I'm having amazing trouble connecting a camcorder via firewire. sad.gif

I have a PC... Windows XP installed, no service packs, software firewall (Kerio), no antivirus.
I connected the camcorder 2 days ago... and it was working!
BUT... yesterday and today, I've been pulling my hair out... it JUST WON'T see the damn thing.

I tried on another PC. This has all latest service packs, BIOS uptodate, software firewall (Kerio), AVG Antivirus.
Same problem: it won't even see the damn thing.

I thought there might be a problem with the cable or the firewire card.
I tried an external DVD writer... connects fine, always recognised as soon as it's connected.

I have tried the camcorder on 2 other PC's, with 3 different cables.
SAME problem. sad.gif
(On one of the PC's, I tried turning the firewall and antivirus off, no effect.)

OK... then I tried another camcorder.
Same problem: it won't even see the damn thing!! sad.gif
(This camcorder also has USB connections. This work fine when the right driver is installed.)

Then I tried ANOTHER camcorder (that connects fine on Macs via firewire).
Same problem.

What am I doing wrong? sad.gif

I really am going mad over this.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.


OM

Either,

1. Your firewire cable is goosed (Try another cable)

or

2. The firewire port on your camera is goosed (Check the warranty)

You have remembered to put power to the camera and set to Play mode, haven't you?

__________________
IBM A51p with 160Gb Boot Disk, 160Gb external Firewire Disk, 2Gb Memory and a super duper sound card, 17\" TFT Monitor etc etc etc
Sony TRV33e : Sony TRV310e : Canon XM2
ULead products mostly including Mediastudio Pro (V8.0), Video Studio 8, Movie Factory 2.0, Premiere Elements

Remember, there is always more to learn than there is to teach.

OM2,

I have the same exact problem. XP Pro SP2 and Sony DV.

I just bought a new computer, set it up, but Windows will not recognize the camera. I've done it all...

Tried 2 different FireWire PCR cards
Tried 2 different PCR ports
Tried 3 different FireWire cables
Tried disabling pretty much everything on my motherboard to prevent conflicts.
Tried disabling my Virus and Firewall

All cards, the motherboard, and the cables are brand new.

...... All to no avail.

I'm out of ideas and extremely frustrated. It worked fine on my old box. The camera has pretty much been sitting on a shelf since the last time I captured from it, so I can't believe the camera is broken in any way.

If you have found anything to remedy the situation, please let me know. Thanks

Hi,

I bought a firewire and tried to connect it to my computer, and got nothing out of it. After reading many forums, and seeing that people were having trouble with the circuit board burning up, I thought I had the same problem, until i noticed that the firewire was not being pushed far enough in the camera, but you could not push it in any farther, due to the design of the wire. So I took a knife and cut a very small portion of the rubber around the end of the wire, reinserted it, and the computer noticed it immediately. Hope this helps.

- Nick

P.s - I was using a Sony Handycam DCR-HC26 camera, and a APC firewire cable.

Hi everyone.
I have exactly the same problems with a Sony HC39E.
My computer runs with Windows XP Home Edition.
I have tried 2 other video cameras, a new firewire card, and 3 different firewire cables.
My computer does not recognise that the video camera is connected.

I would really appreciate some help in resolving this issue. Thanks in advance.
Ironhead.

Sony, Sony, Sony, Sony... what is it about these camcorders that make them so difficult to connect up to a computer using Firewire? Do they use some kind of proprietry drivers, do you have to access them using only Sony supplied software. This isn't the first time, and I'm sure it won't be the last that Sony camcorders are brought up on the forum, oh by the way I use Panasonics. Thankfully no problems with either using Win XP or Vista (keeping my fingers crossed).

When you connect the camcorder to the computer, does it let a beep sound from it? Does an info bubble appear beside the System Tray saying that New Hardware has been detected? When you go into My Computer, does an icon appear along side the hard disk icon, DVD Drive icon etc or when you go into Device Manager, do you see a listing for an IEEE 1394 Bus Host Controller? For anyone who fiited a PCI Firewire card, are you sure it is seated correctly in the PCI slot?

__________________
Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

I have just been searching for a cure to this problem myself and found this thread.
I have two identical Sony DCR-HC39E Camcorders. All of a suden windows refuses to recognise one of the cameras at all, but my other one works fine!
I've got very confused and frustrated over this!

I am having terrible problems trying to get my computer to 'see' my canon MD101. I have a firewire cable (correct one) and a firwire port on my brand new computer. tried updating the driver of the IEEE controller. tried plugging in and out the cable. tried another computer. nothing. i made sure that the camcorder was on, set to play (or VCR mode) still nothing. when i turn the camcorder on and plug it in, i cant get the computer to make that little beep to say it has recognised a new device so perhaps the cable or the firewire port?

Using XP pro SP 2 on a quad core machine
Canon MD 101 mini DV
Pinnacle Studio 9.4

any ideas?

cheers for your help.

I am having the same problem with 2 JVC mini DV camcorders. I have tried a 4pin firewire from ebay and the supplied USB cord from JVC.

PC won't recognize the camcorders (set to play as JVC states to do).

Plug my external hard drive into the USB and it fires right up on the pc