I have a TRV 900 and am running XP Pro. I also have a Canopus ADVC-100 and a WD Firewire Drive. What I have noticed is that occasionally XP will not detect the TRV 900 but changing almost anything in the ADVC-100 or the Firewire Drive setup by swapping cables, turning things on and off will result in the immediate recognition of the TRV 900. This is not a cable problem issue for me. It appears to be a "feature" of XP/Firewire. You could be having a similar problem.

What is your total Firewire setup?
Do you have more than one Firewire device?
Do you have more than one Firewire connector?

Interestingly enough, I just had this problem again and fixed it by re-booting with the TRV-900 connected and turned on. On boot up I couldn't see anything attached to the Firewire. I turned off the camera and XP immediately found my WD HD and the ADVC-100. Turned the camera on and XP found it too. Go figure. I am assuming this is a bios problem of some sort but I really don't have a clue.

OK, so I took my TRV900 to work and hooked it into 2 other computer's via 1394. NOTHING! We plugged in 2 other Sony CamCorders and they recognized immediately.

I've tried keeping it plugged up when I reboot/start up.
Making it the only 1394 device.
Tried 3 different cables.
Uninstalling/Reinstalling the 1394 under ControlPanel.

I read somewhere else that it could be the 1394 on the camera that's buggy. I am gonna try and search for an authorized repair spot and get them to take a look at it. It's really driving me crazy. I don't want to get too frustrated and break something ya know.

I see there is a 'reset' button on the camera. I'm gonna try that. I'll post the results.

Lamont

>>I see there is a 'reset' button on the camera.

Where?

The reset button is under the preview screen. If you open the screen and look beside the speaker you will see it. You just press it with something small enough that will go into the hole. No need to press hard. All it does is return your camera to the original factory settings. It didn't help as far as getting my 1394 to recognize.

Sony has a flatrate maintenance plan for all of their out of warranty fixes. ($269 will cover it.) I did a search and found it. Sent in a request and they wrote me back with instructions. My camera is like 5 years old so I guess it's in need of some TLC.

Also in my search I found others that have had the same problem. Maybe it's just one of those things that over the years wears out. I've always heard it was best to have a deck that stays connected anyway. Just can't afford one.

Lamont

>>OK, so I took my TRV900 to work and hooked it into 2 other computer's via 1394. NOTHING! We plugged in 2 other Sony CamCorders and they recognized immediately.

Seems to me, the likeliest problem would be the connector on the camera. You might look at it through a good magnifier. I just looked at one. The connector has 4 springy contacts. They have sort of V-shaped contacts that point toward the dimpled side of the outside shell. I'd check to see if any are bent or missing. With a toothpick or something you should be able to carefully see if they all have a bit of springyness left.

Of course if there is a problem with the connector, it probably still needs replacing. It seems like the most likely thing to have problems, though.

Now that I look at this, seems it would have been better if 1394 spec had reversed the connectors. Now the more fragile one seems to be on the expensive device, rather than on the cable.