Thx, Matthias.
The first link in your post just links back to this thread. The second link, however, works. From that Wiebetech doc:
Port failures are often discussed but remain a relatively infrequent
problem, especially if the FireWire storage device and the host
computer are properly designed.
CONCLUSIONS
Most of the failure modes of FireWire ports are believed to be caused
by low quality or worn out FireWire cables, operator error during
device and cable insertion, inadequate PHY port protection, and
improper design of external FireWire devices which causes voltage
surges to the host port.
I own several Wiebetech devices and respect that company's technical knowledge immensely.
But it's clear from that document this isn't a bad firewire standard, or bad firewire plug as was stated here, but bad design.
I used to repair Apple computers. Both USB and FW port failures were extremely rare. Fortunately, as this means logic board replacement for Apple repair, and that is expensive.
And if you really want to be nitpicking, even shutting down everything to attach a device isn't absolutely safe. I've had a server here recently with a slowly failing PSU. It put out almost 20V on the USB socket for a few hundreds of milliseconds when powering up. Enough to destroy the attached KVR sometimes. As servers don't get rebooted all that often, the KVR was simply deemed faulty and replaced. It wasn't until the KVR was obsolete someone noticed the new one also failed now and then. So the server was pulled and landed on my bench. It was up for replacement anyway.
Apple has auto resetting fuses on FW ports and on USB ports. I've seen far too many other computers without those. If you plugin a shorted USB cable, you might end up with a defective port. As these auto fuses sometimes take up to 24 h to reset, users might conclude the port is defective. And sometimes, these fuses fail too, of course.
As most of us know, today's devices aren't as sensitive anymore to ESD. Yet, it still happens. That would certainly explain some failures. As for the rest of the failures, it's usually not possible to explain why the port failed. But then, any component can fail, isn't it?
I've certainly seen much more external harddisk controllers fail because of bad design of the power plug. There's one manufacturer, with a good reputation that used to use mini-DIN 5p connectors for power. At one time in the past, they reversed the power connection on these plugs in their new models. Users don't pay attention to this. After all, it's the same brand, the same plug. When they connected an old power supply to a new device, or vice-versa, there was 12V on the 5V pin, resulting in a defective controller. IMHO, that's very bad design, not even user error in my mind.
These all are failures of the design of the device. Not failure of the standard.
Compare it to the discussion on the net about phantom power killing ribbon mics. It CAN happen, if you have a bad cable. So it is far safer to switch phantom off before connecting a ribbon mic. Even if it's one of those amplified ribbons that do need phantom power. Only, phantom power usually has a dedicated switch. Imagine having to switch off the mixer to change attached mics...
My FF400 has one dodgy FW port. No, it's not due to the problem discussed here. It's due to the unit having been in a hot rack for a long time and it's caps being degraded because of the heat. I'll be recapping that now that I have a second one available.
I also know of at least one brand/model of audio interfaces that had a higher rate of FW chips failure. IMHO it's not the fault of the manufacturer, as the design is fairly solid. Could be a series of lesser FW chips, or, by chance these have been used on badly designed FW cards?
I run several Mac Mini servers (and even still one of the old Xserves). It's simply impossible (due to users connected) to shut these down to plug in whatever. Most of these get devices connected to USB and FW from time to time...
I'm also old enough to remember the time when you even had to remove the power plug from the mains before attaching a keyboard. Or simply moving the computer. Remember the IBM-PCg? As far as I'm concerned, these days are over...
MB Pro - 2 X FireFace 400, FF800 & DigiFace USB
ADAT gear: Korg, Behri, Fostex, Alesis...
