firewire problem

I have a macbook pro (2.33 ghz intel core2 duo) since 2007 lately the firewire ports have been creating havoc since last few months. I am unable to connect my camera or external hard disk. I have gone through all the literature available in on the net and tried to set it right through instructions given. I am sure the firewire ports are not fried because they show themselves in the system profiler but when i attach my lacies they are unable to mount. there is no problem in the hard disk because i have been using it on my g4. In fact my camera does get connected for few minutes but is disconnected after that. I live in a remote area and have no access to apple technicians if somebody could tell me if it is hardware problem or a software problem and if there are some solutions available.

If the hardware is OK, (working on other machine) then it's possible your firewire controller is acting up. Run the Apple Hardware Test on your machine to see if it's reporting anything regarding FW.

Let us know.

Regards.