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Posted by: MRoyal Wed 27 Aug 2008, 11:00

Hi,

This is probably a stupid question for most of you guys, but i really gotta know this:

I just bought a presonus Firebox and i find it kind of weird that when i connect the firebox via firewire, when the computer is turned off, the red light turns on. If i disconnect the power cord of the computer the red light goes off.

Is there any power going threw the firewire ports of the computer even when the computer is not turned on? (I own a mac pro duo core intel)

Thanks evryone!

Posted by: lancet Wed 27 Aug 2008, 11:49

Yes. The Firewire ports are always powered.

That's normal.

Posted by: MRoyal Wed 27 Aug 2008, 12:19

Thanks for the prompt answer.
As i told in the first post, it was really a ignorant question

Thank you

Posted by: FastEddy Thu 4 Sep 2008, 01:37

" ... The Firewire ports are always powered. ..."

Well, the 6-pin port certainly were all designed to be powered to make your FW peripherals operate, etc. ... but the 4-pin ports were definitely NOT designed or made to be powered for peripherals.

(There are some cases where a 6-pin port may not be powered ... like the 6-pin port of a FireWire hub that is not hooked up to its (often optional) power brick (wall wart). And there may be an occasional 6-pin port on your laptop that doesn't cut the mustard when the batteries are running low = laptops are designed to shut off powered ports in a low battery situation. ... And you might have a damaged port, which I happen to have on my iBook = because I burned the power lines to that port experimenting with power line filters, etc. ... )