ADVC 3000 firewire ports no longer working

[astrogeorge]

The firewire ports on my ADVC-3000 has stopped working, before this happened the firewire cable was pulled out from the back of the computer. After reconnecting the cable the encoder went dead with no display however the back light was on. After a while and turning the unit off and on the unit came back on however no firewire connection with computer. I tried a camcorder which connects with the same cable so know its an issue with the ADVC-3000

[BernH]

Originally Posted by astrogeorge

The firewire ports on my ADVC-3000 has stopped working, before this happened the firewire cable was pulled out from the back of the computer. After reconnecting the cable the encoder went dead with no display however the back light was on. After a while and turning the unit off and on the unit came back on however no firewire connection with computer. I tried a camcorder which connects with the same cable so know its an issue with the ADVC-3000

It isn't uncommon when firewire cables get "hot swapped" for there to be a little bit of ESD that can damage the firewire chips. When firewire was a lot more common than it is now, there were companies like Kramer that made in line ESD protectors to try to avoid this problem.

That said, if the port on the computer still works and the same cable works, it is likely that you had an ESD discharge that damaged the ADVC. Unfortunately there is no user fix for this. It requires having the chip replaced by a service technician. GV support may be able to repair this for you.

[astrogeorge]

Originally Posted by BernH

It isn't uncommon when firewire cables get "hot swapped" for there to be a little bit of ESD that can damage the firewire chips. When firewire was a lot more common than it is now, there were companies like Kramer that made in line ESD protectors to try to avoid this problem.

That said, if the port on the computer still works and the same cable works, it is likely that you had an ESD discharge that damaged the ADVC. Unfortunately there is no user fix for this. It requires having the chip replaced by a service technician. GV support may be able to repair this for you.

Thanks for ypur reply, contacted GV support who tell me they no longer support the ADVC 3000 as it's reached end of life. Was looking to see if anyone knew anybody else that could do repairs

[BernH]

Originally Posted by astrogeorge

Thanks for ypur reply, contacted GV support who tell me they no longer support the ADVC 3000 as it's reached end of life. Was looking to see if anyone knew anybody else that could do repairs

I spent 14 years as an electronics bench technician and have replaced several of these kind of firewire IC's and fuses (often called link IC's) in Sony camcorders.

You would need to find a good electronics technician that can hopefully get creative in finding the replacement parts, as they may be out of production now or in limited supply, but I can tell you from experience, without any service information, schematic diagrams, parts lists, or at the very least a detailed IC specification sheet, it is difficult for the electronics technician to do a thorough job and ensure that he/she checks all the related components for damage or failure and gets the exact replacement part and/or applies any service bulletins to prevent future problems.

While link IC's are easy to test, without that service information, it may be difficult to determine if the firewire IC is working or not, as there may be no way of knowing what voltage or signal should be seen on any given leg of the IC when it is working correctly, and tracing circuits without the schematic can sometimes be difficult, depending on how good the circuit board layout is.

Finding said Electronics Technician, however, may be difficult as the days of repairing most electronics disappeared about 10 to 15 years ago as manufacturers started moving to a factory service only or a repair by replacement model, which is part of the reason that I am no longer working in that field. I don't even have a lot of the test equipment any more.

Hopefully you can find someone in your area that can help you out.

[astrogeorge]

Thanks, I have a guy I use for repairing and maintaning all my old video eqiptment. I also have an old ADVC-1000 which I don't use now, I'm hoping I can use the firewire parts from that to repair the ADVC-3000.

Thanks
George