MY IEEE 1394 port does not recognise camcoder

Although this post is rather old, I can tell you that the mini 4-pin firewire port is the bane of my existence. The 6-pin port is made rather sturdy with heavily shielded cable. The 4-pin uses the same heavy cable, but does not have the strength to support the cable, if it happens to droop. This causes pins to get slightly bent out of alignment, and upon re-insertion, you can get crushed pins if you are not VERY careful. Examine both your cable end and the port on your camera/deck - you will probably find one or more of the pins have been pushed back. Pray that it's the cable that's dead, and not the port in your camera/deck. I have a Canon XL1 and a Sony DSR-40 with the same problem - crushed pin in the unit's port. I'll have to spend $$$ to get these ports replaced.