eMac FW ports died!

Kingsly · Feb 15, 2006

Help, my eMac has stopped mounting FW disks from either port. I tried Apple's method of unplugging and all that... nothing. I even tried resetting PRAM. Ideas? I really need to get my FW drives working so I can transfer all my stuff to the MBP!!!! I have Apple care, will the genius bar fix it? For free?

CoMpX · Feb 15, 2006

Kingsly said:
Help, my eMac has stopped mounting FW disks from either port. I tried Apple's method of unplugging and all that... nothing. I even tried resetting PRAM. Ideas? I really need to get my FW drives working so I can transfer all my stuff to the MBP!!!!

It just sounds like they have simply failed. The only thing I can think to do is take it to Apple or call them and have them fix it. Are you still under warranty?

Kingsly · Feb 15, 2006

I am worried because I got a macally enclosure and the next day my eMac had two kernel panics. I wrote it off as a fluke and I was running bit torrent, etc. Now, a few days later my FW ports are dead! Could the enclosure have fried them? I had it daisy chained via a maxstor 160 Gbyte and a DVD burner.

cnakeitaro · Feb 15, 2006

have you tried any other FW devices?

Kingsly · Feb 15, 2006

cnakeitaro said:
have you tried any other FW devices?

Funny you should ask. NOTHING works! Arrgh!

I have tried all three of my hard drives, plus a DVD burner. What's worse: the same hard drives refuse to mount onto my iBook either! Looks like Macally owes me three hard drives, a DVD burner, and compensation for lost data.

CanadaRAM · Feb 15, 2006

Kingsly said:
Funny you should ask. NOTHING works! Arrgh!
I have tried all three of my hard drives, plus a DVD burner. What's worse: the same hard drives refuse to mount onto my iBook either! Looks like Macally owes me three hard drives, a DVD burner, and compensation for lost data.

Not a hope of collecting on that, however.

The usual cause of this is hot-plugging the Firewire cables, and accidentally sparking between the power pins and the data pins. Absurdly easy to do if you accidentally plug it in backwards, and push it in even a bit.

Although Firewire is supposed to be hot pluggable, the 6-pin connector is not secure. Only ever plug and unplug Firewire when the machine is turned off.

Sounds like the Firewire ports on the eMac and the MacAlly are burnt out.

See this thread

madmaxmedia · Feb 15, 2006

You can still get your data

Worst case scenario-

When you get your new MBP, you could always take apart your eMac and take out the hard drive and put it in an enclosure. You can find eMac take apart guides online. I've done it, it's not that big of a deal.

Another option is to just copy files over network.

Kingsly · Feb 15, 2006

Im more worried about the data on my external HDD's. BTW, I have not hot plugged anything. It has all been plugged in since the day I set it up (and I am VERY careful about plugs going in properly- for this exact reason). I got the Macally to mount briefly as well as the DVD burner! Hopefully things are looking up! unfortunately, my most important drive is still not responding, its the only one I didn't daisy chain. it had a direct interface to the computer. One more thing: system profiler tells me "no information found" when I click firewire. I guess my next toy is a mirrored RAID.

shanmui1 · Feb 15, 2006

I don't know if it's useful or not, but I've read that resetting the PMU on the logic board works. I'll try to find an Apple link to the procedure for it.

There's a pdf Apple service manual for emacs on this page that states the way to reset PMU which is different from just resettig the pram.

http://www.lbodnar.dsl.pipex.com/eMac/eMac-upgrade.html

hope that helps....

ReanimationLP · Feb 15, 2006

A crossover ethernet cable is your friend.

They sell them in comp stores, in game stores as Xbox System Link cables.

Kingsly · Feb 16, 2006

Thanks for your help. I checked the FW ports to see if, just maybe, I inserted one wrong... nope. I'll try resetting the PMU and then call Apple Care. Does anyone know if I can retrieve my Bytecc HDD by taking it apart and putting the drive in an enclosure? I know it works because when I turn it on I hear the drive spin up and then idle down. I just have a feeling its the FW controller boards.

CanadaRAM · Feb 16, 2006

Kingsly said:
Thanks for your help. I checked the FW ports to see if, just maybe, I inserted one wrong... nope. I'll try resetting the PMU and then call Apple Care. Does anyone know if I can retrieve my Bytecc HDD by taking it apart and putting the drive in an enclosure? I know it works because when I turn it on I hear the drive spin up and then idle down. I just have a feeling its the FW controller boards.

Yes, it's entirely possible to install the drive into a new enclosure and there's a reasonably good chance it will mount, unless the mechanism itself is faulty -- whether the data is b0rked or not remains to be seen, you may have to do work with DiskWarrior and/or Data Rescue if the logical structure of the drive is damaged.

Kingsly · Feb 16, 2006

Okay, spent some time on the phone with Apple, got it working again.

I felt physically sick all night thinking about the data that I potentially lost. Hard drive failure was never really a potential problem in my mind until today. Now I know how scary it can be. Due to this Im thinking about making a mirrored RAID system. At least I can fail hard drives without worrying.

Lord Blackadder · Feb 16, 2006

I once scrambled ALL my data on my old G3 iMac when hot-unplugging a USB external hard drive...ALL my saved term papers from college, and about 2,000 digital photos...

Backing up data is vital - after my bad experience I have since made a habit of backing data up on DVD, and have almost all my important data on a second hard drive (not the boot drive). Which reminds me, I'm a little behind on backing things up....

I think I have some work to do when I get home.

Kingsly · Feb 16, 2006

So I narrowed the problem down... I thought it was fixed after talking to apple, but its not. After some fiddling around I realized that anything that is daisy chained to the Macally enclosure, be it first or second or third in line, will not mount. Its like the Macally sabotages the other drives. As soon as I take the Macally out of the equation the other drives spring to life. Wierd...

Anyways, I talked to Macally and they are going to replace the enclosure for me.

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