sony trv-30 /w firewire causing crash

[JameyF]

I am using a maxtor PCI firewire card to connect my Sony TRV-30 mini DV camcorder to my computer. Xp states the firewire card is installed correctly and there are no "!" by my devices (except for printer due to lack of driver). Once I connect the camera and turn it on, my system immediately crashes. I would think it's either a driver related issue (Sony's site didn't have drivers for it), or an interupt related issue. I'm leaning towards an interupt conflict 'cause I have gotten it to install the drivers it came with. My system didn't crash once or twice until I started the program to ge tthe video off of the camera. I checked the device manager before starting the video program and it stated the devices (firewire card and camera) were functioning properly. I was asking here before I start messing around too much in case someone has some good ideas to go on first.

Would changing the slot the PCI card is in make a difference?
I've set the bios on PNP OS to yes from no. Neither worked. Should I try to assign that PCI card/slot an IRQ alone if possible?

My equip is:

soyo dragon+
xp1600+
ati 7500 graphics
maxtor PCI firewire card
SB live platinum
2x 60 gig WD HD's in RAID 0
1 45 gig maxtor HD
toshiba 16x dvd
plextor 24x CDR
Antec 840 case&PS

 

[corkyg]

Normally there are no IRQ conflicts in XP . . . it handles sharing very well. Is the Sony 1394 port 4 or 6 wire? I would say that is probably where the problem is. Is there another 1394 device you can connect with and see what happens? If it crashes, then the problem is the Maxtor.

Changing PCI slots can't hurt anything. Usually slot 2 is the best. Almost never use Slot 1. That is share with the AGP slot in many boards, and there are a lot of AGP video cards that do not like to share.

 

[JameyF]

I don't have another firewire device to check the card out. the camera uses a four pin connector and the card has a six pin connector. I purchased a cable that is a 6pin on one end with a 4 pin on the other. I'll try to move the card to another slot to see if that improves things, but it is in the fourth slot now because I knew about the 1st PCI and AGP conflicts. I'll try slot 2 and/or 3. Any thoughts on the 4 pin to 6 pin cable? Any other suggestions?

 

[JameyF]

I switched PCI slots, and the crash is still there. I have no way of checking the firewire cable or card. I'm at a loss.

 

[bltst2]

I'm having a fairly similar problem. Brand new system, Soyo Dragon Plus with AMD 1800+ proc, 512 MB RAM, Windows XP

When I plug my Panasonic DV in, it does not crash. I fire up MS MovieMaker (or whatever the built-in MS product is) and attempt to "RECORD" a movie to disk, it crashes almost every time. Complete system freeze, not a GPF. This is why I'm looking at a hardware issue as compared to OS or software. I have been able to successfully record a movie, but it takes maybe 5 reboots.

I thought it might have been the crappy MS product, so I borrowed Adobe Premier from work to test it out. Crashes EVEN more often, can't even get a movie.

Other then that, everything on the system is fine. I think it is the firewire card. I'm still playing. Its tough to diagnose, since XP see the card as a NIC and not a standard PCI card, not many settings you can flip.