firewire ports

[thrive_808]

Hello.
this is my first post here, I did a quick search of the forum but did not find any solutions to my problem. hopefully someone here can help me.

I have a G4 500x2 that i have had for a few years now. I love it, alway have, the only problem is my firewire ports are dead. I took it to the apple stroe and they said I need a new logic board. (costing somewhere up to $400 (Whoa)) . Anyway, I was wondering if anybody had an easire solution. Is it possable for me to buy a new logic board and install it myself? Or am i likly to screw up the whole thing. Or maybe there is somebody who lives near NW Connecticut that know what they are doing that could help me out.

Good Lookin Out

DAVIS

 

[perplexedMac]

Hi Thrive_808,
I work in a corporate environment and we have a few dozen G4 dual mirror units. In particular, we have issues with firewire ports intermittedly working or not. Of course none of our units are under warranty anymore. We have installed IEEE-1394 6-pin port type PCI cards in them to have Firewire once again. The cost under 100.00. The cause: some external equipment having too much power ultimately the demise on the firewire ports. Hope that helps.

 

[Badger]

The last two days there have been posts on Macintouch.com about dead firewire ports. They have refered to problems on cubes but today's post noted that the repair also worked on his G4. I've quoted the repair post below.
Badger
-----------------
from www.macintouch.com, cube resuscitation

"Colleen Thompson describes a last-ditch resuscitation of a Mac Cube's FireWire ports:

* I tried all the recommended fixes: zap PRAM a few times, reset Open Firmware a few times, press CUDA button on the motherboard. I even upped the voltage on my Gigadesigns processor upgrade in case it was a lack-of-power issue. No go. Ports were dead-dead-dead in Panther as well as 9.2 (and reported as Defective by Relax's Firewire Browser).
* Then I found an obscure post on cubeowner which reported a "programmer's reset" solved the problem for the poster. I tried it, and voila! I have FireWire again.
* To invoke: Shut down computer, hold down programmer's button, press power button to start up. If the power light flickers you've done it correctly.
* I'd appreciate any enlightenment on the programmer's reset (which of course I've used for firmware updates, but not for any other purpose.) What exactly does it do?"

 

[neuromancer480]

Fix?

I have an upgraded G4 Sawtooth. The firewire ports died and I tried all the reset solutions. Nothing worked so i got a Belkin firewire card. Works great.

I noticed a few days ago that my computer sees the dead firewire ports. So I plugd a ipod into it and it worked. When i pluged and external firewire drive it died.

So i got firewire hub (6 port Belkin) and know it work fine with other firewire devices.

Why? I dont know....

 

[emma random]

Dead Firewire Ports - help needed with fixes

The last two days there have been posts on Macintouch.com about dead firewire ports. They have refered to problems on cubes but today's post noted that the repair also worked on his G4. I've quoted the repair post below.
Badger
-----------------
from www.macintouch.com, cube resuscitation

"Colleen Thompson describes a last-ditch resuscitation of a Mac Cube's FireWire ports:

* I tried all the recommended fixes: zap PRAM a few times, reset Open Firmware a few times, press CUDA button on the motherboard. I even upped the voltage on my Gigadesigns processor upgrade in case it was a lack-of-power issue. No go. Ports were dead-dead-dead in Panther as well as 9.2 (and reported as Defective by Relax's Firewire Browser).
* Then I found an obscure post on cubeowner which reported a "programmer's reset" solved the problem for the poster. I tried it, and voila! I have FireWire again.
* To invoke: Shut down computer, hold down programmer's button, press power button to start up. If the power light flickers you've done it correctly.
* I'd appreciate any enlightenment on the programmer's reset (which of course I've used for firmware updates, but not for any other purpose.) What exactly does it do?"

Does anyone know how to do these on OSX3.2? (ie Zap PRAM, reset Open Firmware, press CUDA button. And is there a Programmer's Button on the mirrored doors G4? If so, where? I'd like to try these fixes before having to spend money to get a PCI slot sorted.

 

[Avalon]

Does anyone know how to do these on OSX3.2? (ie Zap PRAM, reset Open Firmware, press CUDA button. And is there a Programmer's Button on the mirrored doors G4? If so, where? I'd like to try these fixes before having to spend money to get a PCI slot sorted.

To zap the PRAM and reset OpenFirmware hasn't anything to do with the OS.
1. Zap PRAM: Press command+option+P+R while starting up, keep it pressed until you heard the chime 3 times, then let go.
2. Reset Firmware: Press command+option+O+F while starting up. You'll have a white screen with a black prompt. type "reset-nvram" (without quotes) and press Enter. Then type "reset-all" (without quotes and pressing Enter again ), then type "mac-boot" to boot the Mac.
The MDD doesn't have a CUDA or programmer's button.

PS: command = key with Apple logo, option = alt key (for those who come from the PC world)

 

[emma random]

To zap the PRAM and reset OpenFirmware hasn't anything to do with the OS.
1. Zap PRAM: Press command+option+P+R while starting up, keep it pressed until you heard the chime 3 times, then let go.
2. Reset Firmware: Press command+option+O+F while starting up. You'll have a white screen with a black prompt. type "reset-nvram" (without quotes) and press Enter. Then type "reset-all" (without quotes and pressing Enter again ), then type "mac-boot" to boot the Mac.
The MDD doesn't have a CUDA or programmer's button.

PS: command = key with Apple logo, option = alt key (for those who come from the PC world)

Thanks Avalon, I tried the above and no joy, so I guess I'll have to invest in a PCI Firewire slot. ** hum!