I can report that the FW400 port does not work - frequent bus disconnects/reconnects cause Totalmix to constantly appear and disappear, and no audio at all.

The FW800 port seems to be working fine for me however.

It's not as good at restoring audio after sleep as my old powerbook G4, but activating Totalmix will generally bring things back to life.

This is the defective chipset, you will need to use a workaround as explained in this thread.

is it?

command + F: write :FRWR
and it shows:

    | |   |   +-o FRWR@0  <class IOPCIDevice, registered, matched, active, busy 0, retain 9>
    | |   |     | {
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIResourced" = Yes
    | |   |     |   "IOInterruptControllers" = ("io-apic-0","IOPCIMessagedInterruptController")
    | |   |     |   "fwtune" = <00000008e3e3000000000808e3e30c4100004008200340bf0000700810000000>
    | |   |     |   "subsystem-id" = <00590000>
    | |   |     |   "IOName" = "pci11c1,5901"
    | |   |     |   "IODeviceMemory" = (({"address"=0xffffffffd0300000,"length"=0x1000}))
    | |   |     |   "class-code" = <10000c00>
    | |   |     |   "revision-id" = <06000000>
    | |   |     |   "assigned-addresses" = <1000038200000000000030d00000000000100000>
    | |   |     |   "IOChildIndex" = 0x1
    | |   |     |   "built-in" = <00>
    | |   |     |   "acpi-device" = "IOACPIPlatformDevice is not serializable"
    | |   |     |   "name" = "pci11c1,5901"
    | |   |     |   "acpi-path" = "IOACPIPlane:/_SB/PCI0/RP04@1c0003/FRWR@0"
    | |   |     |   "subsystem-vendor-id" = <c1110000>
    | |   |     |   "reg" = <00000300000000000000000000000000000000001000030200000000000000000000000000100000>
    | |   |     |   "compatible" = <706369313163312c3539303000706369313163312c3539303100706369636c6173732c306330

but I don´t understand how :

Here's how to identify the revision of the LSI/Agere chipset:

In Terminal type:  ioreg -lxw0
(lower case "L" and digit Zero)

find in FRWR:

FRWR@0  <class IOPCIDevice, id 0x1000001d8, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (695 ms), retain 9>
    | |   |     | {
    | |   |     |   "assigned-addresses" = <1000048200000000000010d30000000000100000>
    | |   |     |   "IOInterruptSpecifiers" = (<1300000007000000>,<1900000000000100>)
    | |   |     |   "fwswappedbib" = <01000000>
    | |   |     |   "class-code" = <10000c00>
    | |   |     |   "IODeviceMemory" = (({"address"=0xffffffffd3100000,"length"=0x1000}))
    | |   |     |   "fwtune" = <00000008e3e3040000000808e3e3144100004008200b40bf0000700810000000>
    | |   |     |   "pci-aspm-supported" = Yes
    | |   |     |   "IOPowerManagement" = {"ChildrenPowerState"=0x2,"CurrentPowerState"=0x2}
    | |   |     |   "subsystem-vendor-id" = <c1110000>
    | |   |     |   "built-in" = <00>
    | |   |     |   "acpi-device" = "IOACPIPlatformDevice is not serializable"
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIMSIMode" = Yes
    | |   |     |   "IOInterruptControllers" = ("io-apic-0","IOPCIMessagedInterruptController")
    | |   |     |   "name" = "pci11c1,5901"
    | |   |     |   "IOChildIndex" = 0x1
    | |   |     |   "device-id" = <01590000>
    | |   |     |   "vendor-id" = <c1110000>
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIExpressASPMDefault" = 0x0
    | |   |     |   "fws0" = <01000000>
    | |   |     |   "compatible" = <706369313163312c3539303000706369313163312c3539303100706369636c6173732c30633030313000>
    | |   |     |   "acpi-pmcap-offset" = 0x44
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIExpressLinkCapabilities" = 0x73c11
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIResourced" = Yes
    | |   |     |   "acpi-path" = "IOACPIPlane:/_SB/PCI0@0/RP05@160000/FRWR@0"
    | |   |     |   "subsystem-id" = <00590000>
    | |   |     |   "revision-id" = <07000000>
    | |   |     |   "IOPCIExpressLinkStatus" = 0x1011
    | |   |     |   "IOName" = "pci11c1,5901"
    | |   |     |   "fwports" = <01000000>
    | |   |     |   "reg" = <0000040000000000000000000000000000000000100004020000000000000000000000

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

I have check on console and it shows:

19/04/11 15:46:56 kernel FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901 built-in now active, GUID 001ff3fffe0a5b50; max speed s800.

BTW. After reading all the posts in this thread, i've tried the solution mentioned buying a 9pit/6pin cable from Hama, and it didn't work: FF400 still not working properly, in host mode with the red light blinking.

With the old (pre 7) revision LSI/Agere chipsets you either need a repeater cable by Lindy (or same build found on Ebay). Effectively it is a 1-port hub. The internal chipset of the cable/repeater will "translate" between the Fireface and the Mac.

Using your HD in between does exactly the same and yes there is only one Firewire bus on the Mac, even when there are two ports (internally they are on a hub).

Any other Firewire hub may work, or may not, but using your working HD is the best solution unless the HD is awkward to use (in which case you need to get the Lindy).

Hi there.
Here I am, experiencing the same problem nowadays with a iMac 20 of late 2007. Sadly discovered with my new RME 400 that my computer has always had FW problems. I've encountered problems with my previous m-audio firewire 410 but i thought they were due to it and not to my firewire connections..
This is my chipset situation:
- FireWire (OHCI) Lucent ID 5901
- "revision-id" = <05000000>
I've reaed this topic http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4986 were are described revision 6 and 7 but not 5, that's my revision....

BTW. After reading all the posts in this thread, i've tried the solution mentioned buying a 9pit/6pin cable from Hama, and it didn't work: FF400 still not working properly, in host mode with the red light blinking.
Second solution adopted few minutes ago: LaCie (my audio samples HD) connected to the FW 800 port (as it's alwayes been) and the FF 400 connected in hub into it.
No more host mode and red light, and it seems to work fine just playing some audio files on it.

My question is this: As i will use my FF400 with a complex routing of I/O, and from the LaCie will come the audio samples used in Logic, there will be a lot of datas sent and received on the FW 800 port. Before re-start making music with my new great set up based on FF400, i have to know:
will i encounter some problems like latency, clicks, blips, ecc or this solution adopted is quite stable?

I do believe in my new set up that is based on FF400 capabilities and power. I'M NOT gonna change my FF400 to solve the FW problems...
And last but not least... i don't have any more money to change my iMac with a new one.

Andrea

Apparently, the Imac shares the firewire card anyway (even between the 400 and 800 ports) so it's the same thing.  It's one firewire card on the Imac.  I have the same Imac as you do.  (early 2008...i'm thinking it's the same anyway.  I too had this issue and i tried taxing my computer.  I have my BFD samples on a G Drive (fw800 connection)  and the FF400 plugged into that.  I was running a 16 track recording with BFD running and 5 tracks with reverb on them in pro tools.  It worked just fine with this.

BTW. After reading all the posts in this thread, i've tried the solution mentioned buying a 9pit/6pin cable from Hama, and it didn't work: FF400 still not working properly, in host mode with the red light blinking.
Second solution adopted few minutes ago: LaCie (my audio samples HD) connected to the FW 800 port (as it's alwayes been) and the FF 400 connected in hub into it.
No more host mode and red light, and it seems to work fine just playing some audio files on it.

My question is this: As i will use my FF400 with a complex routing of I/O, and from the LaCie will come the audio samples used in Logic, there will be a lot of datas sent and received on the FW 800 port. Before re-start making music with my new great set up based on FF400, i have to know:
will i encounter some problems like latency, clicks, blips, ecc or this solution adopted is quite stable?

I do believe in my new set up that is based on FF400 capabilities and power. I'M NOT gonna change my FF400 to solve the FW problems...
And last but not least... i don't have any more money to change my iMac with a new one.

Andrea