Firewire/USB Combo card $20 !

[swizcore]

Im sure most of you know already but CompUSA has 2-Firewire port / 2-USB port PCI cards for $19.99.
On their website they are listed at this price, in store they are still listed at $69.99. Just take it to the cashier and tell them how much it is listed at on the site, they will go check the site and come back and say " wow, thats really cheap, and then take your $20 Unless your me... then you tell her to hold on while you go grab another and the OS X 10.1 Up-to-date CD which they didnt ask for proof of prior ownership of OSX and only charged me $.01 again

Goto the CompUSA website, search for "Firewire PCI card" then find the one that is $19.99. Then click the link that lists its "in-stock" status, you fill in your zip code and it will tell you if any CompUSA's near you have them in stock.

I bought two and they both work just dandy!

Hope someone else benefits from this.

 

[Krevinek]

Hmm... so you are saying that the 'mistake' on the CompUSA website is causing the ability to get ahold of a rather expensive product easy? The website (obviously) is stating every place is out of stock or backordered... I am tempted just to order through the website, or try the trick if I see one at my local CompUSA Monday...

Evilness...

This is the FMI PCI USB/Firewire Combo Adapter Card, right? If so, and if it does work under OS 9 and OS X... you have me sold. HOWEVER, it has to work under both or it isn't useful to me... as I have quite a bit of USB stuff I need to work under both, and obviously I want the Firewire to work under both (my current SIIG 2-port USB works great on my 8600 in 10.1.1 and 9.2.1)

Wow... Evilness...

 

[swizcore]

Its actually totally legit. I guess they are liquidating the PCI cards but just haven't made it imperative to update the price tags or notify the employees. I found out about it from www.xlr8yourmac.com

 

[Krevinek]

Looks like I will have to be picky about the model...

Beige G3 owners (which the minitower board was based off the 8600 board I have, the 3 slot model...) seem to have good success with it, as does the 6-slot 9xxx series (stock CPU)... the one 9500 having huge issues also had a G4/450 card which was causing problems and preventing use of the lower 3 slots (unless he wanted random lockups/crashes), so that seems like there is something serious happening there...

I personally would like to have a firewire drive on this 8600 (60-80GB of course) for use in A/V, as well as a FW CD-RW. Both of these will travel to the TiBook I wish to get... 20$ is a good price to get access to the equipment beforehand, and my video editing box is pretty packed as it is... a FW HD would be perfect.

 

[Zim]

I purchased one of these and found that it did not work under OS X. I'm returning it today.

Nice idea, but of OS X users, I'm afraid there's no benefit.

Both USB and Firewire devices were unrecognized for me under 10.1.1.

Mike
B&W G3/400

 

[Krevinek]

Seems that the chipset makes all the difference. The boards with the Lucent chipset on them work great, while the TI/Opti chipset boards don't.

Beige G3 owners are having no problem with the Lucent board under OS X... and ironically, the modified 3 PCI slot logic board in my 8600 was the transistion step over to the beige G3 minitower.

 

[swizcore]

Originally posted by Zim
I purchased one of these and found that it did not work under OS X. I'm returning it today.

Nice idea, but of OS X users, I'm afraid there's no benefit.

Both USB and Firewire devices were unrecognized for me under 10.1.1.

Mike
B&W G3/400

Both of my cards work fine with OS 10.1 with no drivers. I have a scanner, printer, DV cam, portable MP3 player, my keyboard and game pad all connected to them and have no issues with any of them.

 

[Krevinek]

As I said, the chipset seems to make the difference. If possible get one that uses the Lucent chipset. If needed, you might be able to exchange a TI/Opti-based board for a Lucent if you explain your logic board has a conflict with the TI/Opti-based board, but won't with the Lucent.

To figure out which is which, look at the big chip on the picture (or the board itself) on the box. The chipset the box contains is labeled on the control chip of the board in the picture... rather interesting.

 

[swizcore]

Originally posted by Krevinek
As I said, the chipset seems to make the difference. If possible get one that uses the Lucent chipset. If needed, you might be able to exchange a TI/Opti-based board for a Lucent if you explain your logic board has a conflict with the TI/Opti-based board, but won't with the Lucent.

To figure out which is which, look at the big chip on the picture (or the board itself) on the box. The chipset the box contains is labeled on the control chip of the board in the picture... rather interesting.

I have one of each of these cards in my machine. Both work fine. Didnt realize they were different till i got home but luckily, and apparently rather mystically, neither card has a problem with my setup.

 

[Krevinek]

Welp... that is all she wrote. CompUSA is officially out nation-wide. I managed to pick up an OHCI-based Firewire card for around 30$ which is still a fair deal, but I am having issues getting it to work. It is a Que 3-Port Firewire card that is supposed to support PPC Macs that have Firewire Enabler 2.3.3 or later installed. I have 9.2.1 installed and it shows up as a 'PCI Port' and no Firewire bus... WTF???

 

[Zim]

Happy for ya... but again, chipset or not, these do not work for everyone, so buyer beware.

Firewire CD-R (works fine with built-in FW) and USB camera both were unrecognized.

ASP showed only that a pci card was plugged in. No other useful data.

B&W G3 (rev 2), 10.1.1

Mike

 

[Krevinek]

I found this out with the QPS Card... needless to say, I will be returning it as defective. QPS doesn't even acknowledge it exists unless you contact them directly for tech support. Suffice it to say, I will not be buying another QPS product. I don't trust any company that makes me contact them just to see if they actually produce said product, and to get basic online information. The Quick Install manual didn't even mention MacOS instructions at all.