A30P 1394 Port Disconnected?

[mixz1]

After 2 round-trips to EZSERV in the US, 3 round-trips to the Thinkpad factory in Guadaljara and a 4 month wait for a motherboard to arrive, my A30P has finally come home and actually starts every time I push the power button. Now I notice that my 1394 port isn't working. No iPod, no firewire backup drive. When I check Device Manager it isn't there, but if I choose the "Show Hidden Devices" option, it's listed with the following error message: Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)

I really don't want to go through another 4 month wait for yet another motherboard. Does anyone know what's going on here, i.e. how does XP know it's there if it's disconnected? And... is this a software or hardware problem?

Thanks in advance for any answers or ideas.