I' ve read that someone else had the following problem, but, can't find the post. If anyone has a way to fix this, I'd sure appreciate it.

I 've got a Sony DSR-20 that is connected to my Windoze XP sp1 system(Asus P4P800 mobo with embedded Via OHCI Firewire chip). The first time I turn it on, the system recognizes it just fine. It's listed in the Device Manager as "Sony DVCAM/Tape Recorder". If I turn it off or disconnect the 1394 connection, then turn it back on, the system refuses to recognize it. When I shutdown windoze, it goes to the "Windows is shutting your system down" message and just hangs without ever shutting down. This only happens with the scenario I described above. Otherwise, it shuts down fine.

I remember when I was running Windoze 2000. I seem to recall a "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the task bar. Windoze XP has this button for my USB bus, but, not for the firewire bus.

I've tried to go to the Device Manager and disable or uninstall the default driver and re-install it or install a different driver. It will ALWAYS replace whatever I do with the Sony DVCAM/Tape Recorder" driver.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

The only thing that seems to be remotely like your problem
is this thread (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3459)?

thanx for the ref, Rob. Not really related.

I have the same problem on my other computer. Both platforms use an ASUS Mobo with a Via OHCI 1394 controller chip. I'm thinking the problem is related to the chip firmware, at this point.

Might be. Does the Asus site has their own chipset/firewire/OHCI
drivers? If so, try installing those. Otherwise if possible try
a seperate firewire card if you can borrow it somewhere or
something.