ExpressCard Not Detected on Inspiron 9400

The 4-pin firewire port in my Inspiron 9400/E1705 has finally broken.. I can see the wires inside it and everything. I use firewire extensively to link up my Saffire Pro 26 sound card for music production, so I decided to buy a Firewire 400 ExpressCard. I've never used the ExpressCard slot before, but XP simply will not recognise that I've plugged the card into it. I've tested the card in another laptop and it's detected fine.

As it currently stands, I've tried reinstalling Windows (with a slipstreamed copy of XP SP3), I've enabled everything in the BIOS and all the drivers are installed with no conflicts at all.

Am I completely knackered here? i.e. I'll either have to replace the motherboard or buy a new laptop? I REALLY don't have the cash to go and buy a new laptop . It just seems relatively unlikely that the actual port is broken if I've neven even used it before.
Has anyone else had any similar issuses to this?

Thanks in advance,
Binny.

 

If you have never used it...is it possible it never worked?

 

Yeah that is possible, it just seems unlikely to me really.. pcmcia/cardbus/express card slots aren't something that I've ever really heard about breaking particularly often. In saying that, my Dell was bought from the Dell Outlet just over 2 yrs ago.. I wonder if it had some historic problems that I just don't know about?

I've been building PCs for many a year - are the 9400 motherboards easy enough to replace? Is there anywhere that sells them cheaply in the UK?


Thanks,
Binny.

 

It can be a problem with compatibility. We tested some Express cards in our editor's office and some cards (especially those which use PCIe* 1x part of this slot) with some laptops did exactly what you say.

Some laptop models have these problems and motherboard changing don't solve it. You can only try a different card and hope that it will be ok.

*) like Belking Hi-speed docking, Delock EC->PCMCIA converter,...

 

Yeah i was wondering if it could be something like this too. I read 2 or 3 stories about ExpressCard incompatability in the Dells. Guess I'll try taking my laptop to some PC shops and try some cards out.. although I found it difficult to find places which stocked ExpressCard Firewire cards last time.

Unfortunately I need a card with this specific Texas Instruments firewire chipset.. I imagine most will do exactly the same thing, even if it's a different brand.

Binny.

 

I've had the same problem with my SB X-fi Notebook and my Inspiron 9400. The solution: open up your notebook and press the xpresscardconnector to your motherboard.
But I think it is an design error, because I had to do this action three times last year..