Well I got my Firewire fixed:(
 

$1,500 I have to say im really disapointed over this. They have a flimsy firewire system then they stick it to ya on the repair. You cant tell me that that board is worth $1,500 thats a third of the price of the camera. They could at least do a board level repair.

Damn. That is insane. Did you have a warranty?

nah it was out, I thought about selling it for a while and getting the new panasonic. maybe later.

I wonder if this repair is something a savvy electronics tech could do and save some money.

Sure, just pop one of them resistors in there
 

The days of soldering iron fixes are fading into history.
We had to have a Firewire controller replaced in our HVX200. It was around that price. But they initially did the wrong service and we had to send it back. It ended up being away for far too long.

What caused ours to go out? Beware plugging into a cheap Firewire socket on your computer. We had a bad socket that allowed you to plug it in upside down. The camera did not appreciate that any too much.

At least our JVC 110 has a beefy 6 pin Firewire connector. Those 4 pin connectors are one of the worst designed connectors. Not very robust.
--Hank

If you make very sure it is plugged in the right way, and that the computer and camera are off, there is not much chance of it blowing the port? Right? I find it incredibly stressful to plug these things in.

2 things 1. I wish they had a 4 pin, The 4 pins dont carry power so the chances of a power surge are much less.

2.They say turn everything off and that may be true (and believe me I will do it) but I dont think they really know why this is happening. Even if you talk to the techs they say anywhere from putting it in upside down (which I would have to have done it twice and im not even that dumb) to static on putting in the connector. I have been using Firewire since it came out I never have paid attention on what was powered and what was'nt. I used USB 2 self powered drives and until I got my GY-HD100 I NEVER had a problem. Personally I think theres a flaw in the camera that they should back. IMHO.

Randy

I keep hearing horror stories about Firewire, or what I call Fryerwire. This is the worst designed piece of carp of all time.

Just cursiou, if you're power off at both ends, which one should you power up first, the camera or the computer, or does it not matter?

Typically you want any fw hard drives, sound devices, etc to be on before you switch your computer on, so it will recognize everything on boot. With my HD100 I've found it doesn't matter which I have on first, camera or computer, so long as they're both up before I start up FCP.

Check this out

FireWire Port Isolator

FireWire Port Isolator - 6pin - 6 inch


I still would not recommend hot swapping but it does give you a little peace of mind.

That's a MUST HAVE David. In the meantime red tags over the firewire port and as Tim Dashwood is saying, don't forget the IEEE HD/DV switch at the back on the 200 series! Apparently you have to "power off" before switching that too. I've got mine well marked - pity really

6to4to6
 

I usually use a 6pin to 4pin fire wire cable with a 4pin to 6pin adapter at the end thereby averting the voltage transfer.

-Clay

I go one step further with a 6-pin to 4-pin adapter on either end of a 4-pin cable.

but I still shut down just in case (1,500 bucks is worth it)