My firewire connections no longer work.  I installed a new firewire
card, and it too doesn't work.  I have an external hard drive that
works with firewire and with USB,  It works with USB but not with
firewire.  My digital camera that formerly worked with firewire, now
no longer connects.  My computer shows that both cards are working
properly.  As I said before my external hard drive works but not with
firewire.  I had my computer into a repair shop, and they couldn't fix
it.  I've spent a lot of time with Microsoft and Compaq (my computer
is a Compaq 7PL290 -- part of the 7000 series)techs, and they could
not help me.  My operating system is Windows ME.  I have 600 mb of
RAM.  My computer uses an Amidon 1.3 ghrtz chip. I feel there is a
software conflict.  I don't want to use restore because it will wipe
out all of my programs and I will still not be sure that the firewire
ports will be recognized.

Respond if you have expertise and experience in fixing firewire
problems.

---

Request for Question Clarification by duncan2-ga on 23 Jan 2003 20:31 PST

While I generally agree with the sentiments expressed in the comments
regarding the quality (or lack thereof) of Windows ME, installing an
OS for a single hardware problem strikes me as a little drastic.  If
other tech support folks have been unable to fix it, though, it seems
unlikely that remote question/answer in a format such as this one will
be able to solve it either.  But it's certainly worth trying.

To help you though, researchers will need more details from you. 
Specifically:
What kind of card(s) have you tried?  Is the new card OCHI-Compliant?
What brand external drive is it?  Are you sure that the devices aren't
damaged?  (I know you mention that the drive works on USB, but have
you tried the drive and camera on other Firewire PC's?)  Did you
uninstall the software/drivers for the first card prior to installing
the new card?  Have you verified that you have the most recent BIOS
from Compaq installed on your PC?

You can check Compaq's support pages for your machine and verify that
your BIOS version is up-to-date:
http://www29.compaq.com/falco/sp_result.asp?Model=1889&Os=94

The problem is WindowsME!

Virus writers get jailed for creating things like Melissa and Code
Red. Microsoft however gets away with selling a Virus as a operating
system. Windows ME will do nothing more than frustrate you on an
ongoing basis.

Go get Windows XP Home and make your computer life 1000% better. If
you can afford it, buy XP Pro.

XP will run great on a 1.3 GHZ AMD and 600MB Ram. 

Windows ME will never run well no matter what you do. So unpost your
question, and put your $40 towards a real solution.

One of the Board Members of Microsoft wife is quoted as saying that
she "hates Windows because it always crashes" That is one reason why
they made a great effort to make XP a stable product. I prefer OS X,
but XP is pretty close in terms of stability.

Thanks for your answer, but it is a bit of a cop out.  I already own
Windows XP, but the problem is that it will not operate some of my
software programs that I've had for several years.  One in particular
is Day Timer which is no longer supported by the Day Timer
orgranization.  It is a great name, address, note, and dialing
program.  I might want to try installing XP, but I'm afraid that after
I install it, the firewire ports will still not connect.

Thanks again for your answer and the advice to save my $40.

Best to you,

Mitch

I have to second the WindowsME being the very likely problem.  One of
my previous jobs involved visiting high speed internet customers for a
local cable company. I can tell you that out of 1400 people I visited,
ALL (yes, not most but ALL) had nothing good to say about ME while
they were happy with 98.

I have no expierience with fire wire, but I just thought I would
express my firm belief that WinME is most likely the cause. 
WindowsXP, followed by Windows98 are the two most stable OSs for home
use (in the Windows line).

Regards,
slawek-ga

I neglected to mention that only about 150-200 customer ran WindowsME.
Not all 1400 of course! :)

slawek-ga

I know it sounds like a cop out, but perhaps you could install windows
xp (or 2000, which is my favorite) in a dual boot setup, so that you
could still use your other programs when need be, and firewire other
times. Windows ME is not good at hardly anything, and one of those
things is firewire. By the time microsoft came out with windows me,
their firewire support was still a little sketchy and unreliable. If I
were to sit down at your computer, I *might* be able to figure out
what the problem with the firewire is (since it has worked before),
but for the kind of money you are willing to pay for this answer, you
might as well just get a more reliable version of windows.

The problem could be any number of things, and it would be very hard
to track down exactly what that problem is without having pysical
access to the machine.

Maybe its a copout, but its true. I went through about six different
firewire cards on my win2k machine, and each had distinct flaws
ranging from not recognizing the camera, low frame rate, and digital
noise. I ditched windows 9x because things (not just firewire) would
spontaneously stop working, and require a windows reinstall.

I'm using a laptop with winXP now, and although I don't like winXP as
much as 2k (stable as all get-out), I will note that my firewire works
correctly every time, as well as two other people I know with winXP.
WinXP plugnplay really does impress me. If firewire just up and
stopped working, you might have to reinstall windows anyway.

Good luck.

Definitely not a "cop out" to install XP.

Junk is junk. 

Windows Me is Junk.

You may get Firewire working again, but something else will break. The
Windows 95/98/Me series are self corrupting over time. The longer you
use it, the more problems you will have.

I have been in the computer repair/installation industry for 10+ years
and I won't even touch a 95/98/Me system any more. It is not worth the
time and frustration--things do not function in a logical manner and
it will drive you to the point of insanity.

Try running XP and then run Virtual PC with 98. That way you can have
the stability of XP and if 98 crashes, you can just restart its
virtual machine.

If you are not familiar with VPC, it allows you to run windows 98 in
its own window--while you are running XP. You are basically running 2
OS's at the same time, the only difference is that one is in its own
window. Your machine is fast enough and has enough ram to handle a VPC
solution.
http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc5w.html

I'd like to join the chorus on WindowsME..  It's a terrible operating
system, and these 'disappearing hardware' acts are not uncommon.  I've
seen it happen all the time with ME installations.  I also disagree
with the researcher in saying that the installation of an XP is a
drastic measure.

XP has a software compatibility function that will let your day timer
software 'think' it is running in Windows 95/98/ME.  I've found the
backwards compatibility in XP to be much better than that of 2000 and
certainly of NT.

I'd suggest installing XP, the firewire card, and the daytimer
software on a separate PC to test this out before working on your
production machine.

-Nishka