3000, firewire

n5dww

Firewire connection quit working. Do the cables go bad? it hasn't been moved in 5 years. the card shows no problems. The radio powers up but not seen by the program. I have another cables ordered to make sure the cable isn't bad before I decide to send it in for repair. Am i wasting my time and money for repairs? Does the radio have a fuse for the firewire connection that could be blown? Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated. 
?

Pierre Martel

Can be the firewire card, can be a driver that been updated by windows. 

n5dww

Thanks for rely. Should I see in the drive properties of the flex driver or Microsoft driver. I used and followed the 272 install procedure software to make sure it was installed correctly. 

Steven Hess

Can be one or both ends or the cable in between. 
Replacing a cable with a spare is the first test. 
If that fails test the firewire card on the computer end. 
I've had them fail. The firewire chip on the 3000 end can go bad too. 
I've read of all these over the years. 
Good Luck.  

N8SDR

Try uninstalling your fire wire card driver, then shut down PC and reboot,  see if Windows reloads the driver, then try radio again. What chip set is yore fire-wire card, VIA, Texas instruments.etc

n5dww

the original FW card. Ill give it a try.

n5dww

yes microsoft reinstalled the driver.

flex info:

Vendor : (104C) Texas Instruments  Chipset: (8024) TSB43AB23
  Revision: 00
  Status :  Active
  Details:
    Subsysten VendorId: 14db
    Subsystem DeviceId: 0000
    Max # isoch Rx contexts: 4
    Max # isoch Tx contexts: 8
  Max 1394 Speed Capability: S400
  Support:  Compatible, no known issue

N8SDR

Did it work afterwards? , question , I had an issue with my 3000 where the  fire-wire jack became loose the outer shell l that surrounds the jack wasn't holding the input cable firmly and allowed it to tilt some this caused intermittent connections to the radio, have you tried unplugging the radio end and re attaching

Pat Hamp

Sounds more like a WIN issue after an update. Also check the drivers for the firewire card in Device manager. Do hard reset on the Flex too.

n5dww

Good and solid reversed the ends too

Dudley WA5QPZ

Bob,
There is a green LED light between the FW port and the PTT RCA connector ON THE INSIDE,  that is a FW status indicator ,   check for this green light,   but you can only see the reflections from the rear when looking directly at the rear of the radio..  With everything (radio and computer running and connected)  you should see the green reflection ..  If the radio is powering up correctly,  relays pulling up and the blue power light on the front,  then there should be a green reflection seen around the FW connector and the PTT in RCA connector,  if not , the FW chip in the radio has failed and will need to be sent in to Flex Service for repair,  create a HelpDesk ticket. 

ei3gqb

Hi bob Got a flex3000 from a ham friend for zero..it was not seen by the pc...turned out to be a dead firewire controller chip...also dead eas the overload protection chip and one other passive rf choke...cost of the 3 new components was €18 ...repair was done for me by nearest flex repair center in Germany..total cost was €198....radio returned in perfect working order....you may have the same problem..contact your nearest flex repair center and send it off to them...ps..i didnt have to send payment for my 3k till i got it back...regards francis ei3gqb.

ei3gqb

Hi bob Got a flex3000 from a ham friend for zero..it was not seen by the pc...turned out to be a dead firewire controller chip...also dead eas the overload protection chip and one other passive rf choke...cost of the 3 new components was €18 ...repair was done for me by nearest flex repair center in Germany..total cost was €198....radio returned in perfect working order....you may have the same problem..contact your nearest flex repair center and send it off to them...ps..i didnt have to send payment for my 3k till i got it back...regards francis ei3gqb.

Bill -VA3WTB

You mean he should send it off for repair before he goes through all the trouble shooting? such as what Dudly suggest.

ei3gqb

Bob may end having to do so..my led near the firewire socket was illuminated even though the firewire ic was dead...but by all means bob should rule out the other possible faults...nb.the forewire ic is a texas instruments device...73's

n5dww

I will check for the light before I go forward, thanks!

n5dww

I am 150 miles from Flex in Austin. Might drive it up there. Thanks

Dudley WA5QPZ

Added comment, should the FW status light stay on when disconnected, this is also a failure of the internal FW interface. Grounding between computer and radio to your station ground is very important. 73 , Dudley

N8SDR

Dudley brought up an excellent point, I had a fire wire cable go bad the only reason I noticed it was when I disconnected my ground strapping that I had from the 3000 to the computer at that time. With the ground wire disconnected the flex would not be seen by the software, if I re-connected the grounding strap the 3000 would properly work. So worth a shot take a piece of wire if your not already doing so and ground your computer to the rig and try it.  If it works then the cable you have has gone bad. BTW this happened  with the recommended Granite brand fire-wire cable which I wasn't happy about.

 

Mark Gottlieb

Hi Dudley,

I may have the same problem.  This my 3rd Flex 3000 over the last 5 years so I think or, at least, I thought I knew this radio.  Anyway, first of all, I see the green reflection around the FW connection in the back of the radio when it is powered on.  All was fine until this past Friday when I attempted to start the radio and got the "No devices found" message.  At first, I thought it was the FW card gone bad.  I purchased a new FW card from Amazon and got the same result.  I tried my spare FW cable and received the same result.  I then attempted to connect to my two other computers and the same result.  Two of the computers are Win10 and one is Win7 all with the same result.  Blue light is on in the front of the radio and I do hear the relay click when it is powering up.  I'm stumped.  Any suggestions?

Thanks

Mark
KK2L

Mark Gottlieb

The Win7 computer is running the Legacy driver for 1394.

Mark Gottlieb

This is a new one for me but I did connect a wire from the Flex 3000 Ground to one of the bolts on the computer and still have no connectivity with the radio.  Of course, the radio is grounded as are all the other rigs in the station.  I attempted this with my man FW cable and the back-up cable.