On Tuesday, September 25th, 2012, at 00:08:39h -0700, Stewart explained:
> I cut the seal for the new computer (warranty threats) and found
> that the socket for the firewire card is different from that of my old
> computer
Obviously you must not try to insert a card with one type of
interface connection into a socket for a different interface type.
I would have thought that your firewire card is a PCI card --
please check the installation instructions (you should have
included the make and model in your previous postings).
I would be very surprised if your new computer does not have
a motherboard with at least one free PCI socket.
The four types of socket connector which one might find on a
PC motherboard are
1) ISA -- these disappeared from new motherboards after about 1998
2) AGP -- these are for graphics cards and disappeared from new
motherboards after about 2008. They came in three different
versions v1, v2 and v3. v3 was not backwards compatible with
v1 and v2 because the voltage was different.
3) PCI -- these are the standard sockets still used by the majority
of add on cards
4) PCI-e (express) -- these are the latest socket types which started
appearting around 2007 and replaced the AGP socket for graphics cards.
More and more add on cards are now changing from PCI to PCI-e because
the interface has a higher speed rating.
PCI-e slots can have different speed ratings and the current (?)
fastest 16x is the one to be used for graphics cards.
The general trend with the upgrade of USB to a usable speed of 480 Mbps
with USB 2.0 has been for PCI cards to tend to be replaced with USB
devices for user convenience, viz no need to open up machine, and can be
moved from one machine to another.
I am a little suprised that your new computer does not actually
have firewire as an onboard feature of the motherboard, as most
decent (not barebone economny) general consumer motherboards have
tended to include thissince about 2007 or so.