Firewire Port on Port Replicator (using a T30) *PIC*

[ckruser]

Has anybody had any luck with the firewire port on the old Thinkpad Port Replicator? I'd like to use the firewire port for an external hard drive to free up the USB port, but my T30 won't recognize the drive via the firewire port (USB works great though).

I'm taking the drive to a friend's today to test the firewire ports on the hard drive (I've read elsewhere my particular drive, the MyBook Premium, has had issues with their firewire ports). Was just wondering if anyone has had any success with the firewire port as I don't see it mentioned anywhere (device manager, system information, or anywhere else on the interwebnets for that matter). It appears only a small percentage of the Port Replicators available out there have firewire ports, so I'm wondering if IBM never got around to supporting them.

Thanks in advance....great forum here!

[tfflivemb2]

Interesting...I wasn't even thinking about the firewire port on the back..I could have used that for my T21...

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

Port replicator ports simply allow you to use your laptop's existing capabilities when docked. If your system does not already have FireWire support, then connecting it to a dock won't help. As another example, those 02K8668 replicators also have a DVI (digital visual interface) connector. You will not be able to use that port unless the laptop provides DVI support.

Also, when including any in-line image (keep them small please), make a note of that in your subject line. Some people still use dial-up (gasp!) or surf from their cell phone/PDA.

[ckruser]

How can I check to see if my T30 has firewire support? I know windows 2k has built-in drivers for firewire, but how can I check if my specific Thinkpad can support? Is there some workaround to utilize the replicator port if my T30 lacks a firewire port itself?

The reason I ask is at first I thought using the DVI port was only a dream as well, until I found this genious workaround:

http://web.mit.edu/~joncox/www/dvi.html

Gives everything you need to drive a hi-def monitor/HDTV from a port replicator using the "stock" ATI video card on the T30...in case folks are interested.

Thanks again!

[The Spirit of X21]

The only FireWire (IEEE 1394) ports I have seen built into ThinkPads are of the 4-pin variety:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/lifest ... eJack.jpeg

Assuming you have one, you have to supply power to the peripheral via an AC adapter, as the 4-pin ports will not feed power through the FireWire bus.

[Harryc]

The reason I ask is at first I thought using the DVI port was only a dream as well, until I found this genious workaround:

http://web.mit.edu/~joncox/www/dvi.html

The T30's Radeon 7500 graphics hardware is DVI capable, so that is not a surprise. Try the same trick on an R52 with the Intel 915 chipset and you'd be a genious (in my opinion) LOL . If the T30 does not have Firewire support, forget about using the Dock Firewire port, it won't work.

[tfflivemb2]

ok, that makes sense about not having native support....

The OP can however, add a PCMCIA firewire card, to be able to use firewire...

For the record, I didn't use firewire, until I started posting videos on YouTube, and found that I needed it to transfer video from my digital camcorder...

[richp]

Wait a minute, I've used compaq and some other brands with docking stations that had SCSI adaptec controllers built in. There was no SCSI support or hardware on the laptop but the controller on the dock handled the work. Why not on the port replicator ? One of my PCMCIA cards has one USB2.0 port and a firewire port, I don't have any firewire stuff to try it out with but the USB2.0 part works fine.

[Harryc]

Why not on the port replicator ?

Because it's not built into the Port Replicator. If the port exists it is generally passthru only, and that goes for almost any port on the dock, not just firewire.

[hitokage]

With some brands/models the port replicators/docks aren't extensions of the built in device, but connect to a special version of the laptop's PCI bus and implement their devices separately or are a combination of feed-through and a PCI extension. For example the Dell Latitude C-series has at least two different docks/port replicators - one just gives the same or slightly expanded capabilities of what's built-in, and the other adds a SCSI port and PCI slots.

Steve Gorsky

[richp]

OK, so a dock and a replicator are two different animals. I guess I have only run into docks then and not replicators. Makes sense, the docks I've used have PCI slots built into them for expansion in a few cases, I assumed that if the replicator had a USB and Firewire plug they also had the corresponding hardwire inside. Thanks, thats handy to know.

[ckruser]

Can anybody point me in the direction of literature that would tell me which T30s (by type) came with native firewire support?

I'm in the market for a new Thinkpad and want to get the most use out of an existing port replicator (one that has a firewire port). I didn't see any "magic document" on the lenovo support site nor the Hardware Maintenance Manual.

Thanks!

[rkawakami]

For questions about what systems came with what options, consult the Personal Systems Reference (PSREF) guides. For the T30 series, that would be:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... awbook.pdf (older A/T/X/G systems)

None of the T30s appears to have come with IEEE1394 (AKA, FireWire). In fact, none of the T series (up to T41) came with built-in FireWire.