Firewire?

I can't seem to get my firewire port to work..
I see the hardware in the control panel, but whenever I plug something in
I get no audio chime and nothing shows up that I have attached a device (camcorder)..

?

You will probably have to look for the latest Windows 7 fire-wire driver for your motherboard (or add-in card if that's where the port came from) and install that.

Does the fire-wire port device show up at all in the hardware manager? Is there a yellow exclamation mark o nit? Or not?

The firewire port does show up in the device manager, and there is no yellow exclamation mark next to it..

I'll try to find the W7 drivers on Dell's site..

I have an older Cannon ZR10 and I plug it in then turn it on to VCR mode which is used for play back. Windows 8 RP found it and installed the default Windows 8 driver and it then shows up in Device manager under Imaging Devices as Cannon DV Camcorder. I use Live Photo Gallery to import my video.
Are you plugging it in then power it up?

Jim

This is an older notebook, a Dell inspiron 1520.. Everything else has worked fine..

The driver shows up in the device manager as Ricoh 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller

I have tried plugging up the camcorder and then turning it on, and turning it on and then plugging it up.. Neither give the new-device-plugged-up-ding-dong alarm..

I can try other devices I guess (hard drive)

I gave up on the legacy drivers and bought a new PCI express firewire 1394 card from Newegg for $30.00.
Problem solved. Now my $5k in video equipment works again with my firewire capture to Pinnacle Studio.
Card: Rosewill "RC-506e" 1394A+B 3 port card.