Cannot Install Firewire Card

I'm trying to move an external CD/DVD burner from one computer to another that's in my new office. The burner connects via a firewire port, so I had to remove the card from the original machine and put it in mine in order for me to use the burner. Installation is supposed to be simple. Windows 2000 is supposed to already have the driver files installed, so you just pop it in the PCI slot, and let the hardware manager do the rest.

Of course, it hardly works that way.

Upon reboot, Windows is supposed to auto-detect the new card. No such luck. The troubleshooter showed me where to look to see if the driver files were indeed named correctly and in the right folder -- check. Next, I was to check Device Manager -- nothing detected.

The next move was to change PCI slots. Tried that. In fact, I had an extra NIC in one of those slots, so I knew for sure that slot worked because Device Manager detected the card and all was well. So, I removed the unneeded NIC and replaced it with the firewire card -- nope, still not detected, several reboots later.

So, I've gone through everything in the troubleshooter, and I'm out of options. Do the AO gurus have any more ideas?

The card is an Adaptec AFW-4300A LP universal host adapter. The system is a Dell PowerEdge 4200.

I searched for the card on the adaptec website to no avail. Then checked google and all the sites that came up for it weren't in english. Are you sure that's the right name? If it is sorry for being of no help but I tried. :)

It is, it's just that googling will get you nowhere (for once). Adaptec doesn't offer any software on their website since everything's supposed to already be in Windows (and given that I found the files in question, it looks they are -- they're just not being used!). The best you'll find via Google are white papers on installation and troubleshooting.

Did you try the add/remove hardware wizard? If you can get it to find the device then you are set. Tell it to look at windowsupdate.com for the drivers.

Sure did, and it didn't detect anything. D'oh.

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Originally posted here by AngelicKnight
Sure did, and it didn't detect anything. D'oh.

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;) Any chance you could try this firewire card on another machine. (Maybe a incompatibility with the server hardware?)

Edit: What are the specs of the server? Is this 2k server or advanced server on the machine?

Yeah, it worked great on the previous machine it was on. I wonder what other hardware in the server could possibly cause such an interference?

Just was poking around the Win2k HCL site.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000...ch/devices.asp

Since it wont give me a list I will tell you what it showed me when I searched for "Adaptec FireConnect 4300"

"Device may require an updated driver to be compatible with Windows 2000. Contact the device manufacturer to obtain the driver."

Now according to Adaptec the driver is supported.

http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/sup...FW-4300#suppOS

but that still does not answer the question about why it is not detected. Do you have the specs for the Dell PowerEdge?

Edit: "Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Adapter." Did that install?

See here: http://ask.adaptec.com/cgi-bin/adaptec_tic.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=4mzDaigh&p_lva=&p_faqid=1859&p_created=974715554&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PTEzOSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWFmdy00MzAwJnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9MyZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMT0zMCZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0zMSZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPX5hbnl_JnBfc29ydF9ieT1kZmx0JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=

Edit 2: Do you have any other PCi devices in the system?

Ah yes, the TI entry is indeed there...I thought it was for one of the other PCI cards though since it said "Texas Instruments" and not "Adaptec". Ok, that's an improvement, so something's detected! :) Now if it'd just detect the CD/DVD burner connected to it...hmm...

And yes -- two other PCI devices are operating fine, one of them being a NIC.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by AngelicKnight
Ah yes, the TI entry is indeed there...I thought it was for one of the other PCI cards though since it said "Texas Instruments" and not "Adaptec". Ok, that's an improvement, so something's detected! :) Now if it'd just detect the CD/DVD burner connected to it...hmm...

And yes -- two other PCI devices are operating fine, one of them being a NIC.

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Well the other PCI devices was something power related that I saw on a forum. What brand of CD/DVD burner?

Power to the card or device, because this particular device has it's own AC adapter.

It's a Sony 2.4x DVD+RW.

Is there a model number? (On the DVD-r/CDR drive)

What I had read is that the card sucked up too much power for the PCI slot. Since the card is detected, that is probably not the case.

Hmm...I wonder -- It is detected in device manager, but it was never auto-detected by the Add Hardware Wizard at startup as it was supposed to have been. I wonder if that means something?

The model number on the drive is DRX-120L.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by AngelicKnight
Hmm...I wonder -- It is detected in device manager, but it was never auto-detected by the Add Hardware Wizard at startup as it was supposed to have been. I wonder if that means something?

The model number on the drive is DRX-120L.

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This system is past SP3 for Win2k right? (Sp3 or 4?)

http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/win2k.htm

Yep, up to date with SP4.

Well, I've now moved it to another workstation computer -- and having the exact same problem. Card is detected in device manager, but it never picks up the DVD drive.

www.driverguide.com

username: drivers
p/w: all

What you're looking for might be found there.

Well crap, login's down:

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There seems to have been a slight problem with the database. Please try again by pressing the refresh button in your browser.
An E-Mail has been dispatched to our Technical Staff, who you can also contact if the problem persists.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

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With Dell servers (depends on settings) you will sometimes have to reboot that machine and hit a few keys like ctrl+F4 or something screwed up like that. Call Dell and ask them the correct function. This loads you into a different area of the dell BIOS and it will recognize new hardware.


Sorry if this is vague but call Dell support and they will be able to help you. If you do not have a support on the server in question just do alittle SE. I just ask the question before they have time to ask for my info and the majority of the time they will answer it.

- MilitantEidolon

I may end up having to go that route, but I'm saving that as a last resort (this thing takes FOREVER to boot up anyway). I'll keep that option in mind. However, Windows is supposed to be detecting this stuff, so any alternative ideas to get this thing to work? Also, the second computer I've tried this on (that also hasn't worked, see post above) is a Compaq. It's having the exact same problem.

Ok, on the Compaq, I've gotten into BIOS settings, and here's what I noticed:

ATI VGA Controller: IRQ 11
1394 Controller: IRQ 11
Ethernet Controller: IRQ 11
Adaptec SCSI Controller: Enabled <-- I believe this is the firewire card
Intel USB Controller: IRQ 11

PCI Bus Mastering: Disabled
PCI Reset on Warm Boot: Enabled
PCI VGA Palette Snopping: Disabled

So I'm trying it on a THIRD machine today, and more problems. On this one, the Firewire card is detected, but it causes the machine to freeze during driver installation, so I had to reboot.

Attempted a Windows Repair, and that froze too!

Removed the card, and now it's running fine again.

Grrrr...