Feasability of repairing dead 1394 connector on Sony Dig8 ..

Have a Sony Digital8 and it appears the 1394 port has died. I have a 6
foot and 10 foot firewire cables. Never had a problem with the 6-foot
cable but the connection on the 10-foot has always been iffy - if it
got jostled the right way I lost the connection to the computer.
However because of where I needed the cam to be, the 6-foot connection
wasn't long enough. Upon close inspection of the ends on both, the
height of the contacts didn't seem exactly the same. So I did a little
light squeezing of the 10-foot cable's end with needlenose pliers to
adjust it a hair.

Plugged it into the 1394 port and got nothing no matter what. Then when
plugging in the previously dependable 6-foot cable, got nothing from
that either. Tried wiggling both at various angles to see if I could
establish any connection, get nothing on 2 different computers. So,
obviously something's wrong.

1) Any suggestions for remedies I might try on a DIY basis? An chance
it could be a mechanical physical contact issue and not an internal
fried chip/circuit issue?

2) Any idea what cost for such a repair would likely run? The problem
is, without a 1394 connection, the cam is kinda pointless. Yes, it has
analog out which works but the whole point of the Digital Cam is to be
able to create DV files.

3) Are the 1394 connectors generally fragile or are there brands with
ports that are more robust than others? What do you think I might have
done to cause this or was it possibly just a coincidence? I didn't poke
around the port on the cam at all, just tweaked the end of the one
cable a small amount.

Thanks for all input.

Doc wrote:
> Have a Sony Digital8 and it appears the 1394 port has died. I have a 6
> foot and 10 foot firewire cables. Never had a problem with the 6-foot
> cable but the connection on the 10-foot has always been iffy - if it
> got jostled the right way I lost the connection to the computer.
> However because of where I needed the cam to be, the 6-foot connection
> wasn't long enough. Upon close inspection of the ends on both, the
> height of the contacts didn't seem exactly the same. So I did a little
> light squeezing of the 10-foot cable's end with needlenose pliers to
> adjust it a hair.
>
> Plugged it into the 1394 port and got nothing no matter what. Then when
> plugging in the previously dependable 6-foot cable, got nothing from
> that either. Tried wiggling both at various angles to see if I could
> establish any connection, get nothing on 2 different computers. So,
> obviously something's wrong.
>
> 1) Any suggestions for remedies I might try on a DIY basis? An chance
> it could be a mechanical physical contact issue and not an internal
> fried chip/circuit issue?
>
> 2) Any idea what cost for such a repair would likely run? The problem
> is, without a 1394 connection, the cam is kinda pointless. Yes, it has
> analog out which works but the whole point of the Digital Cam is to be
> able to create DV files.
>
> 3) Are the 1394 connectors generally fragile or are there brands with
> ports that are more robust than others? What do you think I might have
> done to cause this or was it possibly just a coincidence? I didn't poke
> around the port on the cam at all, just tweaked the end of the one
> cable a small amount.
>
> Thanks for all input.
>
If you connected a 6 pin cable to the camera or PC port while the
camera is on their is a risk of blowing the IEEE port on the camera.
The 6 pin plug runs an active power lead and any mis-alignment might get
the volts onto the wrong pin and poooooffffff! Sony charges like a
roaring bull to replace a card.
Alternatively it might still be just the cable. Borrow a known good
one and try it.