F350 Firewire no longer working
 

I was using it earlier to transfer an edit to disc in FAM mode, then later on I connected up to the F350 with my macbook pro again (f350 switched off when I plugged in then turned on) and nothing. Tried 3 different macs. Nothing is showing up.

Please don't tell me it has packed up. I need this camera every day and without it am going to really struggle!

Phil

So soon after it came in through your door, this would be very disappointing. I would have thought firewire problems would have been sorted by manufacturers by now.

As a desperate wildcard thing, if you can't find anything in the menus to toggle back and forth to reset something that may have been altered, if there is a global "reset to defaults" type function available in the F350, try that, after making notes of your custom presets of course.

If luck prevails, it might be that the camera output has changed and it is no longer being recognised in the same way that the Z1 becomes invisible to the computer if it is in DV mode when capturing hdv or vice versa. A reset to factory defaults may fix it if you can't do it via menus.

The Z1 sometimes does a Dr. Jekyll when hooked up to a LG DVD recorder for quick camera tape dubs and I have to power down both and restart before they shake hands and do things.

The Z1 timecode function went insane for about three months after I tried a HDV export to tape.

I never did manage to get it to work until it spontaneuously came good again on its own after a reset from a deliberate DV capture from a tape which had been recorded in MiniDV to match other cameras.

I attributed it to my own mismanagement of the camera as the tech at AV Central had not heard of such a problem.

Sometimes I wonder though if the cameras do not become "reprogrammed" by bad computer software via firewire because it happens to cordless phones sharing a line with dialup modems.

Otherwise maybe the Mac Book has dudded its firewire port again, what was it? two times previously?

Phil, it wouldn't be the first case of a blown firewire port on an F350. My only remaining suggestion would be to try a different firewire cable if available.

Try switching the FW over to AV/C and see if the camera shows up like a regular DV device.

But from what you've described, it sounds like a blown FW port.

-gb-

Had same issue - still waiting for new cards....
 

Hey Phil

I really like the work you've put up for us to look at - yeah sounds like you have a blown firewire interface card. We've got three 330s - 2 blown ports in a week. Ouch. Only solution we've found is to use a 6 pin male to 4 pin female firewire adapter on the camera and use a 6 pin to 4 pin cable from the computer to bypass the bus power.

otherwise its a PDW U1 or a F30 or F70 as a feeder.

best of luck - BTW - I'm on month #2 of waiting for cards to arrive at the Sony shop.

cheers
GS

Phil,

If you need help at any time, transferring to/from disc (if yours has blown), just let me know - I'm sure I can help with either my F350 or U1.

Cheers,

Paul.

thanks Paul

But I need it pretty much every day! I may have to hire one or something

Phil

OK - but if you do get stuck in the mean-time, don't hessitate to ask! Always good to help out.

It looks like one of these might be a good investment:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=431507&is=REG

yes i have one of these but my mac won't see my f350 with it plugged in for some reason

Laurence, that´s what I thought initially. But keep your hands off. Forget the Kramer DV Line Protector for FAM. I haven´t tried out AV/C transfer yet, but in FAM it definitely doesn´t work.
I bought the Kramer to protect my camera´s firewire. But it´s exactly as Phil says, .... the camera doesn´t even show up, neither on pc nor on a mac. Have tried out several different setups on all our editing machines. -> The computer will never see the camera for some reason, - unfortunately. So there´s no point really to buy a thing which doesn´t help you in the end. Also Kramer´s support couldn´t help me with this problem. It cost me a 100 euros without tax and is now not in use. It´s a bit cheaper in the US, - well even half the price but anyway. For us it definitely didn´t work.

anybody know of any other solutions to protect from firewire spikes?

Just FYI, there's not "firewire spikes" to speak of, it's what happens when the two power contacts on the plug inadvertantly come in contact with the data contacts right next to it. I did it once on a plug where the keying was loosey-goosey, and plugged in the cable upside down. Once. Oops.

I think somebody sells 6-pin to 6-pin cables where the power lines are not connected. That would save you.

if anyone knows who sells those cables please let me know!!

I had hoped that the use of the large 6 pin firewire connector would prove more robust than the small 4 pin connector but I know of at least 1 F330 owner with a blown FW port, considering the low numbers of these cameras out there this is a worry.

As far as I know there are fuses on the data lines in the camera, these should not be to hard to replace, however as is often the case the fuses don't blow quick enough to stop other damage being done.

One thing I have noticed is that the quality of some firewire plugs is not good. When plugged in the plug wobbles in the socket and I suspect some of the failures are due to a bad fitting plug that makes it easier to cross the connections as you plug it in.

You don't seem to hear about these problems with USB yet USB devices are often powered via the cable and hot plugged.

It should be simple to buy a standard FW cable, strip the insulation back and cut the power wire, but the problem is that as you plug the plug in the contacts on the plug can be mis-aligned and the data pin can contact the power pin so cutting the power wire won't necessarily help. A better solution is to cut the power feed to the socket on the computer. On a PC with a PCI firewire card this is often very easy (sometime there is a removable link) often it is just a case of snipping a wire that goes through a small ferrite bead. For mac users as suggested I guess it would be worth using a 6 pin plug to 4 pin socket adapter and leave that permanently plugged in to the computer, the use a 6pin to 4 pin cable.

We are just waiting for our New Sony F350 to arrive and I asked our dealer if he had heard of any cams he had sold having this issue and he said no. He suggested the Kramer unit but thanks to you guys I see this is not an option.
I must get my IT guy to look into this in the morning, and that cable Nate mentioned.... and thanks for all the great info on the F350 guys, and the time so many of you take to be helpful.

Regards: Stu
www.studioscotland.com