Ok . I assume no responsibility for the information below , as I said I'm not an expert. Since you have the card out a couple of things.1/ there should be a manufactures code # usually printed into the circuit board. 2/ xp will probably remember you had that card installed
So #1 question would be .... do you have another open PCI slot?
If yes , with the card out reboot, go to device manager and remove the IEEE 1394 from where ever it is.Next shut down the computer and reboot.Go back to device manager and check that there is noIEEE1394 device.If there is , remove it and reboot ,recheck again repeat until gone.Once you have no device show up ,shutdown computer, disconnect any attachments eg. printer, external drives,etc.
Install the card in a different PCI slot, boot up computer when windows finds new hardware try to select from a list and choose Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant Host Controller,the drivers should be in the windows/system32/drivers
Once installed ,reboot and check that it is a seperate item in the device manager.If were good to this point try the standard Canon install procedure.Computer on, camera off,connect cable,no other software running, camera to vcr mode and place middle finger over index finger
So if the answer to question #1 was NO you don't have an open PCI slot,then let me know what is in all your PCI slots and the slot # they are in.
It's getting late for aswell. Goodluck

Yes Jack. I have spare PC slot. Will do tonight and keep you posted. Liked the finger crossing bit. Most important (grin)

Hi Jack,

Apologies for the long silence. I've been rather tied up. I tried this but regretfully it didn't work. The video card showed up on a different IRQ. I thank you again for all the trouble you went to for me.

Hi Owen,

Just read your tale of woe - what a nightmare!
I have to admit I have never had any problems connecting my XL1-Ss to any PCs - except a laptop which may have had a broken 1394 connector.

I know this sounds a bit defeatest, but there may be another way round this. Canons are pretty consistant bits of kit. They rarely vary in how they behave. PCs are a disaster area. Nothing ever seems to work consistantly on different PCs. It might be best to cut your losses and put in a new motherboard and processor for a couple of hundred dollars - PCs need upgrading regularly anyway - maybe just pull this change forward a bit. If you can swap to a set of kit you know works (copy a friend's if you can) this may be the best option in the long run. It might be the easy alternative to learning the details of all the mother board quirks, windows quirks, firmware quirks and how they all interrelate......

Good luck whichever...

Hi Richard,

Like your comment...

"PCs are a disaster area. Nothing ever
seems to work consistantly on different PCs."

I really appreciate everybody's help. I'll post the outcome when it's fixed.

Hi Jack and others who helped,

I fixed the problem buy buying and fitting an el cheapo firewire card. $41, and it works wonders.

Thats so funny. I havent been on DVinfo for a while and the thread that i started is still going. I guess Im not the only one who is having problems getting my XL1s to configure on my PC. Anyway, my computer crashed about 2 weeks ago. Hard drive failure. Instead of just doing a system restore from my backups I just reinstalled the OS from scratch. Guess what my XL1s picks up just fine. hehe. problem solved. Thanks guys