Bad firewire cable causing problems I've never seen before!!!

[Nathyn]

I've been doing some reading about bad firewire cables. I just bought this el Cheapo "firewire" from an eBay vender for $2.50 and finally got it in the mail today. I plugged it into my computer and it immediately shut down as soon as I plugged it in. Not only did it shut down, it was unable to restart as long as this cable was in there. This has never happened before.

I'm on a Mac G4 running 10.4 and this is something I've never seen. I was using my friend FW cable a few weeks ago (a Belkin I think) and it worked flawlessly. What's the deal? Anyone know?

-Nate

 

[ggdelarge]

sounds crazy. never heard of it shutting down like that. if you put the cable in backwards, that may happen(and fry the port). was the cable connected to something else? faulty HD?

 

[Nathyn]

Nope. I plugged the cable in and the computer shut down. I spent about an hour trying to figure it out. It was hot in the house and I thought maybe the heat was the problem. Finally I unplugged all the cables then pressed to on button and the computer (this one I'm typing on right now) suddenly worked fine. I plugged everything back in but that firewire cable and it still worked fine. I plugged the firewire cable in and again it went off. I'm sending the cable back.

-Nate

 

[Daniel Skubal]

Nope. I plugged the cable in and the computer shut down. I spent about an hour trying to figure it out. It was hot in the house and I thought maybe the heat was the problem. Finally I unplugged all the cables then pressed to on button and the computer (this one I'm typing on right now) suddenly worked fine. I plugged everything back in but that firewire cable and it still worked fine. I plugged the firewire cable in and again it went off. I'm sending the cable back.

-Nate

It may be autoshutting down as a protective feature. The wire could be sending a current to the pc and as sort of a surge protection thing, it's shutting off. Just a theory.

 

[DC]

Even though Firewire is supposedly hot swappable, it is not a good idea to plug in or unplug the IEEE-1394(a)(b) cable while the power is on.

 

[ESTEBEVERDE]

I've been doing some reading about bad firewire cables. I just bought this el Cheapo "firewire" from an eBay vender for $2.50 and finally got it in the mail today. I plugged it into my computer and it immediately shut down as soon as I plugged it in. Not only did it shut down, it was unable to restart as long as this cable was in there. This has never happened before.

I'm on a Mac G4 running 10.4 and this is something I've never seen. I was using my friend FW cable a few weeks ago (a Belkin I think) and it worked flawlessly. What's the deal? Anyone know?

-Nate

Nate!


Come on Man!!!


It sounds as if your cable is not wired correctly or has a short!!!!

Cut it in half and toss it immediately.

Don't cheap yourself out of a mobo or worse!!!

Just drop for a decent cable.

Best of luck!

 

[Nathyn]

Nate!


Come on Man!!!


It sounds as if your cable is not wired correctly or has a short!!!!

Cut it in half and toss it immediately.

Don't cheap yourself out of a mobo or worse!!!

Just drop for a decent cable.

Best of luck!

I plan on doing exactly that. I wouldn't dare use something like that even if it did start working. I've been doing some research on bad FW cables and it's not pretty. I may get a Belkin, that seems to be the hot name in Firewire cables and I believe that the one my friend uses. I don't know what happened to my firewire cable. I have one but it's 6 to 6 pin. I know I had a firewire cable because I edited a whole movie where the heck is it? I've looked everywhere.

-Nate