Laptop doesn't recognize internal DVD Writer in extern. enclosure

Hi all,

I have the following:

-Pioneer DVR108 F/W 1.18
-ICY BOX 5.25" enclosure with external power (Oxford semiconductors OXFW911 chipset, I opened the enclosure to check)
-Windows XP Home SP1 with all latest updates
-Firewire 4pin/6pin 1.8m

The problem is this:

I plugged in the Firewire cable into my Compaq laptop, 4 pin to laptop, 6 pin to enclosure. Windows recognises but in Device Manager, under Disk drives (not under DVD/CD drives) it shows a small yellow exclamation mark beside "Oxford Semiconductor Ltd IDE IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device"

In the properties it states, "Device cannot start (code 10)". I tried and the drive can neither be used for burning nor reading.

I tried USB 2.0, works fine. I tried Firewire on another friend's Dell Laptop, it doesn't work as well. My friend has the same enclosure and drive, doesn't work with Firewire on his laptop as well. He has SP2 by the way.

So, I went to Microsoft.com and it told me to contact my manufacturer. I asked Oxford Semiconductors, and they replied that they can't help me, and advised me to contact the DVD writer manufacturer.

My IEEE 1394 Host controller is OHCI compliant from VIA (stated in Device Manager and working).

Could the cause be that I use a 4pin/6pin cable instead of the given 6pin/6pin cable? However, I understand that the 6pin/6pin is used only because the extra 2 pins provides the power supply. The enclosure has it's own power supply by the way and works fine with USB 2.0.

I'm out of ideas, therefore, I think you guys can help.

Thanks in advance.

My specs just in case:
Compaq Presario 1095ap
Intel Centrino 1.4GHz M
256MB Ram
40GB HDD
Windows XP Home SP1
Firewire 4pin
VIA OHCI compliant 1394 Host controller

External Enclosure:
ICY BOX IB550UE from http://www.icybox.de
Oxford Semiconductors OXFW911 chipset

 

i would try the 6pin/6pin without the power that you said it had being hooked up.

 

Thanks.

However, I doubt that that may be the cause of the problem.

I only have a 4 pin connector in my Laptop. I'll try to get hold of someone's pc or laptop with a 6 pin to try.

Any more ideas?

 

A few more ideas...
Is the drive set as master? (sometimes it matters, my ext. case it did)
Does it work on a desktop system?
Got the latest VIA chipset drivers?
I think most laptops don't supply enough power, try using a powered hub?
I had a ton of troubles using ALI chips on a fw/usb2 card.. avoid them!