Looking for a Firewire card for my Vostro 3471 to use with a Focusrite Pro40

Thanks for such a quick and helpful reply.

Not sure on half height cards, but it has to be a card with a T.I. chipset.  I had a Saffire PRO 40 and it only worked with a T.I. chipset Firewire interface.

One possibility, there are "extender" cards (or used to be) that would stick out of the case and allow full size cards to be used.  If they are still around that's one option.

For anyone interested, given the TI chipset mentioned by firebird (above) this is the card I think I need - now to find an Australian retailer.

Ableconn PEX-FW107 1394b & 1394a 3-Port PCI Express (PCIe) Low Profile FireWire Host Adapter Card - TI XIO2213 Chipset

http://www.ableconn.com/products_2.php?gid=147

That looks like what you need.  You might have to "import" it from the US.

@Hazsys 

@fireberd 

Firewire Adds 15 levels of incompatibility starting with 64 bit windows 8.1 and the removal of the OHCI driver.  TI also never made DCH drivers for this so secure boot would need to be OFF for the hardware to be seen and legacy driver to load.

Legacy Directx June 2010 is also removed as is movie maker and windows live components from 2012.  So All of those will need to be added back.

Startech low Profile FireWire B0037ECAMM

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

Windows Live Essentials 2012

Windows Live Essentials 2012 setup

Lastly the PCI-E version is 2.0  not 2.1 or 3.0 so the PHY line code is 8b/10b  not 128b / 130b which is also a problem.

https://www.ti.com/product/XIO2213B

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1B0msn9xcI

startech firewire windows legacy driver 

Wow Speedstep, thank you for that info. Unsurprisingly you've got me concerned that my investment in the now ordered card will open up an unanticipated 'can of worms'.  Amazon say the card should arrive towards the end of April. I'll update here my installation/compatibility experiences. Fingers crossed all will work.

I didn't do anything @speedstep mentions, including the "Legacy" driver and it all worked with the Windows 10 defaults.   Thus start out with the default driver that Windows installs.  If it doesn't  work then take the steps outlined.

Actually, I didn't use the Legacy driver in Win 7 or 8 either.  Last OS I used the Legacy Driver was Vista.

@Hazsys 

@fireberd 

https://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/Firewire-1.htm#

As I noted I did NOT use the Legacy FW driver and it all worked perfectly with two different Firewire recording interface units, one being the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 that this user has.

I was using the Legacy driver and did a clean install of Win 7 and forgot to install the Legacy driver and it was working properly,  I installed the Legacy driver and it didn't make any difference so I uninstalled the Legacy driver and just used the Windows default driver.  Upgrading to Win 8 and then 8.1 and finally Win 10 I continued to use the default Windows driver and no problems.    

Happy to report that I received the Ableconn PEX-FW107 from Amazon and installed in my Vostro 3471. The repurposing of my old Vostro to be my primary home-studio machine is coming together slowly but there's snags galore when you're trying to it as cheaply as possible. So many things to spend money on.

Rookie first problem I'm not 100% sure about properly connecting the card’s Molex mini 4Pin power connector to any available power supply. 

My instinct is to use the Vostro’s hard drive’s power input (which is a mini Molex 4Pin) and split it using an appropriate Y-type power cable to supply power to the Ableconn card - also a mini Molex 4Pin.  Yes/No?

Assuming the answer is yes then the immediate problem is that the Y-type power cable that Ableconn supplied to power the Firewire card (via its mini 4Pin) has the larger (old generation) Molex 4 pin connectors for the primary split (male) and one output (female) – the other female output connector is a Molex mini 4Pin (intended for the card).  

So far Dell support are yet to respond to my RFI about an appropriate Y-cable to get power to the new Firewire card.

@Hazsys 

Sata 15 pin to 4 pin molex is 24w and works fine.

https://www.amazon.com/LIQUN-Adapter-15-pin-Female-0-66Ft/dp/B01IJGL8PW/

Hi 

I too am looking at buying this firewire card.  How much did it cost you to get it from the US?  Also are you interested in selling yours?  I am in Brisbane, Australia.

Regards
Shelton

Thanks - I am a Linux user.

Regards
Shelton

@LinuxUser1933 

vostro3471_sff_servicemanual

LP card PEX1394B3LP B0037ECAMM

Directx Legacy
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

Windows live essentials
wlsetup-all.exe

lEGACY dRIVER
firewire-cards-windows-legacy-driver-swap

dRIVER
1394_ohci_legacydriver.msi

https://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/Firewire-1.htm#

sATA TO MOLEX
Adapter-15-pin-Female B01IJGL8PW

Hi Shelton,

I ordered the Ableconn PEX-FW107 from amazon.com.au on 07Apr’22 - using an 'Overseas Amazon Store' (USA) but off hand I don't know which store that was. The card arrived around the 15th in my PO Box here.
The cost was AU$87.38 plus postage AU$10.17 (with GST the total was AU$107.30 but I got a $11.18 promotion discount off that total).

Ableconn support confirmed with me that the PEX-FW107 will take power from the PCIe bus without using the Molex power input.  All is working fine so not selling it - sorry!  Performance is even better after I bought another 16GB of RAM.