Yes, it's Firewire vs. USB again

[Eireann]

What I mean is, what can I do in BIOS to arrange things so that I can use the FireWire card in my computer tower? I think one problem is that the card is just too old (about ten years old, I think). I've checked in Device Manager, and there is no sign of any IEEE 1394 software. I'm stumped.

[emax4]

That's just it, we don't know yet because we don't know what model your PC is and what key you press to get in. Some boards have you hold the Delete key, but others have you hold down F12. WE won't know if the firewire card can be disabled or enabled in BIOS until you can get in.

My wife has a Dell Inspiron One all-in-one computer, and when she boots up there's small text on the bottom right that says "press F2 for setup". That's the same as saying "Press F2 to get in to the BIOS"

[Eireann]

Mine's F9; I know because I used it many a time to get into BIOS to change the sizes of the C and D drives some time ago. The PC is an HP Compaq dx7300.

[RichS]

The PC is an HP Compaq dx7300.

Looking at the original specs, there's no Firewire port onboard.

You should have a couple of PCI slots available for a Firewire (IEEE1394) card. It just matters on if you have the tower or slim version of that computer - if it's the slim (desktop, where you can put a monitor on top of it), you will probably have to get what's called a half-height card. It's not as tall as a regular PCI card and has a shorter bracket, so it will fit a slim case.

[Eireann]

It's a tower. My attempt to install a FireWire card met with the computer (metaphorically) folding its arms and staring at me. My hard drive has Windows 7 installed, which is supposed to support FireWire, but it doesn't. I talked to an acquaintance who works in IT, and I asked him if my fairly recent trouble with the motherboard could have created the FireWire support to go missing. He said he thought it was possible, but it's not really his area. I do have a PCI slot available, if I can just get the right card for it.

[emax4]

I just went to eBay and did a search of "firewire windows 7" (without quotes) and got a bunch of results

[Chromatix]

Eireann: do you happen to have the PCIe x1 slot free? It should be a very short slot near the graphics card. (Some graphics cards are however big enough to cover two slots at once.)

If so, then I have found something in my spares pile that would probably help you.

[Eireann]

Honestly, Chromatix, I don't know. I can take a photo of the empty slots and post it, if that will help.

[emax4]

With some devices, you may need to install the drivers, shut down the computer, install the physical device, then reboot the computer. With other devices, if you attempt to run the software without installing or connecting the device first, the software installer will give you an error.

[Chromatix]

I never assume that device drivers should be installed before the physical device. Otherwise, how would you install the drivers on a machine that the user never physically opens? IMHO, that's obsolete advice from the bad old days of Win9x.

A photo of the current cards and free slots would actually be helpful here.

[emax4]

I never assume that device drivers should be installed before the physical device. Otherwise, how would you install the drivers on a machine that the user never physically opens? IMHO, that's obsolete advice from the bad old days of Win9x.

A photo of the current cards and free slots would actually be helpful here.

I was referring to external devices too. If the user looks at a PCI card, doesn't read or follow the directions and doesn't know they have to open the case, nor do they know it has to be installed on a desktop rather than a laptop; they have no business buying the internal device anyway.

[lordlundar]

I never assume that device drivers should be installed before the physical device. Otherwise, how would you install the drivers on a machine that the user never physically opens? IMHO, that's obsolete advice from the bad old days of Win9x.

A photo of the current cards and free slots would actually be helpful here.

Early USB devices required it because there was no generic driver the system could use on a temp basis while the proper drivers were installed. Mostly everything else did however because they've been standardized for so long. Firewire still has that issue because it's not used often enough to justify it.

And Eireann, the photo will help. Best way to do the photo.

Ensure the insides are well lit. Lots of small stuff throws sharp shadows that make visibility tough. A soft light shining straight down is ideal.

Take the photo from straight down. Some stuff will not cover a slot but look it if it's on an angle or vice versa. Straight down works best.

NO FLASH! Dear god no flash. Not only will you have the shadow issue I said earlier but also a lot of pieces are not matte finish and produce a lot of glare from the flash.

[Eireann]

I hope this works - I know, flash; but it looks okay to me.

[emax4]

Awesome! The top black slot by the gold/blue/green/black wire is a PCI-Express x 16 slot, and this is primarily used for video cards. You can add a pretty powerful card and use it to play games instead of relying on the built-in graphics. PCI-Express is also abbreviated as PCI-e.

The short slot below that is a PCI-Express x 1 slot. This can hold PCI-e cards such as USB 3.0 cards, wireless networking cards, and more. I did a search on eBay and found results for both "Pcie firewire" and "pci-e firewire".

The next two slots (the bottom one is occupied) are standard PCI slots. You can also put FireWire or USB cards in these slots as well. Older video cards will work, but since you have the faster PCI-express slots, I would occupy those slots first.

[Eireann]

Yeah, the bottom slot is occupied by a graphics card I bought when my motherboard had issues. The other slot is where I put the old FireWire card, which just throws the computer into a tizzy.

So, then, what's next?