4pin integrated firewire not working on HP notebook - please help

[netrate]

Here is my problem:
On my laptop, using XP prof., my firewire is no longer recognized. So
I go into the network connection for the 1394, under support and hit REPAIR.
It then gives me this error :

Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following
action could not be complete :
TCP/IP is not enabled for this connection. Cannot proceed.

For assistance, contact the person that manages your network.

There are checkmarks beside the TCP/IP, so I don't get it. If I
UNCHECK the TCP/IP connection, it asks for a disk for the drivers or
something.

Any ideas?

I should also mention - the firewire is the INTERNAL 4pin port for the
laptop. Interestly enough, I also have a PCMIA firewire card (6pin
firewire input) that recognizes the camera right away, the issue is
with the INTERNAL 4pin firewire input on the laptop.
Also, tried the 4pin cable and camera on another laptop, and it works
fine - so the cable and the camera seem to be working ok.

PS _ I have already disabled the connection and removed the IEEE94
Bus hot controller from the device manager and rebooted - this did not
fix the problem.

[johnwill]

You don't need TCP/IP to connect to a camera, that's not the issue here. This really is not a networking issue.

What is the make/model of the laptop? It could be that the IEEE-1394 interface on that machine is simply broken.

[netrate]

I thought so too, but when I took it back to Best Buy for servicing, they said the Hardware passed the diagnostics and it was a software issue...and if I spend $50.00, they will fix it. So I am trying to save the money if I can...

[johnwill]

Well, it could still be a software issue, but it'll be something like driver corruption for the IEEE-1394 interface.

Try this:

Open Device Manager: Start, Run, devmgmt.msc

View, Show Hidden Devices

Uninstall ALL the devices under IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers

Reboot.

See if that makes a difference.

all the IEEE-1394 stuff in Device

[netrate]

Tried it, nothing hidden though under IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers. Uninstalled what was there and rebooted. Still doesn't see the Camera.

[johnwill]

Try the camera on another computer. Maybe the hardware has died.

[netrate]

Already tried. The camera worked fine in another laptop at the store - first thing we tested - both camera and cable work. My worry is that they are going to charge me the $50.00 to fix the software program, only to find out it is a HARDWARE problem and still keep my $50.00 siting that it had to be fixed anyways. I wish there was a way I could tell what is really broken here...

[johnwill]

From far away, I can't think of anything.

[MhzManiac]

I have the same problem. Things worked great a few months ago, but now none of my firewire ports work with Vista 32. I even bought a brand new cable to ensure it was not the problem. I've done some searching on google and found several people with this problem all dated around summer last year. There is a hotfix from MS but it has limited access as you must write to them 1st. Do you still have this peoblem?