Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
I have a Sony TRV9 video camera which was dropped - I wanted to check if the Firewire still worked.
Both it and the M1330 have 4-pin (un-powered) Firewire connectors and I only had a 4-6 pin cable.
To help test components I also have an externally powered "Logitec" (note the missing "h" - it is Japanese) hard disk which has both 4 and 6 pin Firewire connectors.
1. I bought a 6-4 pin adapter to use my existing cable with adapter to get 4-6-4 pins.
(a) The M1330 did not detect the videocamera
(b) My Firewire hard disk is detected using the 4-6 pin cable.
(c) My Firewire hard disk is not detected using the 4-6-4 pin cable and adapter combination.
I suspected the adapter was faulty (a cheap Chinese one - actually stamped "Friewire" on it!) despite my multi-tester apparently showing pin continuity in a straight-through mode.
(The metal shields around the plug were not connected to each other - they are for the 4-6 cable).
2. I exchanged the 6-4 pin adapter for a 4-4 pin Belkin cable marked as being for connecting videocameras with computers.
(a) The M1330 still did not detect the video camera
(b) The Firewire hard disk is not detected using this 4-4 pin cable
I suspected this 4-4 pin cable might also be bad as I have used the hard disk's 4-pin port in the past so I think that is working.
I noted the metal shields between ends of this cable are also not connected to each other.
3. I took the video camera and 4-4 cable to work and tested with a colleagues Dell M-something or other.
(a) The camera is recognized by the computer when connected.
So now the only common fault seems to be that the M1330 Firewire port is not working when the device at the remote end has only a 4-pin connector (my only alternative hypothesis is that for some reason the metal shieldings on the cable need to be connected).
Am I missing something here? Is there an issue with the M1330 IEEE1394 port?
Problem with Firewire port on M1330
Discussion in 'Dell' started by Nalada, Oct 23, 2007.