It's always been laborious to have my home PC recognize my cmcorder
(Sony DCR-TRV900 via firewire connection): I had to try it multiple
times, using a variety of tricks, etc. But when I brought it to work,
either of my 2 office PCs here (all running Win XP Prof; my home PC &
one of the office PCs P4, one of the office PCs P3) would recognize it
instantly w/o a problem. Now my home PC wouldn't recognize it (after a
very difficult capture session with loosing connection after every 2
min or so) at all. So I brought it in and now my office PC wouldn't
recognize it either. At work I have another digital camera: Canon
DM-GL1A. I just checked the Cannon on the same port on my office PC,
using the same cable and it is recognized instantly. It could be that
there is something wrong w/ the SONY camcorder. Do you know any
methods to query the firewire signal that it produces when being
turned on (which should normally prompt Windows to recognize it) or to
test it in any other way? Any other suggestions?
Thank you!
Zoltan

Do you have an ohm meter? i play guitar and an electrician friend of
mine would use an ohm meter, which i think you can pick up for under
20 bucks at a radioshack, that can measure the amount of current by
touching the tip of the ohm meter to the part in question.  its a long
shot, but if you dont have a reading at your firewire part on your
cam,  or it has significantly less of a reading than your other
camera, that could be something to consider.

one other idea, try changing the fire wire cord. okams razor

Thank you. I can certainly try to check this; I have all kinds of ohm
meters as I work in an electrophysiology lab.
With respect to the wire, I know that's always the first thing, but
the Canon camcorder worked with the exact same wire...