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New iMac - Firewire 800 to 400 not working?

Hellseeker

Hellseeker

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 18, 2007
34
0
Hello all

I finally decided to get a new 27" iMac in order to release the old G4 from it's pain.
What I wasn't aware of tho, was that there's no firewire 400 port on it anymore, which I need for all my peripherals (scanner, hard drives, etc.)
I bought a firewire 800 to 400 adapter, and while everything fits physically, there's no connection. The iMac refuses to find any hardware I connect to it...
I don't have anything that uses firewire 800, so I can't do a proper diagnostic. Thought I'd ask you people if you have any idea what might be the problem?
 
Have you bought a Firewire 800 to 400 adapter or cable? If it is the adapter, what adapter did you get?
What does System Profiler have to say, when you connect peripherals via that device?
 
The adapter is a deltaco fw-64
Couldn't find any real info about it, but it looks like this

There's no reaction in system Profiler when I connect a device.
 
I have a MBP 13" with FW800 and I connect it to a FW400 external HDD with no problem using a little plug much like the one you show. It might just be a bad adapter - low quality or simply not working. You'd need to try a different adapter or a different machine.

I've also used cables that have FW400 on one end and FW800 on the other and they work fine.
 
"The adapter is a deltaco fw-64
Couldn't find any real info about it, but it looks like this
There's no reaction in system Profiler when I connect a device."

I'll wager that either the particular adapter you have in-hand is defective, or, that it's incompatible.

I have a white Intel iMac with both Firewire 400 and 800 ports, and have no trouble connecting 400-speed devices to my 800 port using an adapter cable.

The one I use is like this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10301&cs_id=1030105&p_id=3542&seq=1&format=2

Might be worth trying another adapter before you consider the port on the Mac itself as being the problem.
 
Hellseeker said:
Hello all

I finally decided to get a new 27" iMac in order to release the old G4 from it's pain.
What I wasn't aware of tho, was that there's no firewire 400 port on it anymore, which I need for all my peripherals (scanner, hard drives, etc.)
I bought a firewire 800 to 400 adapter, and while everything fits physically, there's no connection. The iMac refuses to find any hardware I connect to it...
I don't have anything that uses firewire 800, so I can't do a proper diagnostic. Thought I'd ask you people if you have any idea what might be the problem?
Click to expand...

I've read that the Firewire 800 ports on the newer iMacs are difficult to get plugs into, could it be that you're not getting the adapter plug far enough in the port to make contact?
 
I'm pretty sure it makes contact. Don't see how it shouldn't.
Going to try a cable adapter instead, hoping the adapter is the culprit.
Thanks for your help so far :)
 
hmmm

I just found this thread and I am in the same boat. I have a 400 to 800 cable and it works just fine with a firewire 400 hard drive. HOWEVER, I have an alesis multimix 12 firewire, which is firewire 400. It does not work with this. The only thing I could find on the internet is that converting from 800 to 400 does not provide enough power to some firewire 400 devices. Does anyone know how I could get this to work?
 
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