TC Electronics Impact Twin Firewire Issues.....

[dea-man]

I have a Desktop Win 7 64 with a firewire card I installed about 5 years ago. Has worked flawlessly all this time.

Once about a year or two ago, the firewire connection dropped between the computer and the Impact Twin and after updating interface drivers and substituting windows 1394 drivers for about three days, it began working again.

Now, it's happened again, and for some odd reason the computer will no longer detect the Imapact Twin interface. I tried updating and switching drivers, endlessly re-booting, unplugging, re-setting and the usual actions but it just won't detect it, yet.

The interface is detected on my laptop. It could be the firewire cord I suppose.

Anybody run into this sort of thing themselves and found a solution?

Thanks.

[EvilDragon]

I've had the FW chip in my Impact Twin blow up on me. It wouldn't connect to computer, but standalone operation was perfectly fine. It needed a replacement of said chip.

[somebodyelseuk]

I've no experience of firewire, but my first suggestion would have been check the cable - since it works on yer lappie, that's obviously okay.
Card? If 'it were me', I'd check device manager. If it's showing (I expect it does) check properties to see if there's an issue reporting there (I expect not). Then, I'd probably 'uninstall' the card from there and reboot, to see if Windows picks it up on startup.
If it doesn't show up, it's either the card or the slot. At this point, I'd pull it out, give it a good looking at - any obvious signs of knackeredness, like bulging caps - and if nothing stands out, reseat it, reboot etc. Still nothing, try another slot.

Like I said, no experience of firewire, but hopefully, something in my ramblin' has sparked an idea for you?

[EvilDragon]

Ah, I didn't catch that you mentioned that it works on your laptop... yeah it's not the FW chip then.

[dea-man]

Thanks, all for your replies.

ED - I was hoping you'd see this as I know you've had an Impact Twin. (In fact, I bought mine based on your advice.)

Anyway, yes I've re-seated the fire card in it's slot. Tried another slot and the computer went crazy, put back in the original slot, and it the computer returned to normal.

It's weird because this happened once before and then everything righted itself and worked flawlessly for a couple of years.

My thoughts are that maybe something in the registry, or an old file somewhere or something like that is holding up the process.

I am going to get another cable to try because the cable to the lappie is a different firewire cable, so that may be it. Lat time though I used the same cable.

Ah well, I'll get to the bottom of this sooner or later.

Thanks guys!

[dea-man]

Bump!

[dea-man]

I'll have another Firewire cable here tomorrow to test.

Meanwhile, I've noticed that on the firewire expansion card, which has two slots for PCI cards, the slot I have always used, no longer seems to be working. At least when I plug the FW board in there it doesn't show up in Device Manager. However, the second slot does work, so maybe the actual PCI card is the culprit.

I also notice PCI cards are no longer that easy to find stocked at the local stores.

I hope it's just the cable.

[hopi]

I hope it is just the cable for your sake... but it certainly could be the FW card...

since the interface works on the lappy, it is likely not the interface...

and yes FW pcie cards can be hard to find... but online should do it... newegg and tirgerdirect are good hunting grounds...

few years back I got a SIIG FW card to use with my audio interface, only because it was said to have TI chip... my mobo has a VIA FW and it works fine, but I got suckered into imagining the TI chip would be better...

That SIIG was a nightmare and I learned later that their coding and drivers are actually stolen... but hey, just try to prosecute a company in China, eh?

StarTech makes some and I'd give them a shot

look on tigerdirect.com

[EvilDragon]

Startech FTW.


But IMHO... Firewire is dead and it's time to move on. I'm happy with RME now.

[dea-man]

Yeah, I know RME is the shizzle.

Will look at Startech.

Thanks guys!