FireWire HD won't come up - 10.1.4 issue?

T

toerne

Registered
Hi folks,

got a lovely problem: Got a Firewire HD (80 Gig) on my G4/933, and since yesterday, it refuses to work. Here's what happens: It I hotplug it (turn it on when the computer is already running), nothing happens -- no icon, no entry in /dev/, nothing. Of course, fsck does not find it, either.
When I turn it on before starting up the computer, the system just shows me a happy mac and the rotating colorful circle. And that's it, I left it running for 8 hrs.

Once while doing so, I got a "kernel trap" which told me that the kernel had a problem in the firewire kernel module. Oh great. I called Apple support, and it _seems_ (statement of the Apple tech guy) that the update to 10.1.4 which I performed earlier did some silent update to the kernel module in question.

I tried using a console (Command-S during startup) to check the HD, but it woulnd't come up anyway.

Anyone has anything to suggest? I would really like to be able to access my work again.

Chris
 
Update to this thread: I put the HD from the external Firewire case into my Mac. Purrs like a kitten, works fine. Guess the IDE/FW bridge (or whatever the correct term is) somehow blew, so I guess it's not an OS issue although I cannot rule that possibility out for certain.

Chris
 
you probably just need to run a good 3rd party repair program on your osx system disk. drive recognition problems are normally caused by corrupted volume structures. diskwarrior from www.alsoft.com is the best for this problem. There are various other threads on this problem and proper disk repair has been the answer in about 90% of the cases.
 
Ed,

Thanks for the input. I'm experiencing what sounds like the same problem.

I tried what you said and DiskWarrior found a few errors but didn't correct the problem. What leads me to believe it is the firewire port is that 1) I can't boot off a firewire attached hard drive and 2) even blank CDs aren't recognized when inserted into FW CDR drive. AppleSystemProfiler reports that no FireWire devices could be found even when they are attached. I think it's time for a trip to my local reseller to check the logic board. Any ideas?

System specs: TiBook 550/512 MB RAM/Mac OS X 10.1.4/30 GB HD

Thanks

You may want to check out this thread. Sounds like others are experiencing similar difficulties:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?50@230.9guMasJebQH^2@.ef0a4bc/24
 
spiggott - if it were me, i would try running disk warrior on each drive, and at least twice on the system disk before running off to check hardware. you may be right, but i would rule out the software first. you can get diskwarrior to recognise your fw drive by hot plugging it after launching diskwarrior. after repairing it, repair the system disk again as it should now be looking for a drive that is in good shape. I had a similar problem following a power outage and it took me days to get it going. in the end diskwarrior worked.

one little thing you might want to try - if you still have a boot disk with 9.0.x on it, try booting from it and see if your drive is recognised. When i had my problem, it had the peculiar habit of showing up in 9.0, but not in 9.1.x or osx. it was my best clue that something other than hardware was at fault.

I am not sure about your blank cd's, but there are other issues that can cause the lack of recognition for these that must be dealt with seperately. If you are using toast titanium, these can ussually be fixed by simply reinstalling the latest toast update.

btw - links to apple support groups never work. probably because they include your password and username.
 
Thanks for thie input, Ed. I'll give that a try this afternoon. The odd thing is, the FireWire HD will mount and run fine on my G4/733/10.1.4.
 
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