Problematic PowerMac (Fries Firewire Port)
A couple of weeks ago, I was on my dual G5 PowerMac using an iSight when it quit working. It was hooked into the rear Firewire 400 port on the PowerMac; and at the time, the only thing I focused on was that the iSight had quit. Yesterday, I borrowed my wife’s iSight and plugged it into the rear port and discovered it wouldn’t work. When I connected it to the PowerMac’s front port, it worked fine.
Obviously, that told me that the problem was the Firewire port on the PowerMac itself . I plugged in an external hard disk to the port to see if the disk would mount. Big Mistake! As soon as I turned the drive on, I heard a pop and smelled something burning. The port was obviously bad and would burn up anything attached to it!
This is not the first time I’ve had a problem with that port. The PowerMac is a refurbished model that had audio problems as soon as I opened the box. An Apple Service Provider (Mac America) across town replaced the motherboard but I found the Firewire ports weren’t working when I fired the machine up. Resetting the PRAM and NVRAM solved the problem.
Moreover, the Firewire 400 ports on my previous Mirror Drive Door dual processor 1.25 GHz G4 PowerMac also went out, though I don’t remember them frying any equipment. They simply stopped working. I put in a Firewire 400 PCI card to work around the problem since the warranty on that machine had expired.
Luckily, I’ve got about 12 days left on the warranty on my current PowerMac. I’m not only going to get it into an Apple Service provider for service within the next few days, but I may look into getting Apple Care on the machine since I plan on keeping it for a while.
I have always liked Firewire over USB 2.0, but the tendency of Firewire ports to short out easily makes me always a bit nervous about any Firewire driven equipment. I don’t know if the Firewire 800 interface is any less likely than the 400’s, but I might look into getting some 400 to 800 adapters if they are. You can bet even if I am successful at getting my PowerMac fixed under the warranty, I intend to put an add-on Firewire 400/800 card in it and use it for any rear port activities. I’ve found some info on the web suggesting that G5 PowerMacs tend to fry the equipment attached to them when things go bad, and I’d rather risk replacing a PCI-X card rather than the motherboard if it happens again.
Obviously, that told me that the problem was the Firewire port on the PowerMac itself . I plugged in an external hard disk to the port to see if the disk would mount. Big Mistake! As soon as I turned the drive on, I heard a pop and smelled something burning. The port was obviously bad and would burn up anything attached to it!
This is not the first time I’ve had a problem with that port. The PowerMac is a refurbished model that had audio problems as soon as I opened the box. An Apple Service Provider (Mac America) across town replaced the motherboard but I found the Firewire ports weren’t working when I fired the machine up. Resetting the PRAM and NVRAM solved the problem.
Moreover, the Firewire 400 ports on my previous Mirror Drive Door dual processor 1.25 GHz G4 PowerMac also went out, though I don’t remember them frying any equipment. They simply stopped working. I put in a Firewire 400 PCI card to work around the problem since the warranty on that machine had expired.
Luckily, I’ve got about 12 days left on the warranty on my current PowerMac. I’m not only going to get it into an Apple Service provider for service within the next few days, but I may look into getting Apple Care on the machine since I plan on keeping it for a while.
I have always liked Firewire over USB 2.0, but the tendency of Firewire ports to short out easily makes me always a bit nervous about any Firewire driven equipment. I don’t know if the Firewire 800 interface is any less likely than the 400’s, but I might look into getting some 400 to 800 adapters if they are. You can bet even if I am successful at getting my PowerMac fixed under the warranty, I intend to put an add-on Firewire 400/800 card in it and use it for any rear port activities. I’ve found some info on the web suggesting that G5 PowerMacs tend to fry the equipment attached to them when things go bad, and I’d rather risk replacing a PCI-X card rather than the motherboard if it happens again.
posted by Andy Foster at
11:43 AM
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