Member Avatar for aaholland

I had to remove service pack 2 for xp from my computer. It would not recognise my camcorder. In windows xp pre service pack 2 it would recognise my camcorder. It connects through firewire. I cant get it to recognise the camera at all when service pack 2 is installed. I called my camcorder company and they said it was windows, i called windows and they said it was the camcorder software. So i decide to reinstall the orginal xp, and now my camcorder works. Whats the deal?

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Short summary and a safe troubleshooting path based on the thread: confirmed the camcorder works on XP before SP2 but not after, so this is almost certainly a software/driver/stack compatibility issue rather than a dead camera. is right to point at FireWire/1394 changes as the likely culprit, but there are safer, methodical checks to isolate the problem before reinstalling or copying system files.

Suggested diagnostic steps (do them in this order):

  • Try a different IEEE 1394 port and a different cable; if you have an onboard port and an add-in card, test both.
  • Test the camcorder and cable on a second PC (ideally one with SP2) to see whether the camera still enumerates.
  • Make sure the camcorder is set to its computer-transfer/playback mode (check the manual—often labelled PC/DV/Playback).
  • Inspect Device Manager on the SP2 system for unknown devices or warnings when the camera is connected; note the hardware IDs shown in Properties for targeted driver searches.
  • Look in Event Viewer for errors logged at the moment you plug the camera in; those messages give useful clues.

Follow-up actions and precautions:

  • Before making system-level changes, create a disk image or at least a full system restore point so you can roll back safely.
  • Prefer manufacturer-supplied firmware and capture-driver installers over manually replacing system files; if you use a third-party FireWire card, use its vendor driver rather than relying only on Windows.
  • If reinstalling SP2 is required, test it on a non-production copy (a spare PC or a virtual machine) or image the system first.

If none of the above helps, the practical long-term options are: keep the working pre-SP2 setup (with an image-based backup), use a different capture path (external capture device), or update drivers/firmware supplied by the camcorder or FireWire-card maker that explicitly state SP2 compatibility.

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Member Avatar for digitalocksmith

Hehe..(sorry to laugh) but are'nt technical service support lines, simply a pleasure to deal with!

Do you have a fireconnect card? However the plot thickens!

It appears that IEEE 1394 (firewire) drivers that are present in SP1, have been replaced in SP2! Goodness knows why as microsoft sometimes work in very mysterious ways.

It is also true that windows has slowed data transfer rates in SP2 for firewire to 100 Mbit/sec. (from 400 Mbit/sec) although windows claims that they have a download fix for this which i will attempt to find for you. Does your camcorder support USB 2.0 interface, and if so have you tried it with SP2? (claimed at 480 Mbit/sec although this is rarely achieved im told).

Anyway one fix for your dilemma (to keep you in SP2) would be tocopy the old Windows XP SP1 1394 drivers (dated 8-29-2002) back to the \windows\system32\drivers directory. The three drivers are; 1394bus.sys, arp1394.sys and ohci1394.sys. You may want to copy the current drivers (dated 8-4-2004) to a temporary location should you want to restore them later. I found the current drivers were also located at \windows\Driver Cache\i386\sp2.cab. From explorer, double-click on \windows\Driver Cache\i386\sp1.cab to display the contents. Highlight the three drivers listed above, right-click and "extract". Extract them to the \windows\system32\drivers folder and then restart.

Maybe this dilemma is due to the fact that Apple created firewire and microsoft simply cant stand the fact....who knows?

goodluck..

Member Avatar for digitalocksmith

Member Avatar for aaholland

I am going to try an reinstall service pack 2 this weekend with those new drivers. Nope unforgently the camera does not have a usb 2 cable.

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