Firewire ports and digital cam

[ThatGirl]

I wasn't sure if I should put this in Hardware or Software, so please forgive me if I did it wrong!

I have been using a Sony digital cam, importing home movies into iMovie. For some reason, suddenly, the program acknowledges that the camera is connected, but when I start to play, or import, the movie does not show in the iMovie screen. It has been suggested to me that it is a problem with the firewire ports. Could that be the problem, even though it does "see" that a camera is connected? Could it be that the firewire ports "see" it, but are not allowing data transfer?

I've done all the usual things, like shutting down the system and restarting. I tried to use the Apple Hardware test CD, but that didn't work. All that came up was the screen where there is just text and a prompt. Darned if I know what to type in the prompt. That is for those poor unfortunates who have to use PCs, I thought!

If it is a software problem, can it be fixed without erasing the whole harddrive and reloading everything fresh?

Thank you.

 

[WinterMute]

Have you repaired your permissions lately?

That might do the trick.

If the camera is visible to iMovie, then it ought to be fine in the download, check your camera's settings, are you using an extended tape mode?

Check iMovie's preferences too.

It might be a FireWire hardware fault, try another camera if you can.

Does the port see a hard drive for instance?

 

[ThatGirl]

I don't have another camera to try. It is set in SP mode. I will check the preferences in iMovie, but I don't know what you mean about "repairing permissions". I will also check to see if it "sees" an external harddrive.
Thanks!

 

[ThatGirl]

The Preferences checked are :
Use Short Time codes
New projects are: NTSC
New Clips go to: Clips Pane
Automatically start new clip at scene break
Extract Audio in Paste Over
Filter Audio from camera

The one not checked is "Play Video Through to camera"-That has nothing to do with it, does it? Seems like the wrong direction.

I did not set these, so they must be defaults. (?)

 

[WinterMute]

Repair permissions: open Disc Utility (in your Utilities folder)

Select your main drive icon on the left in the First Aid page.

Click "Repair Permissions"

Restart.

Do this once a week or so and after every new upgrade or installation.

The thing you should type at the prompt is: fsck -y then type reboot once the disc check has finished.

 

[ThatGirl]

Thank you, so much! I am going to do that right now. I really appreciate your help.

 

[ThatGirl]

I did the "repair permissions". That did not fix the problem, but looks like it was pretty busy!

I restarted from the Hardware Test Disk. It said to type in mac-boot. I did that, It went to another screen with a prompt. I typed in fsck -y. It said, "unknown word" I tried it without the extra space. Again, "unknown word".

Not sure what to try next.

Thanks for trying!

 

[WinterMute]

Sorry, my mistake, you need to restart the machine and hold down the S key when it chimes, wait for the text to scroll then type fsck -y, then reboot once it's finished.

Have you checked the version of iMovie? We're up to 4.1 that runs on 10.3.6 just fine, if your on a different version of the app or the operating system it might need updating. Also which Mac are you using?

 

[jeremy.king]

Sorry, my mistake, you need to restart the machine and hold down the S key when it chimes, wait for the text to scroll then type fsck -y, then reboot once it's finished.

Have you checked the version of iMovie? We're up to 4.1 that runs on 10.3.6 just fine, if your on a different version of the app or the operating system it might need updating. Also which Mac are you using?

Wrong again, its Command + S

or just see this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/89736/

 

[WinterMute]

yeah, bad day.....

 

[ThatGirl]

O.K. I repaired the permissions. I ran the fsck -y thing. It said my harddrive is o.k. It did not tell me if anything is wrong with my firewire ports, which is what I was trying to find out.

Anyway, the only change that has occurred is that now it does not even show that the camera is connected.

 

[live4ever]

Did you try another program like iChat (to see if it picks it up)? You can also download Gcam or Evocam from Versiontracker and try them.

In System Profiler does it show up on the FW bus?

 

[ThatGirl]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their help. I tried all of your suggestions. Nothing seemed to work. My son attached his iBook and copied everything important off, because I thought I had to take the computer in to the store's customer service.

Today, suddenly, everything works again! I don't know which action helped;maybe they all did.

You guys are terrific. Thank you, again.

 

[WinterMute]

Glad it's working, sometimes stuff does "just happen".

It's not the hardware, your sone used the FireWire to pull the data off the drive, if you get the same problem again, back-up your personal data and re-install from the Software Installer that came with the system.

I hope your problem's fixed for good, happy editing.