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Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 04 Oct 2009, 04:54
by djclintoris
I just bought a firewire 800 to firewire 400 conversion cable so I could use my new MacBook Pro with my old Final Scratch 2.0 box, and when I plug it in nothing appears in the audio config options.

I have used the FS2 with a fire400 cable on Leopard just fine, but this is Snow Leopard with a fire800 port. All of the options are the same. This should be plug n play just like it has been for my mac mini G4 and intel chip workhorses.

The FS box lights up the left-most led for a blink when I plug the cable in, so it is getting bus power...

Any thoughts?

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 04 Oct 2009, 13:09
by Blackbrook
As I can remember using my old firewire interface I had to plug the external power adapter when I was using the Firewire 400 slot. Maybe this may help ;)

Greetings,

Steve

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 04 Oct 2009, 13:21
by UncleVibes
As I can remember using my old firewire interface I had to plug the external power adapter when I was using the Firewire 400 slot. Maybe this may help ;)

looks like the good answer.

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 04 Oct 2009, 23:15
by djclintoris
Blackbrook wrote:As I can remember using my old firewire interface I had to plug the external power adapter when I was using the Firewire 400 slot. Maybe this may help ;)

Greetings,
Steve


Thanks for the reply.

I have never needed to use the power adapter for FS2. It always bus-powers just fine. I got the adapter out and tested it to no avail.

Then I tested a couple devices of my neighbor's and found that nothing will access from the firewire800-firewire400 conversion cord. The cord is 10' long, or 3 meters, but that should not cause any problems; I have been using a 3 meter fire400 cord for years.

All devices registered on my macs when I used the usb2.0 port for the hard disc and external dvd player, so it must be a cable issue in going from (8-pin fire400) to (6-pin fire800)

This sucks! I have posted on Apple forums, so updates will follow.

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 05 Oct 2009, 17:44
by Blackbrook
Maybe it is just the cable?! Have you the ability to test another one? Just to point that out?!

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 05 Oct 2009, 17:52
by hemskoc
Get a PC! hahaha
*(my apologies for the humorous comment, and i meant no offense - the forum subject is 'DJ chat', but my response was not meant to be helpful, as the subject of this thread is NOT a Mixvibes product; ie FS2 ;) )

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 09 Oct 2009, 02:24
by djclintoris
hemskoc wrote:Get a PC! hahaha
*(my apologies for the humorous comment, and i meant no offense - the forum subject is 'DJ chat', but my response was not meant to be helpful, as the subject of this thread is NOT a Mixvibes product; ie FS2 ;) )


I have multiple PC, which is why I use Apple products. My troubleshooting took mere seconds when I finally got to the other pieces of gear tested, where PC would have loaded drivers, tried to update, loaded drivers, loop...

Cross IS a MixVibes product; since it is open-source and ASIO compliant, it works with FS2. I was hoping someone had knowledge to share not time to ware...

Re: Firewire 800 to 400 cable MacBook Pro Final Scratch 2 FS2

PostPosted: 09 Oct 2009, 02:38
by djclintoris
Blackbrook wrote:Maybe it is just the cable?! Have you the ability to test another one? Just to point that out?!


I finally went to MicroCenter and paid $25 plus tax, prices may vary, for a one meter cord to replace the $16 five meter cord that I purchased online.

I tried it on all my devices and it works just fine. The original 5meter cord was the max length for 1394 spec before needing a repeater. Methinks the cord was too long for my MBP to power that distance. What is weird in my mind: the FS2, after I plugged it in, was essentially a powered repeater since it has two FW400 ports... hmmm...

So maybe the cord was bad. I bought it at PCHcables.com; they are going to test it. I will repost with the answer, but I found it hard to believe that a new cord was bad.