW port on my G4 1.25 by hot plugging a drive. Luckily it was still under guarantee so I just played dumb and said that I'd only just tried the port and it didn't appear to be working. The (free) fix was a new mother board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 26, 2011 Author Share Posted June 26, 2011 [quote name='BigRedX' post='1282509' date='Jun 25 2011, 09:42 PM']Urb - have you run the hardware tests on your Mac? It's a partition on the system DVD that came with it. Restart with the DVD in the drive and hold down the Option key as the Mac restarts. You will see a set of icons for the different start up disks available one of which will be called Hardware Test. Click on this and follow the instructions. Note down any error messages/codes you get. If you book an appointment at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store they may well ask you to do this first anyway. I managed to fry the FW port on my G4 1.25 by hot plugging a drive. Luckily it was still under guarantee so I just played dumb and said that I'd only just tried the port and it didn't appear to be working. The (free) fix was a new mother board.[/quote] Hey man - sadly I've done the AHT thing from the original install DVD and the results said there was nothing wrong with the Mac, like I said I've tried everything to test them - I think it was either my audio interface or an external HD that did the damage - I've spoken with a repair guy and he said as the FW ports are buried inside and hardwired to the motherboard it's going to be expensive to repair - and the computer is now 4 years old so well out of warranty. The upside is my new MacBook is running well and I'm going to use that for music stuff while I start to raise funds for a kick ass new desktop... sh*t happens - Macs break like everything else! Thanks for your thoughts on this - at least I'm pretty confident I've isolated the problem and it's a lesson learned the hard way - I was thinking that I am going to have to get a new computer at some point in the next year anyway as my current one has been getting slower and not handling multiple programs as well it's now obvious I need to replace it before it has a full on meltdown in the middle of an important piece of work! M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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