[vander]

I have a new Formac 16x10x40 CDRW drive that is not working.

I've tried almost everything I can think of including enabling/disabling extensions/control panels, reinstalling firewire support, reinstalling authoring support, changing firewire ports on the drive and my computer, etc.

I tried using Formac's customer support online (terrible) and by phone (not much better). They couldn't figure it out and had me send my unit back to them at my expense. Now, I got the drive back (I'm pretty sure it's the same one) and I have the same problems.

Apple system profiler recognizes the drive sporadically but it is not specific about what kind of drive is on the firewire bus. CDs inserted in the drive do not mount, although they do hang the computer until I turn off the drive. Toast Lite 5.0.1 also fails to recognize the drive most of the time.

I am beginning to think there is a problem with my firewire bus. Is there any way I can test the bus? I have no other firewire peripherals.

I'm going to try and find another mac I can test my drive on to see if it works with another computer.

Any insights would be appreciated.

[vander]

I got my drive to work with my fiancee's ibook (brand new courtesy of Gov. Engler). I still can't get it to work with my iMac.

I can get system profiler to occasionally recognize the drive and CDs occasionally mount. However, when I try to read the CD my system hangs.

I tried reducing the extensions to the bare minimum. Very few control panels and then only the extensions that enable the firewire drive (plus the foreign file access, etc. that will allow CDs to mount).

No luck.

Is there anyone out there who has been able to get a Formac 16x10x40 drive to work with an iMav DV SE (500 mHz)?

I don't understand how the drive could work on the ibook and not work on my imac unless I have a firewire problem.

Any suggestions?

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Are you using the same OS version as the iBook?
Did you install any software just for the ForMac other then Toast?
What version Toast did you install.
Try using the Mac OS All extension set with NOTHING else to see if ASP can see it.

Good luck

[milhaus]

Can iTunes see the drive? iTunes does not work pretty with Toast.
Enable all Toast extensions.
<B>Disable</B> all Authoring Support extensions. This is the most common problem with people with CDRW problems.
Can Toast see the drive now?
Don't worry about ASP not being able to identify the drive - it usually cannot. Toast or iTunes, whichever is enabled, should be able to see the drive, and identify it/