Given some problems lately with attaching devices such as
scanners and camcorders to firewire connections, I scanned
the Internet to see what else I could find. One reference
stated that there might be considerable difference in the
cards themselves. One bemoaned that too many people were
using "cheap" cards that relied on Microsoft drivers
instead of more expensive ones that had their own.

At one time my scanner and one camcorder worked using my
present firewire device. Now it seems nothing will work
with them. I have all the updates to Windows XP, the
newest bios to my A7N8X Deluxe and a Que! firewire board
installed in addition to the firewire outlets in the A7N8X.

I used System Mechanic to disable all my startup programs,
rebooted and the firewire still seems to recognize the
device, but fails to install it in the Device Manager.

Conclusion: My scanner and two camcorders can't both be
bad. Neither can both firewire devices be defective. It's
unlikely that a start-up program is conflicting with them,
nor is it likely that both devices are installed in the
same system, because I removed the Que! card and the
peripherals still won't install.

Question: Is buying another brand of PCI firewire likely
to make a difference? Does anyone know of a PCI firewire
that comes with its own drivers? Also, can endless updates
to Windows cause malfunctions, because at one time my
firewire worked. I transferred an entire tape to my PC and
converted it to an .avi format.

Thanks for any comments.

John