Software issues running a D1 on MS Windows XP-Service pack 3

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gsandberg
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Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 9:33 am
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Location: Netherlands

Software issues running a D1 on MS Windows XP-Service pack 3

Post by gsandberg »

I want to share these experiences.

My adventures with firewire 1394 interface on MS-Windows XP and the Nikon D1 series.

Warning: no not try this at home, unless you know what you are doing, this information is provided "as is" without any warranty etc..

I have just one Personal Computer, it runs on MS-Windows XP home.
I own a Nikon D1 digital SLR, this connects to a PC by means of Fire-wire 1394 connection.

Of course, one can transfer images by inserting the D1's memory card into the PC or any card-reader.
But: some functions, like Camera Control can only be done in "tethered" mode, using the fire-wire connection.

Some time in 2007 it was updated to Service Pack SP2, a level of general updates provided by Microsoft.
In 2008 Microsoft released SP3, I installed it in the fall of 2008, as it came in through the Microsoft update routine.

As it boils down: the connection of the D1 to a PC with XP-SP3 is no longer supported.
The varous Nikon support site mention this "feature": "D1 series 1394 connections not supported under Microsoft XP-SP3 or Vista"

I ran into this upgrade "feature" in November of 2008, I only use the fire-wire connection occasionally.

So what does one do?
When I had some time to spare, I started a Google search and after some time I found a forum discussion about this subject.
One writer noted that he had "downgraded" the firewire files on his system to SP2 specification.

Basically, he replaced all 1394 related .system files to SP2 version.
Q: where to find these older driver files?
I found them (using the basic Windows system search for files) in a directory called
c:\windows\$NTservicepackunistall$

I copied the relevant files to the directory c:\windows\system32\drivers

After this operation this directory looked like this:

2004/08/04 07:10 53.248 1394bus.sys
2004/08/04 07:10 53.248 1394bus.sys sp2
2008/04/13 19:46 53.376 1394bus.sys sp3
2004/08/04 06:58 60.800 arp1394.sys
2004/08/04 06:58 60.800 arp1394.sys sp2
2008/04/13 19:51 60.800 arp1394.sys sp3
2004/08/04 06:58 61.824 nic1394.sys
2004/08/04 06:58 61.824 nic1394.sys sp2
2008/04/13 19:51 61.824 nic1394.sys sp3
2008/04/13 19:46 61.696 ohci1394.sys
2004/08/04 07:10 61.056 ohci1394.sys sp2
2008/04/13 19:46 61.696 ohci1394.sys sp3

Note the .sys files are the real thing, version with extensions like sp2 sp3 are just copies for safety's sake.
Note 2: the "active" files now are the SP2 versions, dated 2004.

After this fiddlig (and a systemr reset in order to load the newly downgraded driver files), the system could connect to my Nikon D1 by means of the fire-wire.
The Nikon software Capture version 1 and Camera Control Pro v 2 could recognise and operate the camera correctly.

Some readers may be using the MS-Vista operating system, I have no means of testing to see if a similar trick could be performed in order to run the Nikon D1 under MS-vista.

Regards,
Gilbert Sandberg
NHS member, Holland
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