Yamaha Home Theater
FireWire connection dropouts: more fixes
Wednesday, June 18
After the installation of software updates, the FireWire ports on various Mac models may cease to properly function, not recognizing devices or exhibiting other issues. For some users, this has occurred with printer driver updates and for others it has occurred with the latest QuickTime update. One MacFixIt reader reinstalled Leopard and the problem still occurred.
The problem has persisted through several Leopard OS updates. Sometimes it knocks out all firewire connections, and other times it just seems to affect FireWire 400 ports only, leaving FireWire 800 ports working until the FireWire 400 ports are given significant load:
Fixes
Reset the FireWire controller Shut down the computer and unplug all peripheral devices, and let the computer sit for 3-5 minutes. Then start the computer back up and plug in the peripheral devices again, one at a time.
Quit processes Launch Activity Monitor and force quit these processes:
- socketfilterfw (this is the computer firewall)
- SystemUIServer (this should restart after quitting)
This worked for one user, who regained functionality of his FireWire 400 ports after quitting these processes. Since the first process listed is the FireWall, it could be that the firewall is interfering with the FireWire bus, since FireWire can be used for networking. People might try turning off the firewall in the "Security" system preferences, or removing the FireWire ports from the "Network" system preferences.
Reset the computer's PRAM, fix permissions, and other standard procedures If nothing else works, reset the PRAM and use Disk Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities to run routine permissions fixes on the boot drive. It may be that the FireWire port is broken, but these standard fixes might help before taking the computer in for servicing.
In order to reset PRAM/NVRAM, shut down your Mac, then start it back up while immediately holding the following keys: Command, Option, P and R. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the third time.
Resources
I recall Apple saying to wait for 3 chimes as it resets the video RAM whereas 2 might not. Now that was the days of OS 8 & 9 so maybe it isn't necessary but then again, it couldn't "hoit."
Two weeks ago, my father phoned Apple about his malfunctioning iMac and the first thing that the CSR requested was that he reset the PRAM. She specifically told him to wait for the third chime, then release the keys.
It seems odd that Apple's support people recommend waiting for three chimes while Apple's own tech documents say that two chimes are sufficient.
The reason for 3 restarts has to do with legacy support. For PPC and NewWorld PPC, the PRAM did not always drop power completely during a PRAM clear (Reset) to take hold. Thus the conditioned response is to do it three times. As you were always guaranteed the PRAM was reset.
This is no longer applicable to Intel. First Intel does not really have a PRAM to reset any more. You are resetting values in EFI. EFI accepts the reset on the first time around.
You could hold those keys down and have the PRAM go through it's reset cycle as many times as you'd like without it hurting the computer. It'd be the same result in the end, with the PRAM reset to the default values.
I took this suggestion, but could not find the 'socketfilterfw' process listed anywhere in Activity Monitor.
My problems have been having the drive (and other devices) that are plugged into my FW 400 port appear briefly and then having an error dialog appear stating that I unmounted the device improperly. Of course I didn't eject these devices at all. It appears the iMac did that on it's own. This has happened with a WD Backup drive and a RAW Memory Card Reader, In the case of the card reader, it stalls on about the 9th photo being uploaded and I cannot eject / unmount so I have to simply unplug the device.
Right now I'm scheduled for a visit to the Apple Store, but I'd like to avoid that.
- by BrownKiwi June 22, 2008 11:46 PM PDT
- This may also affect Tiger.
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(7 Comments)I have a Blu-Ray drive usually connected to FW400 and it has been working without problem until recently. Using Toast I spanned files across to BD discs but when I came to test them both Toast's own restorer and the Finder had disc errors - despite Toast itself having verified the discs are writing. After many tests I've found that the apparently bad discs are in fact readable if I connect the Blu-Ray drive via USB2 - and this is consistent, connect with FW400, copying files shows errors (either displayed or when cmp'ing the results to originals) while the same discs read fine under USB2.
Toast & Retrospect (latter running via VMWare, Mac Retro won't talk to Blu-Ray drives :-() seem to be able to use FW400, but Toast restore and Finder only USB2...
I've two discs on the FW800 bus, iMac (2006), MacOS 10.4.11.