Final Cut Pro cannot recognize my camera, but sometimes it can...

I'm using an older camera to archive my Digital 8 tapes (6 year old Sony camera)

Sometimes it will capture fine, sometimes after I insert a new tape in, the camera goes off line and will not connect back to my Mac. Sometimes when I start Final Cut Pro up it will tell me I have no VTR connected.

If I reboot/shut down the system, sometimes it will recognize the camera, but most of the time it does not.

I've tried several different firewire cables, nothing is working now.

I've plugged in a few firewire hard drives, they work just fine going through the same port as the camera.

On the video camera, it always says "DV In" when connected.

Sometimes it will recognize the camera when I start Final Cut, then when I go to log and capture it quickly changes from "VTR OK" to "No Communication"

Refresh A/V Devices does not work.

Sometimes after saying "unable to initialize video deck" it turns on my isight camera and then I see my confused self in the capture window, lol.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks.