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Firewire crashes my drives

alphaod

alphaod

macrumors Core
Original poster
Feb 9, 2008
22,194
1,260
NYC
I have this issue with all the Firewire ports on my Mac Pro. All the drives I connect to the Firewire will have write issues which result in drive crashing (in the case of my Drobo) or very slow write speed (less than half of normal). I have already gotten a replacement Drobo and tested a new enclosure I just bought. No dice.

I cannot duplicate this issue on my MacBook Pro. I have tried many enclosures, different cables, etc. All have this issue on the Mac Pro only. USB works without any issues and eSATA (via a expansion card) works as well.

Apple Hardware Test was run for a few hours and everything passed. New account created. Issue still persists.

I don't have a car, so taking my machine to the store is a tedious task. I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks!
 
Maybe your FireWire ports are defective? BTW, does Mac Pro have FW integrated onto the mobo or is it a separate PCI card?
 
alphaod said:
I don't have a car, so taking my machine to the store is a tedious task. I'd like to avoid that if possible.
Click to expand...

If you live within the range of 80 kilometres/50miles from an AASP or Apple store, you can request an Apple technician to come over to your place to service your machine.
 
Have you tried replacing your FW cables? I had this problem and it turned out I had a bad cable, damn Drobo would reset as soon as I plugged in another FW device.
 
Hellhammer said:
Maybe your FireWire ports are defective? BTW, does Mac Pro have FW integrated onto the mobo or is it a separate PCI card?
Click to expand...

It's integrated onto the main board.

Transporteur said:
If you live within the range of 80 kilometres/50miles from an AASP or Apple store, you can request an Apple technician to come over to your place to service your machine.
Click to expand...

I know that, but Apple won't send a tech for on-site unless they can diagnose what needs to be fixed. A tech can't do that; they can only fix things.

nobblynoel said:
Alot of FW problems too here http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macpro/topic4472.html

Interesting read :eek:
Click to expand...

Those are also not the issue I have. Thanks though.

maestrokev said:
Have you tried replacing your FW cables? I had this problem and it turned out I had a bad cable, damn Drobo would reset as soon as I plugged in another FW device.
Click to expand...

Already tried that. Didn't work. Must have tried a dozen different brands.
 
Not sure if this affects FW or not but have you checked that the firewire settings haven't changed in NETWORK.
(system Prefs- NETWORK)

Network.png
 
You've mentioned you've tried different enclosures. I assume that means new and different power supplies? A bad power supply on a FW device can cause the crashes too. Failing that, you're going to have to send it in for service.
 
alphaod said:
I have this issue with all the Firewire ports on my Mac Pro. All the drives I connect to the Firewire will have write issues which result in drive crashing (in the case of my Drobo) or very slow write speed (less than half of normal). I have already gotten a replacement Drobo and tested a new enclosure I just bought. No dice.

I cannot duplicate this issue on my MacBook Pro. I have tried many enclosures, different cables, etc. All have this issue on the Mac Pro only. USB works without any issues and eSATA (via a expansion card) works as well.

Apple Hardware Test was run for a few hours and everything passed. New account created. Issue still persists.

I don't have a car, so taking my machine to the store is a tedious task. I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Elaborate details on Firewire and Mac Pros ... Link

p.s. "Search before you post: MRoogle" you would have found it here - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/712336/ :p
alphaod, our dear Contributor, i couldn't help myself. ;)

That said, I hope that information is of use. Doesn't really resolve anything but ...
 
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maestrokev said:
You've mentioned you've tried different enclosures. I assume that means new and different power supplies? A bad power supply on a FW device can cause the crashes too. Failing that, you're going to have to send it in for service.
Click to expand...

Yeah I took my machine into the Apple Store; hopefully they can figure out what it broken and repair it.

iamcheerful said:
Elaborate details on Firewire and Mac Pros ... Link

p.s. "Search before you post: MRoogle" you would have found it here - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/712336/ :p
alphaod, our dear Contributor, i couldn't help myself. ;)

That said, I hope that information is of use. Doesn't really resolve anything but ...
Click to expand...

I've read about many of those: the issue is that it only started happening just recently; all these drives have been alright since I bought my machine.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Funny this is brought up. I have an OWC mercury drive with quad interface and 1TB drive inside. When using the FW interface, sometimes it goes completely unresponsive. The OS know's it's attached, but it will not respond to any queries for access. It's like the thing's comatose - alive and present, but non-responsive. The only way to fix it is to unplug or power it down at which point
OSX complains about improper disconnection. When I reconnect everything is fine until the next time, which is usually a few days,

I don't have the same issue when using USB, so that's what I'm doing. It's a time machine backup only so interface speed isn't a primary concern.

This happened with my MBP, which I have sold, and also with my MP. So something tells me it's a problem with the interface in the drive, but exactly WHAT is going on is a mystery to me.
 
Well I called the Apple Store; the triage didn't tell them anything; they still don't know why it won't work.

Apparently they ordered a new backplane board, CPU board, front header, and power supply.

Isn't that like the whole computer?
 
alphaod said:
Well I called the Apple Store; the triage didn't tell them anything; they still don't know why it won't work.

Apparently they ordered a new backplane board, CPU board, front header, and power supply.

Isn't that like the whole computer?
Click to expand...
LOL, well, they are still short of a couple of things, one of which is the famous Apple-signature cheese grater ...
 
iamcheerful said:
LOL, well, they are still short of a couple of things, one of which is the famous Apple-signature cheese grater ...
Click to expand...

Well none of the other parts in the computer are Apple OEM (except the chassis and what they ordered).
 
I should mention my issue has been resolved by black magic AKA act of bringing product to the Apple Store and trying to reproduce the issue without success.
 
Hooray! Ain't it great to have the machine works as she should?

Maybe the drives or machines were just having a bad day? What do you think may have happened that got them working in harmony once more?
 
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