Firewire options
Hello,
I know that the firewire port is soldered onto the logic board on my computer and I use to use it all the time but I was connecting my 12" powerbook to a powermac G4 through target disk mode and I accidently plugged in the firewire end in the powermac upside down. I had the other end already plugged into my powerbook and since then I got my firewire port has been unresponsive. I also got the ozone smell of death which made me wonder if the smell is the computer chip that controls the throughput of the firewire port or the actual firewire port itself? Because I use to use firewire a lot and so I am very sad to see something that I did, kill the port.
I had 2 hard drives and dv camcorder and my ipod and of course a firewire hub so I could plug it all in simultaneously. So what I am willing to do is take apart the computer and try to solder on a new firewire port but now we are back to my original question, is it the port or computer chip. One thing I do know is that my ipod will still get charged even when its directly connected to the computer but nothing will mount. Also my system profiler will still see that firewire still exists on my computer but I've tried to do all the resets that I can think of so none of those will work. I also did some more research saying it could be a "PHY" chip that regulates the throughput of the firewire port and it keeps the logic board in tact so if anything like this happens it won't kill the whole computer.
If anybody has an input on my dilemma please feel free to add to this.
Thank you
P.S. This is where I heard about the firewire "PHY" http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleas...rtFailures.htm
P.S. #2 I took my logic board out and found the problem, a component exploded it had 6 pins and it is labeled on the board as D31 I don't known what that is exactly but it was right next to the firewire port. I know it's not a resistor or a capacitor it probably controlled the throughput of the port possibly the "PHY" chip. My idea now is to buy a broke 12" powerbook board not minding the processor speed and expect the same chip to be on all of them and try to unsolder that one and solder the it on one that's bad.
I know that the firewire port is soldered onto the logic board on my computer and I use to use it all the time but I was connecting my 12" powerbook to a powermac G4 through target disk mode and I accidently plugged in the firewire end in the powermac upside down. I had the other end already plugged into my powerbook and since then I got my firewire port has been unresponsive. I also got the ozone smell of death which made me wonder if the smell is the computer chip that controls the throughput of the firewire port or the actual firewire port itself? Because I use to use firewire a lot and so I am very sad to see something that I did, kill the port.
I had 2 hard drives and dv camcorder and my ipod and of course a firewire hub so I could plug it all in simultaneously. So what I am willing to do is take apart the computer and try to solder on a new firewire port but now we are back to my original question, is it the port or computer chip. One thing I do know is that my ipod will still get charged even when its directly connected to the computer but nothing will mount. Also my system profiler will still see that firewire still exists on my computer but I've tried to do all the resets that I can think of so none of those will work. I also did some more research saying it could be a "PHY" chip that regulates the throughput of the firewire port and it keeps the logic board in tact so if anything like this happens it won't kill the whole computer.
If anybody has an input on my dilemma please feel free to add to this.
Thank you
P.S. This is where I heard about the firewire "PHY" http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleas...rtFailures.htm
P.S. #2 I took my logic board out and found the problem, a component exploded it had 6 pins and it is labeled on the board as D31 I don't known what that is exactly but it was right next to the firewire port. I know it's not a resistor or a capacitor it probably controlled the throughput of the port possibly the "PHY" chip. My idea now is to buy a broke 12" powerbook board not minding the processor speed and expect the same chip to be on all of them and try to unsolder that one and solder the it on one that's bad.
Comments
That said, you can probably kiss the firewire functionality of that board goodbye. Your idea of taking a working chip from a parted-out board is seriously more trouble than it's worth. You not only have to desolder the burnt chip, you have to desolder (without damaging!) the working chip, and then resolder it to the old MB. Neither of these three steps is trivial.
Furthermore, it is more than likely that's not the only component that is damaged. Therefore, you'd have no idea if it was your soldering job, or another part that is bad, which means you'd be banging your head fruitlessly.
My FW ports (400 and 800) are shaped such that they can only be plugged in one way.
How did you manage to plug one in wrong ?
huh ?...
My FW ports (400 and 800) are shaped such that they can only be plugged in one way.
How did you manage to plug one in wrong ?
If you search google, you'll find a bunch of reports of people plugging in the firewire connector backward, especially when the port is old. The plug design isn't the best.
I myself have heard of about four such incidents. You know, you're fiddling around with the cables on the back of the box, it's pretty easy to get just deep enough into the connector to short the power and signal lines thereby "releasing the magic smoke".