Embarassing story:
I was fumbling around with my VGA converter on my MBP 15" and accidentally tried to insert it in the firewire slot (I was reading on the screen and not looking what I was doing). Apparently, this can cause a short-circuit since my mac was instantly switched off (not shut down - switched off!).
I'm hesitant to try it again to verify whether this was a coincidence. Also, don't blame me if you decide to try it yourself and fry your mac in the process...
This happened to me as well. I did a similar thing, actually it was dumber than what you did.
I'm not familiar with all of the firewire connectors and I had a firewire cable and I decided to see if that was the correct cable. Note that I did not push it in to the firewire port, but I did put it right next to it to see if this was the right connector. Well the connector was not the right one and they managed to touch.
I experienced the same thing you experienced. I saw a spark and then the MBP shut off completely. It turned on just fine afterwards. This was when the notebook was about 2 weeks old. Later on I noticed that my superdrive was not working correctly and I had to have the notebook replaced. I have no idea if the firewire short fried the superdrive or if it came defective because I never had a chance to test it before the incident.
My superdrive would have a hard time reading certain discs, it would spin spin spin and make beeping noises and then read them or eject them. I can try the same disc 3 times and it would work 1 out of 3 times.
When you get a chance test your superdrive out and let me know if it works, I'm mighty curious about that.
Don't feel too bad, I did a google search and apparently, these firewire ports are known to blow out even using the right connector. They are definitely more dangerous than USB ports.
then software update while the adapter is hooked up to mac and monitor / TV.
