FIREWIRE PCI-E CARD PRECISIONS

[Didjelirium]

Hi again guys,

I'm trying to sort out my last issue before having a 100% successful build, which is my firewire card. Or, to be precise, the firewire card which i will use mainly for my external sound card, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14.

I bought this model (sorry for the link, i live in China, so this is chinese website ^^)

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8044703669

This is a SYBA/Best Connectivity model, PCI-E.
I know and i realized, a bit late, that it is also a NEC chipset inside, and not a TI.
*bummer*

Yet, in my System Profiler, under Firwire tab, i can see "Maximum Speed : up to 400 Mbps"

Does it mean the card is detected and working ?

If i have my doubt, it's because i can't get my soundcard to work (and this is the only firewire device i use, so cannot try with a HD). I've installed the proper driver for the soundcard, so i do have a 'Saffire' output listed in the sound settings, but the Saffire software cannot detect the hardware connected.

On the Focusrite website, they also advise to buy a TI chipset firewire card, for optimal use.

My question, apart from the detection issue, is :

Is there a way to tweak or inject any code in DSDT or KEXT or any other useful thingy to make it work properly .... before i spend a bit more money again and buy the TI firewire card, which is supposed to work OOB - and also recommended by the soundcard company ?

It's not the most expensive cost, but i don't mind sparing some cash.

Thanks for any ideas or informations provided concerning that matter.

Bless !

 

[imdrecordings]

it should simply work
Are you having problems with it?

 

[Didjelirium]

it should simply work
Are you having problems with it?

Alas yeah. I use if just fine so far on my macbook pro, never had any troubles.

Since it's on a hackintosh and its so picky on what components it likes or not, i'm not sure where the problem starts happening, if it's because it's not a TI firewire card or if it's some tweak to do for the driver.

It works fine on Windows7, after installing the driver and all, no problem.

But on mac, it doesn't detect the hardware, even the three LEDs are lit on the front panel of the Pro 14... so the firewire host is detected. Yet, no luck.

I'm thinking about buying another firewire card, TI this time, just to be on the safe side, but if it still doesn't work i'm gonna have to keep recording with my laptop, which ain't the best support to do so...

Anyway, thanks for anyone with w bit of experience in these domains.

Bless !

 

[imdrecordings]

What are you seeing in System Information?
By the way, I use the PCI-e TI Chipset FW800 card recommended on the Avid/Digi site.
Works great

 

[BoomR]

Is it possible to exchange and get the Syba card with TI chipset? Here is a link to the one that I purchased:
http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Profile-PCI-Express-Chipset-SD-PEX30009/dp/B002S53IG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324662193&sr=8-1?ie=UTF8&tag=tonymacx86com-20

Not really sure why it's showing 1-2 months delivery time... they must be out of stock. It's definitely worth the extra $$ to find the right FW card with TI chipset. Trust me. I've been doing digital audio for 12+ years with FW interfaces & HDs.

And honestly, it doesn't matter if it's a Hackintosh or not - even with Apple hardware, a TI chipset is the chipset of choice. There must be some magic mojo with Apple & TI.

I've had success with this Syba card on my Hackintosh on a higher-end Focusrite FW interface (Liquid Saffire 56) as well as my Mackie Onyx-i 1220i Firewire mixer/interface. No drivers needed. No kext edits. Nothing. Total plug & play...

 

[thelostswede]

That TI card uses an old PCI chip with a PCI to PCI Express bridge from PLX, that might be part of the problem.
If you want problem free FireWire in my experience, get a card with LSI/Agere/Lucent chipset, as they seem to work the best and it's in fact what Apple uses in a lot of their systems.
TI should in theory work just fine, but for some reason some cards aren't and I couldn't tell you why.

 

[denmanjum]

Hi again guys,

I'm trying to sort out my last issue before having a 100% successful build, which is my firewire card. Or, to be precise, the firewire card which i will use mainly for my external sound card, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14.

I bought this model (sorry for the link, i live in China, so this is chinese website ^^)

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8044703669

This is a SYBA/Best Connectivity model, PCI-E.
I know and i realized, a bit late, that it is also a NEC chipset inside, and not a TI.
*bummer*

Yet, in my System Profiler, under Firwire tab, i can see "Maximum Speed : up to 400 Mbps"

Does it mean the card is detected and working ?

If i have my doubt, it's because i can't get my soundcard to work (and this is the only firewire device i use, so cannot try with a HD). I've installed the proper driver for the soundcard, so i do have a 'Saffire' output listed in the sound settings, but the Saffire software cannot detect the hardware connected.

On the Focusrite website, they also advise to buy a TI chipset firewire card, for optimal use.

My question, apart from the detection issue, is :

Is there a way to tweak or inject any code in DSDT or KEXT or any other useful thingy to make it work properly .... before i spend a bit more money again and buy the TI firewire card, which is supposed to work OOB - and also recommended by the soundcard company ?

It's not the most expensive cost, but i don't mind sparing some cash.

Thanks for any ideas or informations provided concerning that matter.

Bless !

I've got a Focusrite Saffire Liquid 56. I have two generic 400 PCI firewire cards with TI chips and they work great.
You might want to reinstall your Saffire too just to see what happens.