Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
I just began using my new iPod, but have run into a few issues.
First, my 6 pin firewire connection charges the iPod, as it should. However, when connected to the 6 pin, WIndows can't connect to the iPod. The 4 pin connector, however, works without a hitch, and can be connected to.
Does anyone have any idea why the 6 pin connection can't pick up the iPod when the 4 pin can? It's odd...and I would obviously like to charge the iPod while synching...
Secondly, the battery life seems atrocious at the moment. I left it on charge for over an hour, which should have put it on about 80 power according to Apple.
However, when I connected it up to the 4 pin slot and started to upload tracks, the iPod battery died after about 5-10 mins, max. At the moment, I'm charging it up again. I know the uploading will drain the batter, but surely this is excessive?
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks. :)
[977 byte] By [
Arakel] at [2007-11-9 12:31:44]
# 1 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
Update: when I plug in the 6 pin firewire, the iPod seems to be trying to charge. I occasionally see glimpses of a lightning bolt icon.
My firewire connection isn't powered. Could this be causing the issues?
Arakel at 2007-11-15 17:06:31 >
# 2 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
Yes, that is indeed the issue. PCI cards don't provide enough power to charge an iPod (and presumably other firewire bus-powered things). My Audigy card acts the same way.
Now for the real question, does anyone have a list of PCI firewire cards that both work with the Apple iPod and have a power connector to get power from the power supply in the machine? I would love to be able to ditch my Belkin firewire hub (the workaround for this that I know).
Ultima at 2007-11-15 17:07:31 >
# 3 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
OK folks some clarification...
1. PCI firewire cards most definitely do supply power, in fact most do. It is the exception that they don't. This w/o a separate power supply to the card. The PCI bus has enough juice in it to power the iPod.
2. PCMCIA cards of course do not supply power
3. Audigy = bad. Remember that. If you're trying to do anything w/the iPod and an Audigy card, forget about it. Or at least expect problems. Creative in their infinite wisdom decided not to follow the IEEE1394 standard. Instead, they created their own (SB1394). No device that isn't on their magical list is guaranteed to work. For the most part the iPod doesn't.
4. Good cards are: Adaptec 4300 (the best), Orangelink cards from Orangemicro, Belkin cards from Best Buy (these are hit and miss though) and usually any card w/the VIA chipset will do you.
Arakel: when you say the 4 pin works and the 6 pin doesn't are these different cards? That's the only reason I could think the 6 isn't working. If they are, get a different 6 pin card.
Also, regarding your battery issue, it uses a ton of power to copy tunes, the fact that you only got 10 minutes or so after an hours charge is nothing to be too concerned over.
Adam
# 4 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
Actually, to be honest, and after using the iPod with my Audigy with my 2 separate iPods for well over a year and a half, I must say that the Audigy works, and works well, albeit with a slow transfer rate. The CompUSA PCMCIA card I purchased for my Toshiba TabletPC transfers at nearly 3x the transfer rate, putting the smack down. My issue is that the Audigy appears not to provide enough power to adiquately charge the iPod. From my excperience, this occurs with other firewire cards as well.
Ultima at 2007-11-15 17:09:36 >
# 5 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
Ultima:
You are a lucky person indeed. If you do a search for Audigy on these forums and the old ones, you'll find that it is by far the leading card for problems. This since the first gen iPods were out.
Yes, it does work from time to time, but even as you pointed out, even when it does work it has its problems.
Adam
# 6 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
Maybe I am lucky, or maybe I have a really good machine, which puts more credit that it's worth on me, who built it to be an awesome rig...
It is showing it's age though....1.46Ghz just isn't cutting it for some things.
<edit> Or it could just be that I'm using the audigy driver pack downloaded from Creative's web site, instead of installing the CD then updating. I've actually had half decent luck with these drivers. </edit>
Ultima at 2007-11-15 17:11:40 >
# 7 Re: Questions on 6 pin firewire connection and battery life
So... I DON'T need a Firewire card with a connector to plug in a power cable (floppy drive or hard drive sized)?
I'm considering getting the pricey 50 quid belkin card from apple along with my main order because it has the power connector and via chipset. But I've stopped myself from buying cheaper cards because they don't have the power connector.
I can get cheaper cards for 30 quid and less which is a substantial saving. However if I return my ipod to apple I can return the card too if I buy it from them.
At the moment scan.co.uk have dlink cards for 19 quid (with delivery) but they have texas instrument chipsets. Maplins have 30 quid unbranded cards with VIA chipsets but no power connector (despite the box illustration). Maplins also have a 40 quid branded VIA card with floppy drive sized power connector.
Any thoughts?
