This is an updte to a previous thread- When I plug my GL2 into my PC, Window tries to install it but fails to because it cannot find "software for the device." This is driving me crazy- I have a 3400 dollar PC system and cannot get DV footage onto my PC- any help appreciated.

Windows XP
Pentium 4 Dual
250 RAID
Media Stiduo PRo 7

Did you happen to install Windows Movie Maker with XP? I know XP likes to pop up those handy menus whenever it detects a new disc or media source (the "What would you like to do with this..." menus). Maybe it's expecting you to capture with WMM but can't find it.

I did have to use the CD-ROM that came with my GL2 to read the SD card (via USB), but that's the only GL2-specific driver I can think of.

'Just a shot in the dark. 'Hopefully someone else can give a more concrete answer.

When you say 'plug in' do you mean that you are using onboard firewire, or a capture card. I just finished building my NLE last week and I pulled my 'rather old and cheap' capture card out and XP was fine with it. I know in windows when you fire up your cam to play, XP will popup asking you what software you want to use. The same it does sometimes when you load a cd etc.

I guess I'm missing some information. What are you using in firewire/usb? And what software are you using. I have a GL2, so our systems should be similar.

I have two on board Firewire ports configured for 800 speeds. I Use Media Studio Pro to capture, and usually this pops up when I plug in my firewire. Could the 800 config be the problem?

I have two on board Firewire ports configured for 800 speeds. I Use Media Studio Pro to capture, and usually this pops up when I plug in my firewire. Could the 800 config be the problem?

I would set stuff to defaults and see what happens. Also update all of your firmware, find an updated motherboard driver etc.

I read somewhere in my manual for my Gigabyte K8N SLi pro, that I have to switch my firewire to another setting, I said screw that and just put in a capture card. Considering the money you have in your machine, you could get a capture card and see if that solves your problem.

I wouldn't capture off the motherboard unless I had too.

Let me know how it goes.

Tim, did you try the "cold reboot" of the GL2 I suggested?

Windows doesn't need any software for the GL2 in order to recognize it, it just needs to load it's own drivers in response to how the GL2 identifies itself. Once it does, it askes you what application you want to run, as Steven said.

"device" often refers to a specialized chipset. What evidence do you have that the computer's firewire ports are up and running?

Fred:

What do you mean by "cold reboot"? I did turn off and on again- no luck. Canon told me the GL2 is not compatible with FW 800 so I may screwed. What are my options- someone mentioned capture cards- how easy is this to put in and what kind- I'm not familiar with this.

I'm not familiar with FW800 (i.e. IEEE1394B) and if it is backwards-compatible to 400 (aka IEEE1394A), but I believe I got my card off of eBay for about $20, maybe less. It's just a basic PCI OHCI-compatible Firewire card -- no analog capture features, no hardware acceleration, just plain and simple.

If you're not comfortable opening the computer case, I'm sure you could find a knowledgeable techie friend who is, and with XP it's quite straightforward. Just make sure you determine whether you need a PCI or PCI Express card, as they are not interchangeable.

The "cold boot" Fred mentioned meant removing the button battery from the GL2 for a few minutes (found behind the LCD screen). Also, do you have any other Firewire devices you could try, just to make sure that the ports/cable are working?

Yes- the port are working as I plug a Lacie 800 harddrive into it and it zings. Did not try the cold boot, but doubt that would work.

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in what I was told by some drone at Canon. It seems to me that IEEE1394b should be backward compatible to IEEE1394. The IEEE guys care about things like that.

If I were you I'd try the cam on a regular 1394 port to make sure everything is okay on the cam end (but of course if I were you I would have tried the cold boot even if it had a 0.01% chance of working).

By the way, where did the cable you're trying to use with the GL2 come from. It has to be a 9-pin to 4-pin, right?

Fred- nope, checked the cable, even bought another- it's a 4-6pin. I tried both ports, but no luck. I can use the GL2 on any other PC throgh firewire so it's not the Gl2 which is new. I cannot believe Canon either. It's hard to fathom that a new PC can not accept a device when every other PC works fine with the GL2. I'm researching this and even the PC maker is baffled. I hate to have to install another card... let me know if you get any tips.

Thanks

As I said above (I was editing my post while you were responding), doesn't it have to be a 9-pin to 4-pin? Check this out:
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=606&sku=50708

MMM...this Firewire 800 is really new. Judging by your link, you have to have a Firewire 800 cable. Perhaps 1394 cables will not work. But the cable I'm using is the one that came with the Lacie drive, which is a Firewire 800 harddrive. Now, the port on my PC is, I believe, I six pin port- but will the 9 pin fit- it sure looks like the same size. I'm confused- what say you? If it is the wrong cable, why does Windows respond by finding the GL2 but saying it cannot find the software?

ASASASASAAASAS

Are you saying that the cable that runs your Firewire 800 drive also fits into the GL2?

BTW, What does your last post mean??

I just sent a query to Cables to Go asking if a 6-pin connector is the same size as a 9-pin connector.

Sorry, Fred- the last post is me getting sloppy.

No, the only cable that will fit is the normal 1394 one. There is no Firewire cable that will fit the Gl2, as you've said, because it must be nine pin.
I found this on another link:

I got my GL2 yesterday and have been trying to hook it up to the PC to edit some footage in premiere.. When I plug in the camera and turn it on I always get the same yellow exclamation point in the device manager of winXP.. It won't find a driver automtatically and if you force install an AVC device driver that is included with windows it produces a code 10 error "The connected device will not start." I have searched EVERYWHERE for a solution and have only managed to find two others with the same problem. Here is my system setup and the attempts I have made to fix it.

WinXP Pro
MSI KT-266A Pro-2RU mobo
Athlon XP 1700+
ATI All in Wonder Radeon (POS!)
Sound Blaster Audigy Gamer (w/ 1394 connection)
24x burner, 6x DVD, Network Card, Cable modem, cordless mouse and keyboard
3x Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200rpm
Canon GL2

"I have tried two firewire (1394) cards, the audigy and a Power Magic ALi1394, both install perfectly fine and have been used for DV before on other cameras, as well as home networking. Both of the cards are OHCI compliant and should be able to handle the video transfer as previous DV cams have. I noticed that the other cameras I used immediately and automatically installed as AVC devices in the device manager with no issues or hassles. Canon states that they do not release drivers for DV cameras and that the only drivers neccessary are 1394 card drivers supplied by the manufacturer. Since both of these 1394 cards are essentially generic, they use the built in winXP drivers.

Any ideas how to fix this problem short of wasting $1,000 (or even $200) on another firewire card? I have all of the software I need, and only need the camera to be recognized by winXP. Since it is not recognized, Premiere says the device is either not connected or communication can't occur.

I would like to avoid buying other firewire cards because I see people constantly complaining about them and having driver conflicts with other software."


Apparently there are others who have this problem. I'm going to keep searching.

I'm confused--I received a copy of another post of yours at my yahoo account saying that you were going to buy another cable tomorrow, but that post isn't here???? Anyway, that post said you were getting a 9 to 6 pin, but the GL2 takes a four pin. So you would need a 9 to 4 pin cable.

Sorry-I deleted that message becasue I realized there is no cable that will fit the gl2 (PC is 6 pin). I am still baffled- I'm still researching.

T

...No, the only cable that will fit is the normal 1394 one. There is no Firewire cable that will fit the Gl2, as you've said, because it must be nine pin....The nine pin end goes in the computer port. Again, the GL2 takes a 4-pin connector.

...I realized there is no cable that will fit the gl2 (PC is 6 pin)....Tim, I don't get that statement.
First, are you sure the PC end is six pin? On the cable that came with the drive can you actually count only six contacts? I'm in the dark about Firewire 800, just going by the info at that Cables To Go link.
Second, I really don't understand the "no cable to fit the GL2" part

Wait a minute...could it be that you have one 1394b port and one 1394a port? That would explain being able to plug in a 6-pin cable. And if you configured the 1394a port it for 800 MBPS I imagine that would be a major problem. Should be 400.

Wait a minute...could it be that you have one 1394b port and one 1394a port? That would explain being able to plug in a 6-pin cable. And if you configured the 1394a port it for 800 MBPS I imagine that would be a major problem. Should be 400.

Yes- the ports on my PC are two 6-Pin Firewire ports. Since Firewire cables have at least one 9-pin end, I cannot use it for the Gl2. In bios, I tried configuring the ports to 1394a but it did not seem to help.

Tim,

Right, the 6-pin ports are firewire. They are IEEE1394a firewire. 400MBPS firewire. Two pins supply power to an external device if it needs it, and four pins carry the data. The GL2 does not need power from the computer so it only has a four pin connector. So a DV cable with 6 pins on one end and 4 pins on the other is a firewire cable and is the correct firewire cable to connect the GL2 to you computer.

We were only talking about a 9-pin connectors because you said you had Firewire 800. If you have 6-pin ports, that's not Firewire 800. If you're using a Firwire800 capable external drive, it must be backward compatible and running in 1394a mode. It does prove that things are okay at the computer end.

The next important thing to know is whether the GL2 will work with another computer. If so, then it's a sofware issue. If not, it may be that the DV connector on the GL2 is fried, but I do wish you'd try the cold boot. Haven't you ever had a computer lock up on you for no good reason, but was fine after rebooting?

Fred:

Tried the cold reboot on the Gl2 with no luck yesterday. I am going to try putting the 1394b back to 1394a and reboot the pc to see what happens. The Gl2 works great on any other PC so it's not Gl2.

The GL2 has worked on another computer SINCE not working on your new computer? If so, that's great. This may come down to just needing to reinstall Windows, or even running windows update.

Yes, this is since the problem with the new PC. I captured some DV on another PC just fine.

I just did a reinstall of Windows- and have all the updates. I have Polywell searching for a solution.

Tim, what is the model number for the motherboard in your system? I'm confused by the fact that you have a BIOS setting for IEEE1394A/IEEE1394B, though your ports are only 6-pin.

Also, when you plug in the GL2, do you get the little "DV IN" indicator in the viewfinder?

Edit: Who is Polywell?

955xk
Yes, I do get the DDV in on the camera...

OK, I found the manual for your board (the Intel Desktop Board D955XBK, right?). It looks like you do have both IEEE1394A and IEEE1394B ports, and from what I could gather there's one of each on the front of the case, and one A port on the back. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Potentially the front ports could be goofed up by reversing the connecting cables inside (as they use the same size plug). Where do you have the GL2 plugged in? I'd try the back one as it is soldered directly to the mobo and is specifically a 6-pin IEEE1394A port, then select 1394A in the BIOS (I couldn't find any info on that part).

Since you did get the "DV IN" indicator, I suspect that you may already have it set up this way, but it's worth a try. The FW800 drive must be plugged into the front 9-pin port then?

Fred, if you'd like to take a look at the manual it can be found here:
ftp://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d955xbk/sb/c9866601_en.pdf

We'll get this thing working yet!

I see ports 1 and 2 in the bio- but I don't know which is which- i.e. front or back. I think the tech guy said port 2 is the front. Let me look at the manual.

Really appreciate you guys helping out.

Okay- tried every way possible. Set the ports to 1394a and rebooted but XP still wants to 'install' the Gl2. This is so frustrating...