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Question

Firewire card doesn't work. How to find out why?

Feb 27, 2018 6:23AM PST

I recently bought a firewire card for my PC, it says it's compatible with windows 10 (im using windows 10) and that it has Windows built in drivers, and that it supports plug and play. I plugged it in to the PCI express port, plugged the power in and booted up but i can't see it in the device manager - although im not sure under what category it would appear - and my audio interface doesn't register a firewire connection.

How can I debug this problem? Where should the card appear in the device manager menu?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Usually a few ways.
Feb 27, 2018 7:39AM PST

Install it in another PC.

Be sure the drivers for the motherboard chipset are installed for the OS in use.


The second item seems to happen more often than it should. Folk today seem to rely on Microsoft to get the right motherboard driver but that's often broken. The old method of finding and installing is still best.

Post was last edited on February 27, 2018 7:39 AM PST

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ok, tried that..
Feb 27, 2018 8:12AM PST

it's difficult for me to install on another PC but I tried installing the drivers from here - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H81M-S2H-rev-10#support-dl - seems to suggest it's an audio driver but also mentions added chipset support... that's all I could find. Still no 1394 controllers listed in the device manager.

Will this section appear in device manager if there is no detected 1394 controller? i.e. If it's broken or not powered etc?

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The link when I select W10
Feb 27, 2018 9:53AM PST

Shows the audio but I can click on Chipset and there it is.

Again, this is an area I find folk to struggle with. Many are used to having ready to use PCs and never dealt with drivers.

As to which tree in the device manager you lucked out my laptop has firewire, on W10 64 bit and it shows up at the top as "IEEE 1394 host controllers".

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ah, yes
Feb 27, 2018 12:26PM PST

Thanks - i always need an idiot check. I struggle with computers in general. I will try installing that tomorrow

Do you know whether the IEEE 1394 host controllers section will show if the firewire card is dead/unpowered? That might also be the reason if guess, though perhaps not that likely..

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Dead or unpowered should not show up.
Feb 27, 2018 12:37PM PST

And I never had to install any Firewire "driver." I have used what Microsoft supplied for decades now.

Good luck with the chipset driver since that's needed for some cards to show up.

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Answer
Bios
Feb 27, 2018 1:54PM PST

I don't know what your bios looks like but mine has an option to enable/disable 1394.

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good suggestion
Feb 27, 2018 2:26PM PST

but my bios shows no mention of firewire/1394. unfortunately