External HDs, Digi002 suddenly not recognized by Mac G5

Hey, I was doing some stuff with the computer, and suddenly, the Digi002 controller (which is connected by firewire) and none of the external HDs were not recognized by the computer. I swapped cables, power supplies, used firewire, USB 2.0, etc., but nothing. However, USB drives (thumb drives) work in the same USB slot.

I've tried restarting the computer numerous times, swapping cables, power supplies, etc. It just suddenly stopped recognizing them even though it still can recognize my USB drives. What would you suggest? BTW, in case it matters, I've had intermittent problems with this before.

Not sure which approach to take. Logic board? Disk Warrior? I was thinking of buying a new tower soon anyway because mine is ancient (G5 pre-Intel).

Try this fix for starters: Turn off the computer, but unplug the AC plug from the back of the computer and let it sit there for five minutes.

Plug the AC cord back in to the computer with no USB or FireWire devices connected except for mouse and keyboard. Connect one device (either USB or FW), and report back whether the computer recognizes it or not.

There's also an arcane Mac routine from the old days that involved zapping parameter RAM. This link tells you how to do it. It's a fairly benign procedure, aside from possibly setting some custom settings you've made back to their defaults, and can often fix startup-related issues.

No guarantees, but this might help...

does system profiler see the firewire bus at all? does it see anything connected to the bus? i've had mobo firewire go bad before - all my macs now have firewire pci cards and i dont use the onboards, even if they work.

all my pc's that have firewire also have firewire pci cards because they didnt come with mobo firewire. i didnt bother with my main pc, no firewire. has 6 usb2 ports though

it is possible that some event happened that zapped the mobo firewire and took out everything connected to it. if so, you can have another good excuse to get rid of that digi interface and buy a real one instead!

Thanks, will try. I know this sounds kinda dumb, but I'm looking for quick easy fixes right now because I was quite frankly going to try and buy a new computer within the next month. But these are good and simple things that I can try. Thanks!!!!

1. I checked "System Profiler". It showed nothing. The first time I checked "firewire", it said "cannot display at this time." Every other time after I restarted the computer, it showed the speed of the firewire bus but no hardware or anything else.

2. I did what Craig suggested, unplugging all peripherals and unplugging the AC plug. Nothing.

3. I zapped the PRAM. Nothing changed.

You can get a FireWire card for around $30 or so. If the FW on the Mobo is fried, maybe having it on a card is the answer.

That would be the fix, it would seem...I'm not sure if I am going to do this or not, however, because I was going to buy a computer in about a week. I'd love a new one, but I think I'm probably gonna hafta go Craigslist, unfortunately. If I delay the purchase, then I'll pick up a firewire card. And even if I get a Mac Pro quad core, I may pick up a firewire card anyway.

BTW, the computer that is on the fritz is the one I got for free, so I have no complaints. It's getting long in the tooth, though, as it is a pre-Intel G5, and I am running fairly current stuff, so it's time to upgrade the computer.

Thanks!!!!!!

a pre intel G5 as opposed to what; a post intel G5? redundant.

get the stupid card. they are cheap. use it in the future. i have like 5 or 6 of them, and a bunch of usb2 cards too. this stuff aint bullet proof, mobo jacks tend to be crap. i dont even tend to use usb jacks on mobos except on PC's (my pc's are non mission critical)

Anyone know if a firewire card is compatible with both a G5 (pre-Intel!) and a Mac Pro? Thanks.

call OWC.

Alright, after a little bit of poking around, I found that the G5 I have uses PCIX slots, which are compatible with PCI slots. These, however, are not compatible with many of the Mac Pro's newer PCIe slots, which are smaller.

These are two that are compatible with my computer, a PowerMac7,2:

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=218&type=Hard%20Drive%20Controller&Criteria=&sort=pop&cat=2457

I'm writing this because these threads are eventually archived, and just in case someone stumbles across this via Google later on, it might actually be helpful.

This just gets weirder and weirder. I thought I'd update you on what's going on here.

Neither of my two Macs, a G5 or a newly purchased Mac Pro (I just purchased this today), recognize any of my external hard drives or Digi002, which is a controller used by Pro Tools. I have changed the ports, cables, everything. None of them will mount or be recognized by either computer. They do not show up in Disk Utilities or System Profiler.

All of the five external HDs I own, the external DVD burner, and Digi002 stopped mounting/being recognized on my G5. I needed to upgrade my computer anyway, so I purchased a Mac Pro. None of the above are recognized by the Mac Pro either.

I have tried FW400, FW800, and USB slots in both computers, and none of them will mount or be recognized.

Interestingly, all three of my USB drives mount in the USB ports that will not show any of my external HDs.

G5 (OS10.5.8, G5 PowerMac7,2, 4G RAM):

- None of the four external drives or Digi002 (FW400 connection) shows up. This does not matter whether it is USB, FW400, or FW800. Only USB drives show up.

Mac Pro (OS10.6.6, MacPro1,1, 4G RAM)

- None of the external drives or Digi002 (FW400 connection) shows up. This does not matter whether it is USB, FW400, or FW800. Only USB drives show up.

- I cannot get iTunes to play through the 1/8" output.

- Pro Tools 9.0.0 does not have input/output, and of course, does not recognize Digi002.

I called a Mac tech, who is going to come out some time this week and work on this. I'm in way over my head. This is complete weirdness.

When you have something that used to work and then stops working, it usually means something broke. (thanks to Mr. Obviousman for this tip) You've tried a different computer with your drives and interface, but have you tried someone else's drive with your new computer? Or do you have a Firewire drive that's never been connected to the computer that failed to recognize everythig? I hate to suggest it, but perhaps something went haywire in that computer and blew the Firewire chip in everything that you plugged into it. These things used to be pretty fussy about how they were connected and disconnected, and for a while the advice was to make the connection with both the computer or external device powered off.

But some of the things weren't plugged in to either computer, but still do not show up now.

And some, like the Digi002 or the DVD burner, aren't HDs. This is really strange.

try different cables. try each unit one at a time rather than a chain. always look in system profile and make sure the firewire bus is visible

I've tried different cables. In every sense. I've swapped out one FW cable for another, tried the USB port instead of the firewire port, tried FW400 instead of FW800, every combination you can think of just to try and make this work. I look in system profiler and disk utility as well as the desktop.

Most of the computer issues I get, I can fix by looking online. However, this is a unique one. I've never heard of this happening to anyone.

i have had weird stuff like this happen - believe me. but i have so many damn computers (let me count....8 macs right now and i'm down to 2 windows) so i have enough working machines to find out what is going on by process of elimination.

its really got to be the simplest thing going on - and it is seeming more and more likely that something global happened to all the units at once.

like i said before, i have had mac mobo firewire go bad before which is why i do not use it - i always use a card and i have a reason for being this stubborn - it cost me money a time ago when something like this happened to me.

I do have a card coming for the older computer, so we'll see if that helps at all. Thanks.

do you have any firewire devices that work at this point?

as much as i hate anything/everything digidesign they will likely be able to fix the 002. the rest you might have to pony up some new parts yourself.

but do yourself a favor and get an interface that works with the real world and not just through a series of crippled hobble-drivers. the day i dumped protools was the day my eyes opened to what software can really do when not intentionally f***ed up.

Well, I'm trying to run Pro Tools 9, which can use anything. But I like Digi002's controller (although it's a bit large), so if I can get these to work together, great. But I don't think the Digi002 is solely the issue here...nothing works in firewire, whether it's the DVD burner, the 5 HDs, or Digi002. I mean NOTHING. And all simultaneously.

FYI about FireWire.

i would suggest what MikeRivers said (and I don't think you mentioned if you tried this, Ken): try the Firewire devices in another computer (a laptop for example), and see if any work.

maybe the cause of the problem was some sort of voltage spike that fried all of your devices; if so, that would present a compelling argument for keeping Ext HDs used for backups disconnected and unplugged (... looks over and sees backup drive plugged into wall and to computer!).

Wellll...part of the issue is that I think the Mercury Elites are Mac-only. Here's part of the weirdness, though:

1. Some of the hard drives are kept in a fireproof safe. I've tested them on the old computer and the new computer. Neither mount.

2. Neither computer shows the DVD burner

3. Neither computer shows Digi002.

4. Neither computer shows the scanner.

Now, many of these were disconnected when this initially happened with the older computer. Why they don't connect with the new computer is beyond me, as the person that I purchased the newer computer from was using an MBox perfectly fine just before we wrapped it up and I bought it and took it home.

maybe some sort of computer virus?