on 1/4/04 1:03 AM, Greg Giannis at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello, > > Have recently read some posts regarding FW cards, etc. I have been using a > ORangeLink FW/USB combination card, that has had some problems. The USB side > works flawlessly as I have never had any problems with it and have > successfully connected a printer, ZIP drive and web cam to it.
> Is it worth re-formatting the drive with HDST and applying the changes to > Max Payload Size and Max Data Transfer Size or is the ORangeLink FW/USB card > known to have issues with FW, the card sits in slot 2, and a Radeon 7000 in > slot 1. No other slots are being used. I assume you read my post (Dec. 28) re: experience with an OM Firewire card a couple of years ago. Something I didn't mention was a more recent experience with an OrangeLink FW/USB card. While deciding what to do about replacing my VST FW/USB card (destroyed in a power outage incident), I ran across someone selling an OrangeLink FW/USB card second hand for a very good price. My previous experiences with Orange Micro (both the products and the tech support) have been extremely disappointing, but I was desperate to get something working quickly (plus the price was right and the seller only lived 5 minutes away) so I threw off my OM prejudices and convinced the fellow to let me try out the card - if it didn't work, I could return it for a refund. Put the card in Slot #2 (Slot #1 has an ATI Xclaim VR128 card in it). I tried to capture and export digital video via the FW and got dropped frames on capture and blocky pixelated picture on output, just as I had experienced with my OM FW-only card. Tried copying files to/from the internal HD from/to an OWC FireWire drive and the computer locked up almost immediately. Took the card back immediately for refund. All that being said, if you already have the OM card and the HDST software it won't cost you anything to try it (other than the time to backup the data on your FW HD). If all you are doing is backing up/storing files, you >may< be able to get the thing to hobble along using Alan's tip (reducing Max Payload Size/Data Transfer Size). FYI, research I did at the time showed that I wasn't the only one having problems with the OM card - there were many reports on MacFixIt etc. - so we're not alone. I'm happily cruising along now with an ADS Dual Link FW/USB card (Slot #2) and can tell you that no Orange Micro product will >ever< touch those PCI slots again (did I mention the issues I had with an OM SCSI card previously? - will save that for another post someday). Good luck Greg - I do hope Alan's suggestion will work for you. If you decide to give it a go, please post your results for us. -- Gregg -- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------
