This page is for that tidbit of information you need to get firewire happening on your PC if you are using an Adaptec 8945HC or similar Adaptec card. If you are pulling your hair out, then hopefully you got here from a search engine and this may just be what you need. ;)
Why? Well I’ve spent three months trying to get this to work. The system, which was purchased new with this card, and assumed to be operational then, didn’t work when I came to actually plug a 1394 camera in to it. Much screaming at the vendor!
Over the three months that followed from me finding that it didnt work until today, the card has been replaced once, and the system has spent a few weeks with the vendor trying to get it to work. They finally gave up and offered to refund my money. They claimed to have had no help from Adaptec in getting it working, and I believe them.
However, as a last reort, I took yet another look around the Adaptec web site and saw a small note saying effectively not to use the microsoft driver. Yep, this fixed it for me.
The Microsoft driver is the the system comes up with as the recommended one, however when I forced it to use the adaptec driver, which was older, everything started to work.
So, if you’ve been having problems with firewire on a PC using an Adaptec card, check your driver. Right Click, choose properties, and then device manager. Select your 1934 device, and click Properties. See who the manufacturer is of the driver, and make the decision. You mileage may vary.
Good luck in getting firewire happening on your system!