G4 Mirror Door-dead fire wire ports...suggestions?

[Pirate Post]

I have a G4 Dual 1GB mirror door (loud fan model). What are all of the possible fixes for dead firewire ports before giving up and taking it in for a new motherboard?

[TVPostSound]

Peter

Try to reset the motherboard via the little button!!!!
APPLE WEB SITE

Worked for me recently.


Oh, yeah, reset the NVRAM in OSX:
While booting hold down "option + apple + o + f" until you get a white screen with black text. Upon releasing the keys you are presented with a command prompt.

1. type "reset-nvram" at prompt and press return (will say OK if successful)
2. type "reset-all" at prompt and press return (you will see a quick flash of commands and screen will blank)

[putney]

Are you sure it is dead. Have you tried hot plugging the firewire device after booting? I remember reading on the apple discussion board about firewire issues. I think one fix was to reset the motherboard using the cuda switch. Give a look around the apple site.

[Tweakhead]

Hi Peter,

Try this:
1. Locate a mac with working firewire ports.
2. Shut down both macs
3. Connect both macs with a single firewire cable.
4. Boot up the 'working' mac.
5. Boot up the 'broken' mac in Firewire Target Mode. (ie Hold "T" during startup)

During this process, the 'sleeping' firewire interface sometimes wakes up. You will know if this works if your internal drive from the 'broken' mac appears on the 'working' mac desktop.

If it works:
1. Unmount the internal drive of the 'broken mac' from the desktop of the 'good' mac.
2. Power down the 'broken' mac.
3. Disconnect the firewire cable.
4. Startup the 'broken' mac.

Your firewire ports should now be working. Let me know if this works for you.

[Pirate Post]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I knew about the button on the motherboard but was going to save that one for last because I toasted another computer that way...push once, not twice!!

[Drew]

I have a G4 MDD 1.25 GHz and had the same happen to me and I just about freaked out because I thought that I had fried my ports for good - especially after using the hardware test and failing the motherboard test!! BUT, someone here suggested that I just try shutting down the computer, unplug it and let it sit for about 20 minutes, then startup and it worked like a charm. The firewire was reborn and the hardware test passed. It's worth a try before you start messing with resetting your motherboard.

I think I did it by unplugging my canopus box while it was turned on which is apparently a huge no-no. Anyways, I was very relieved and I'm now very very careful when I need to hot swap drives. I shut down and turn the canopus box off as I've become paranoid.

I hope it works for you.

[TVPostSound]

Peter,

Ill come over and push your button, its not my computer!!!!!