Dead Firewire port?

Y-Guy · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:02 pm Post subject: Dead Firewire port?

Not on my Mini but my iMac, appears my FW800 port is dead. I am able to use the drive and my FW 800 on my mini, and the FW400 and USB work on my iMac, just not the FW 800. It's not critical but would be nice if it worked.

I'm wondering if anyone has had this type of port problem and what it cost to fix? I've got a local non-apple mac shop I trust, but curious to know more before I go in.

Advice?
_________________
iMac 24" 2.4 GHz 4GB | Logitech S530 | Z-2300 speakers | NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID
MacMini HTPC 2.26 GHz 2GB | Panasonic Plasma TV | Logitech diNovo Edge | Mercury Elite-AL Pro 800
AppleTV1 unhacked | Panasonic LCD

macmanmacman · Veteran Member Joined: 25 Oct 2007 Posts: 1682

Bad main board any where from 700.00 to as little as 200.00 you might have to call them and ask.

Y-Guy · Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:01 pm Post subject:

mooblie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 3:52 am Post subject:

Do try an SMC Reset first. To be honest, it probably won't fix it, but there's a long shot it might.
_________________
Martin at HeadSpin HD now on Blu-ray

Y-Guy · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 8:46 am Post subject:

Thanks moobile, I should have stated that I have done a PRAM reset and I think and SMC, but I'll give it a try to make sure.
_________________
iMac 24" 2.4 GHz 4GB | Logitech S530 | Z-2300 speakers | NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID
MacMini HTPC 2.26 GHz 2GB | Panasonic Plasma TV | Logitech diNovo Edge | Mercury Elite-AL Pro 800
AppleTV1 unhacked | Panasonic LCD

ez061111 · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 888

Have you tried swapping cables?
_________________
2.0 GHz i7 Mini 8 GB RAM, OWC Merc Extreme SSD & Samsung Spinpoint
2.6 GHz i7 Mini 16 GB RAM, Samsung 830 & Hitachi
15" 2.3 GHz i7 MBP 16 GB RAM, OWC Extreme Pro 6G SSD & WD Black

tom d · Member Joined: 06 Aug 2009 Posts: 146 Location: Florida

Y-Guy, from what I was told, by Apple Tech, they as well as usb ports are connected to logic board. I don't know this as fact, was told this, my 2010 mini is getting a new board now, 2 usb ports crapped out. They want 600 for mini, I had Apple Care, I was fortunate.

tom d

Y-Guy · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:24 pm Post subject:

Thanks again guys, I did try swapping to a different cable, going to do all the resets again tonight and double check that my Apple Care isn't out yet. Problem started when i used a new longer FW800 cable, so I'm afraid to try it on the mini, don't want it to have problems. If the FW & USB are part of the same board then I'd think the USB would be dead too, maybe time to give Apple a buzz and see what they say.
_________________
iMac 24" 2.4 GHz 4GB | Logitech S530 | Z-2300 speakers | NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID
MacMini HTPC 2.26 GHz 2GB | Panasonic Plasma TV | Logitech diNovo Edge | Mercury Elite-AL Pro 800
AppleTV1 unhacked | Panasonic LCD

Y-Guy · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:10 pm Post subject:

Go figure, I've done the resets before but I did them last night and tonight I pulled out the firewire cable again and low and behold its working again.

For the knowledge base of the forum here is a LONG thread on the Apple discussion forums about this issue, no real solutions other then to keep trying the reset. Link to thread

I do appreciate the suggestions, guess never hurts to try a few times.

After puling out the old cable I thought was bad I've proven it was bad, caused the same problem again. Going in the trash now.
_________________
iMac 24" 2.4 GHz 4GB | Logitech S530 | Z-2300 speakers | NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID
MacMini HTPC 2.26 GHz 2GB | Panasonic Plasma TV | Logitech diNovo Edge | Mercury Elite-AL Pro 800
AppleTV1 unhacked | Panasonic LCD

Y-Guy · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:08 pm Post subject:

I thought I'd give a plug to the folks at Monoprice.com - I emailed them to see if there had been problems with the 10' firewire cables and wondering if the more expensive one would be safer bet. Figured since I'd had the cable since Feb 10 that I was just out the $4 I spent. I was pleasantly surprised when the customer service emailed me back and apologized for the cable problems and said they were sending out a new one and I could just toss the bad one - no questions asked. I didn't realize they have a lifetime warranty on their cables. Kudos to them for taking care of the problem for me.
_________________
iMac 24" 2.4 GHz 4GB | Logitech S530 | Z-2300 speakers | NewerTech Guardian MAXimus RAID
MacMini HTPC 2.26 GHz 2GB | Panasonic Plasma TV | Logitech diNovo Edge | Mercury Elite-AL Pro 800
AppleTV1 unhacked | Panasonic LCD

Smithcraft · Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:58 am Post subject:

Awesome! Another reason to love monoprice.

SC
_________________
Grumpy old man of computing.

[Desktop] G4 mini - 1.5Ghz 1GB 80GB HDD - Newer miniStack v2 500GB - 10.5.8

[Media System] Intel i5 mini - 2.33Ghz 8GB 500GB HDD - 4 x Hitachi 2TB HDD in a qBOX-SF - 10.7.5 (Thanks Phil!)

Make sure it has pins!


	FAQ Search Memberlist Photo Gallery Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in

	123Macmini.com - Forums Forum Index -> Mac Mini Troubleshooting	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1