Sony Vaio Laptop - Need 6-pin firewire

[shanewomer]

I have a Sony FE550G Vaio laptop which has a 4-pin firewire port, and I need a 6-pin firewire port to power a portable device I want to buy.

Is there anyway to upgrade my Sony laptop to a 6-pin port? What would I have to buy, and could I install it myself?

Here are specs on my Sony laptop:

http://exactchoice.cnet.com/profile_4924.aspx

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834117145

Any information is much appreciated.

Thank you,
Shane

 

[The_Other_One]

Why don't you just get a cable that has the 4 pin connector on one end, and 6 pin on the other?

 

[shanewomer]

Why don't you just get a cable that has the 4 pin connector on one end, and 6 pin on the other?

I didn't think that would work, because I thought the last two pins were for providing the volts to power the device. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

The description for the device says: "Bus powered (requires a non-adapted 6-pin FireWire port on the computer) - no additional power supply necessary for complete recording freedom."

 

[The_Other_One]

Ah, sorry, I see the problem now. Well, there are some firewire cards for laptops(PC-Cards/PCMCIA) However, they apparently don't provide enough/any power, even ones with 6 pins, to power something... A couple have 12v plugs in them, but that defeats the purpose of powering the unit by just firewire...

 

[Lax]

Unless there's a PCMCIA 6 pin card like TOO mentioned there's not really a way you can upgrade. Laptops are difficult to upgrade and are generally left stock except for Ram, CD/HDD. If you got a decktop machine you can find plenty of PCI cards to plug into it to use the 6-pin Firewire.

 

[shanewomer]

Would this work: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16839196001

 

[Lax]

Looks like it should work, that's 1394a right?

 

[Advitiya Saxena]

i think there r PCmcia or express cards available at PC world, both 6 PIN n 4PIn but i m not sure abt the power issue...sorry mate

here is one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PCMCIA-3-PORT...ryZ60269QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[shanewomer]

Looks like it should work, that's 1394a right?

The PCMCIA Card from newegg offers 2 x 6-pin IEEE 1394a - FireWire

I would like to power this device: http://www.zzounds.com/item--MTUTRAVELER - which says, "Bus power requires a non-adapted 6-pin FireWire port"

Also, the PCMCIA CARD from newegg says, "Fully Plug-N-Play and Hot-Swap compatible". Does that mean it will work for me?

Thanks, Shane

 

[The_Other_One]

Wow... I'd like to have something like that...but that's more than my laptop was

Anyway, Fully Plug-N-Play and Hot-Swap compatible means nothing for what you want. I actually wouldn't be suprised if none would work just because of the limited amount of power from the laptop... I feel quite sure the only way it'll work is if you get one of those that can use a 12v connector, but again, that defeats the purpose...