Hi Alan, I'm watching this thread due to my recent experience with not getting sufficient power to support a new external (bus powered) firewire and usb laptop drive enclosure.
If you recall, I was having troubles because the bus power wouldn't even light up the drive using firewire and a file transfer would stall when using usb. Of course there were variables depending on which port I used, which I'll get to. The caveat is, I had a short in my system a while back which created my problems. And it appears my Firewire pci card is still not 100% because like I said it won't even light up the drive. But it will run my large external powered dvd/ram drive just fine. But if I plug the mini enclosure into the back of the external firewire DVD/RAM Drive, still no juice. Thing is, I don't know if my card is 'signaling' the dvd firewire enclosure to not provide sufficient juice, or if they generally don't provide sufficient bus power. So no help there. As for using my usb port, even with a brand new card, a file transfer would just stall, so I know I still had something wrong. I tried plugging it into my usb powered hub and same results. I went direct to the card trying both the internal and external ports, no change. My card even has the added molex power plug. There just wasn't enough juice through the card. I'm not certain of the exact voltage drain for my mini enclosure but it also uses a 5 volt adapter. So even with a brand new USB 2 card, I still couldn't push the mini drive. Apparently my stock UMAX power supply is providing enough power overall but still my firewire wouldn't even light up the drive. Still my pci cards were not getting enough power. So instead of trying to isolate the deeper problem which could have been very difficult, I simply replaced my motherboard. Now my USB2 card provides plenty of power to push the drive without stalling. But my externally powered USB hub won't. Go figure. But the hub does provide enough power to import pics from my Fuji 2160, although that does run by a battery when transferring photos so it may be a moot point. As for the firewire card, I believe it is still somewhat damaged cause it's still giving no power to the mini, but it does provide signal. So, I've got my eye on a new pci firewire card. Anyway, clearly I did have something shorted in my motherboard cause now usb provides power just fine. Not sure why the usb hub won't? What does all this mean to your circumstance? Heck, I don't know. :) I guess it's more food for thought and to give an idea of different factors you may face (hope not). But if you are going to be buying a USB or firewire card, I would get one that has the added molex power provision. Keep in mind that these 4+ port cards with one internal can trick you up. All the ones I have seen so far have a handicap in that 'either' you want to power the internal port or one of the external ports. On the card are also jumpers so you have to remember which you have it set to. Hope this helps. Dave -- SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> SuperMacs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
