so, i have two firewire/usb combo (dual interface, powered) external drives. both drives failed to attach via firewire on my laptop --and both work fine via USB. so i'm thinking my firewire hardware is messed up on my laptop, right?. but i've also got an external firewire CD that is working -so the firewire hardware should be just fine --what gives? i've fussed with it before, spending a few hours trying to fix it, but gave up. with some free time now, i sat down to fix this for good.
symptoms:
when i plug the drive in... i get a code 10 error occurs in Device Manager
This device cannot start. (Code 10).
at the same time an entry in the event log appears:
Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 4
Source: sbp2port
Version: 5.0
Component: System Event Log
Symbolic Name: IO_ERR_DRIVER_ERROR
Message: Driver detected an internal error in its data structures for %1.
Driver detected an internal error in its data structures for %1.
sbp2port
Event ID: 4
Driver detected an internal error in its data structures for .
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 5a 00 ......Z.
0008: 00 00 00 00 04 00 04 c0 ........
0010: 3a 04 00 00 85 01 00 c0 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
day 1.
both drives work just fine using firewire on my other laptop. so the drives are fine. moreover, my other laptop is similar vintage Acer, same OS, same drivers. no obvious culprit. everything works independently. confusing? i'm scouring the net for these error message, i'm all over the event log, reviewing entries. i'm totally baffled.
it used to work, now it doesn’t. something changed; but i didn't notice until i went to use it and it didn't work. grrr.
since the drives are fine -only thing i can see, the firewire interface chip is different between laptops. also, since i use one more than the other, figure i've installed an update for patch that messed with the firewire. at least one works, so i have a point of reference for proper settings. i go through them all, first uninstalling any recent windows updates that might be suspect. double checking registry entries, anything relevant.
hours wasted.
day 2.
doing research online. reading reports that suggest reverting back so WindowsXP SP1 firewire drivers (ok , yeah i'm not sure when this went wrong, but i remember it worked before. maybe SP1 firewire drivers will fix this?!?). but then i realized i never had SP1 on either laptop... barking up the wrong tree here.
Microsoft KB articles pointed to a current bug in the sbp2port drivers (hotfix available) about enumeration. apparently when you unplug a device the firewire bus re-numbers the connected elements, and might screw-up here. i'm only attaching one device, but maybe there's something to this ("A code 10 error occurs in Device Manager when you restart a Windows XP-based computer that is connected to an external 1394 device").
i'm all over the registry, also uninstalling and re-installing drivers, uninstalling then rebooting, various combinations, nothing! my working theory, some garbage data in the registry is mucking things up. this makes some sense since the cd-rom uses a different set of drivers, which would explain why it still works and the drives don't. if i can just clean things out, maybe get it working again. after all, it worked up till about a year ago. clearly something changed.
some blogs point to lowerfilters & higherfilters. "LowerFilters" and "UpperFilters" are values that indicate to the kernel that one or more "filter" drivers should be loaded along with the usual driver for this device. some software, for virtual drives, or iso cd-rom mounting et al., will add a hook here. (nothing here in my case, but worth checking).
hours wasted.
day 3.
turns out there isn't much in the registry in terms of 'data'. registry entries are placed as hardware connects and identifies the associate drivers, etc. --that's it--. the drivers do the rest of the work, in terms of the interface. there isn't any interface data pushed around in the registry. this is done by the kernel/OS/drivers.
most blogs point to three things. drivers, fireware, and the cable. some mention replacing hardware. i'm getting to the point that i know i should just buy a pc card firewire interface and be done with it all all it. they cost $10, $20, $30? how much is time worth, days.. or weeks working on this?! i feel like claiming defeat, but keep going.... it should work, but doesn't. i'm puzzled. i'm fixated on why it doesn't work. each part works -the drives work (and therefore the cables), the driver, OS all fine. baffled.
i download fireware updates for the external hardware, to give this a proper run (not easy since this is an older gizmo), and take the time to update the firmware.
no dice.
hours wasted.
day 4.
i have to move on. i just can't spend any more time on this. moreover, i'm pretty much out of options, save the most drastic. i end up buying a new laptop some day, so this won't plague me for ever, right?
perchance, i was milling about in a storage box, came across my old (original) firewire cables. on a whim, i tried it. i mean what the hell; i've tried everything else at this point. plus, a few blogs *did* mention this.... really grasping for straws here. really --this shouldn't be the problem since i was using the same cable both laptops and it worked 100% every time with one (otherwise it could have be a loose wire, pretty much ruled that out by testing back and forth).
WOAH. it works.
what? so the "bad" cable is 100% kosher on *one* laptop, and a total bust on the other?? what the!?
so here's the scoop. a while back i real got into retrak / ziplinq cables. awesome. i still dig them. great for travel. *but* turns out these cables are pretty flimsy --at least their firewire version is *not* up to spec. they claim it's the form factor, can't make it that small (which i don't care; doesn't need to be tiny!). this doesn't make a ton of sense, since they make larger power cords. they should not make a cable isn't up to the basic spec. no warning on the packaging at all. bad bad bad.
Here's a blurb from their f.a.q.
ZIPLINQ FAQ; FIREWIRE
Q. I cant get the Firewire cables to work with my iPod or External hard drive.
A. Because of their compact size Zip-Linq Firewire cables can only transmit data 400Mbps and have a maximum voltage of 5V at 300ma.
lame.
wow. i think this cable has voltage issues, and just exhibited on *one* laptop not both (making this not so obvious). and i'm thinking, if i had actually gone and reloaded the OS and everything --that still wouldn't have worked!!
so, no zip linq firewire cable for me... just have to cart around the stock cable. well, at least it's working now.
And seriously, they could make a proper retrak cable. they make all kinds of cable with all kinds of specs. they shouldn't release a sub-standard firewire cable. that's my take on it.