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744t Firewire Connection Issue


Toy Robot

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Hello everyone. I rented a 744t for a project coming up, and after going through all settings today decided to also check connectivity for media management during the project.

I plugged the firewire cable into MacBook Pro while both 744t and MBP were OFF, since SD recommends never 'hot-swapping' firewire devices.

Attempt standard procedure to mount drive via menu and no success. Try again using shortcut (hold down 'Stop' and 'HDD' buttons on face of unit). No success again. Powered down both units and tried again, to no avail.

Powered down both again, used different cable, and different MBP (media server at the house) and still no luck mounting.

Anyone else have this issue or any possible help? I tried searching the web, and haven't found much useful information other than calling SD, who is closed on weekends. Next stop is to purchase a Compact Flash card reader and simply use the reader for media management on location. However, I would prefer to use firewire if possible.

Any advice/help is much appreciated.

~Alex

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In the menu of the 744 there is a setting for the FIrewire connection. Check that it is set to "External Computer", or some similar description.

Yes. Do that. Then power up. It ought to work.

BTW - I bought a Kingston media reader years ago. http://www.kingston.com/us/flash/readers - 3rd one down. Super cheap on Amazon.

Kingston 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader FCR-HS219/1

Never leave home without it. I have been the hero more times I can remember owning this $12 item.

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Turn the 744T off, leave the MacBook on. Then start the 744T. Once it's booted, plug in the FireWire cable. This may force it to mount to the computer, provided it is set to 'Computer Connect' first in the FireWire setup menu.

Considering it is a hired machine, there may also be the possibility that the FireWire port has been fried due to static discharge ( it's a common problem and happened to me) and the port will not work under any circumstance.

If that's the case, I'd set it to record to both HDD and CF, make your file name changes and notes (if necessary) to the files on the CF card, and hand that in every day. It's faster than transferring of the internal drive anyway.

Also, in the home screen, you can change the default drive access (which drive it goes to for playback and file management operations) by holding the HDD button down for 2 seconds. You'll see the black box around 'INT' jump to 'CF'. This is useful as unlike the 788T, file name changes aren't reflected across all media.

Unfortunately, this setting is not rembered after cycling the power, it defaults back to 'INT'.

Hopefully this has been useful.

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Awesome, thank you all very much. I picked up a card reader at a local store this evening, and will also attempt your suggestions. The card reader should do the trick if your suggestions don't yield any results.

If it does turn out to be a zapped firewire port on the 744t, I'll be sure to inform the rental company so they can have it fixed.

Thanks again, and all new comments welcome.

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The only flakiness I've ever experienced with the 744t has been with the Firewire connection. I have gotten it to mount successfully on a Mac, but after dismounting it and taking out the cable, the machine froze. This forced me to disconnect the battery and do a hard reboot. (All buttons were initially dead, including the power button.) It came back fine after the reboot, but it did tell me that the Firewire connection is a little tenuous.

I've had zero problems mounting and copying files from Compact Flash cards.

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Also, in the home screen, you can change the default drive access (which drive it goes to for playback and file management operations) by holding the HDD button down for 2 seconds. You'll see the black box around 'INT' jump to 'CF'. This is useful as unlike the 788T, file name changes aren't reflected across all media.

Unfortunately, this setting is not rembered after cycling the power, it defaults back to 'INT'.

Hopefully this has been useful.

Extremely useful, and a huge time saver if I have to resort to CF dumps each day. Thank you much.

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The only flakiness I've ever experienced with the 744t has been with the Firewire connection. I have gotten it to mount successfully on a Mac, but after dismounting it and taking out the cable, the machine froze. This forced me to disconnect the battery and do a hard reboot. (All buttons were initially dead, including the power button.) It came back fine after the reboot, but it did tell me that the Firewire connection is a little tenuous.

I've had zero problems mounting and copying files from Compact Flash cards.

Roger this, and also the FW connection to the XLDVDRAM. Pulling the CF card is a way better way to roll.

phil p

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Hi Alex,

I would get your card reader going for several reasons. The Firewire connector on the 744 doesn't go full firewire 400 speed. A good USB 2 card reader will go much faster and is far less flaky. Although not recommended, you can also pull the CF card from the recorder while it is on - just make sure the "writing to CF"light is not on. Hot plugging a USB CF reader into a running computer is not an issue either.

As for sticking with firewire, a quote from Nic Stage, one of the Tech guys at SD: "The only truly "safe" method for connecting firewire is unfortunately to have both the computer and the recorder powered down on connection"

cheers,

Brent Calkin

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Hi Alex,

I would get your card reader going for several reasons. The Firewire connector on the 744 doesn't go full firewire 400 speed. A good USB 2 card reader will go much faster and is far less flaky. Although not recommended, you can also pull the CF card from the recorder while it is on - just make sure the "writing to CF"light is not on. Hot plugging a USB CF reader into a running computer is not an issue either.

As for sticking with firewire, a quote from Nic Stage, one of the Tech guys at SD: "The only truly "safe" method for connecting firewire is unfortunately to have both the computer and the recorder powered down on connection"

cheers,

Brent Calkin

Thanks Brent, this is truly useful. I did wind up with a compact flash reader, and it was both A] Cheap and B] Effective. It's the way to go so far as I can tell, so you have all been correct. I also do think that the firewire connection on the unit is botched, and just let the rental company know. They'll do their thing with testing and whatnot, but meanwhile I'm up and running and had a successful media dump EOD today via Compact Flash.

Back to grind tomorrow.

8)

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Check the firmware. A firmware revision sometime last year got mine talking to the version of Mac OS I'm on. Can't remember the numbers of either I'm afraid but it was a definite case of not mounting until I updated to the latest firmware.

It is latest firmware, Revision 2.67. Checked as soon as I was having an issue.

8)

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Okay, so a new problem has come about...

This morning I forgot to put the CF card in the 744t. No problem. I realized it before lunch and copied all files from 744t INT HDD to CF via the menu option. 744t says - SUCCESS.

Continue filming. No worries. Wrap.

Attempt dump of CF card for Day 2 wrap and get the following error: The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer. Which of course isn't fun. I tried the CF card in three (3) computers. Same in all. Disk Utility is showing me that the media isn't formatted, at least not for use in a Mac. It's also not giving me an option to mount the drive.

So now I have a 744t with a bad firewire port and a CF card that won't read. Which means I now have an entire day of sound files I can't get off of the machine, even though they are sitting pretty on the HD, and should have been retrievable from CF. Not cool.

I'm calling Sound Devices in the morning, but they don't open until 8:30AM. Also going to contact Pro Sound in the AM to get another 744t ASAP.

At least I've been recording backups to my 552 all day with very clean boom audio. 8)Backup a recording, and then back that up just to be safe, I thought. Seem like overkill to anyone? Probably not after reading this. I hope I don't have to use the backup sound files, and I'll probably figure something out for today's sound, but in a pinch the shots for today will be completed and will still sound great.

Screen shots of error messages and Disk Utility are below in case anyone recognizes this and can help. Any and all help is much appreciated.

post-3713-0-27001000-1334704789.png

post-3713-0-00187600-1334704802.png

post-3713-0-11568800-1334704815.png

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Format the CF card in your Mac to FAT32. Put it back in the 744t, and choose erase-format CF. If it refuses to do that, or can't see the card, you have a bent or broken pin in the CF bay. If it can, try copying the files back to the CF card (sometimes its good to start from a clean slate). If that comes up with the same error, then there is an issue with the 744t which you cannot fix, it should be returned to the rental facility for at least a partial refund and or complete replacement. You CAN still access those files, but it would involve removing the internal HDD from the 744 and getting it to mount on a computer. For this, you'd probably need a PATA or IDE to SATA adaptor of some kind.

Good luck, this stuff sucks.

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Hmmmm..... I've had a similar issue for some time now, but always too busy with life and work to negotiate it. I've patched the firewire into the 744 from the mac and it doesn't automatically connect. What I had to do was go the connection page. Select external drive and let it resolve to that (of course there isn't one) then go to the same page again and select firewire connection, then it mounted. I've actually been doing it like this for about a year now. I think in maybe one of the builds it might have had some weird connection issue attached to the build. Not entirely sure of this, but I've had the 744 for about 5 or 6 years now and upon firewire connection it would automatically become an external drive in the mac so I could see the files.

I've also wondered if it's perhaps my old hard drive in the unit that is causing this connectivity issue. I've been meaning to change it. Also to anyone who's wondering I have the latest build for the 744 and I still have to go through this process to see it on my mac.

Let me know if anyone else has experienced this.

Paul

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Format the CF card in your Mac to FAT32. Put it back in the 744t, and choose erase-format CF. If it refuses to do that, or can't see the card, you have a bent or broken pin in the CF bay. If it can, try copying the files back to the CF card (sometimes its good to start from a clean slate)....

Good luck, this stuff sucks.

BINGO.

Justin I hope we meet someday so I can buy you a beer. This saved my day today big time. I'm back up and running with a successful dump of yesterday's sound files, and today's sound files also transferred flawlessly.

Thank you sir.

8)

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BINGO.

Justin I hope we meet someday so I can buy you a beer. This saved my day today big time. I'm back up and running with a successful dump of yesterday's sound files, and today's sound files also transferred flawlessly.

Thank you sir.

8)

As we ''down under'' say: No worries, mate. :D

My guess is the 744T messed up with a directory somewhere, making the CF card unreadable. I've had it happen before too, usually when I'm in a panic. Not a big deal, unless you're only recording to the CF...

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