OMG!! What am I doing wrong?!
 

I am so frustrated and confused!

I was uploading video into my computer via a firewire, a rinky dink vid camera and a computer I'll call "A".

I accidentally got my foot tangled and pulled out the fire wire AND tipped over the computer tower. I set it all up again and finished the tape.

THEN...I started on tape 2 and it kept saying Device Offline. I thought I might have damaged the fire wire in the "fall".

I tried a new Fire wire. I tried a different computer. I have tried a different vid camera and in fact I have tried a different software even.

Hours later I have tried a zillion combinations between 2 cameras, 4 firewires, 4 different ports, 2 different computers, and 2 different programs and EVERY.SINGLE.TIME> it says device offline!!! What am I missing?!?!?!

Have you tried to recapture tape one and see if that works. You seem to have changed everything but that. Maybe tape 2 doesn't want to be captured!

Its also possible that when you 'tripped' you shorted out the 6 pin connector (power) which blitzed the firewire board on the camera. When you tried another camera you blitzed the firewire on that camera also so that now nothing recognizes either cam.

Thanks Terry!

I have actually tried another tape (in the other Camera) and no luck. I actually just plugged the rinky dink cam in with a USB cord and it says that my model of camera is not compatible with this version of Windows?!

I know this to be untrue because I have been using this cam/comp combo for almost 2 yrs!

As well I was using the same set up on the other computer.

I am soooo frustrated!

It seems that you cannot get either camera to be recognized by either of two computers. It still sounds like the FW card on both cameras is kaput.

Hi Kelsey, this happened to me once before. I know it can be frustrating, I don't know if this would work for you. Take out the batteries from your Cam for at least 15 minutes, this will reset the memory ( I assume the cam says dv in not dv out that's why PC is no reading).

Restart the PC, plug the Cam and pray.

It does say DV in!!! I am hoping this works! No offense Terry but I'm hoping you are wrong!!

No offense taken. I hope that I am too. Stupid little connectors - firewire!

:(

Nothing!

I can however get the junky camera to work on Computer B if I hook it up with a USB cord and use Windows Movie Maker.

Does anyone know if Premiere Pro only Captures from Fire Wire and not USB? Not that I would use USB but I'm curious?

A little googling reveals that in fact Prem Pro only captures firewire!

Even though you shouldn't do a hot swap, when you connect your cam to the computer do you even get the little sound effect that the OS plays when something new is attached to the box? If not then go borrow a friends camera (if he will let you) and his firewire cord and connect it to your computer. If you get the little ringy dingy that says something has been connected, you can almot bet that yourfirewire connectors on your cam are shot.[:>(

Thanks for the advice! I'm going to try that tomorrow!

so sad :(

Any idea how much that costs to fix? It's probaby cheaper to buy another rinky dink camcorder to use just for uploading...

Kelly -
I'm going to second the fried firewire port on the camera, but you should be very careful since you've apparently been trying multiple configurations of computers/cables/ports/cameras. I know how easy it is to try troubleshooting this way, but offhand it sounds like you've got a more serious problem and may have caused more damage... done that myself, so not being critical <wink>.

There was a post a while back where an assistant fried multiple cameras and associated equipment when two wires were reversed on a fiewire port... I'm thinking a "tug" strong enough to topple your tower may have broken some physical connections and you may have voltage floating around where it oughtn't be... very bad for computers and electronic equipment, voice of experience speaking.

Honestly, you should probably isolate your system... dump the tape with a KNOWN good camera/cable/computer if it's critical, THEN have someone who has "the knack" go through your system and find out what's really wrong (voltage checks at a minimun before connecting ANYTHING!) before you risk any more damage to computers or cameras. It sounds like you're pretty good at troubleshooting, so I think you've got a more serious problem, better to not let it get more expensive if possible!

Hope that helps, if I think of anything else I'll post it.

And yes, probably cheaper to buy another camera to dump video once you've confirmed that the computer and cable are AOK - I've got a couple SD Japanese Panasonics with CCD issues laying about waiting to go to the great online auction site in the cybersky if you are interested... good for dumping tape I think...

Just to build a little on what Dave said, if everyone's theory about a blown FW port is true (and it seems likely) then every item on your list above could be dead. And each time you connect a bad port to a good one you could be blowing the good one as well, depending on what kind of short happened.

The good news is it's likely the tapes themselves are totally fine; it's nearly impossible to destroy them accidentally. But do use a completely different cam, cable and PC to try again. Connecting any of the suspect devices could just spread the disease.

At least that's what I hear anecdotally.

I'm assuming you're using DV and not HDV - if so why not get a Sony DV desk recorder and play in from that permanently. I believe the DV only ones are very reasonable now on eBay etc. I don't have such an item so I assume it's OK to mention eBay? If not, sorry mod.

UGH! Now you guys have me really freaking out! I don't have time for this problem!!!

Excuse me - what exactly are you suggesting? I've reviewed carefully everything I and others have written in response to your original posting and can't find anything that justifies your response. Please explain; I for one intend no discourtesy.