Knoppix detects my firewire

[Harry Kuhman]

When I boot Knoppix (the new 3.8.1, although I think I saw it under 3.7 as well), it detects the firewire card in my HP Pavilion ze4240 notebook and proceeded to set it up during boot. I would be really happy about this if my notebook actually had firewire, but it does not. Does anyone have any insight on why Knoppix thinks it does and what implication there might be in it's "detecting" and "setting up" of firewire that isn't there?

Is there any chance that I actually do have firewire, and the connection is not just routed out to a connector on the case? As far as I know from all that I was able to learn about this computer that is not the case, and other hardware detection programs (such as PC Wizard 2004) don't find any when run.

[OErjan]

the not atached conector has hapened for me on a laptop, seems they use same motherboard for a "family" of laptops, they just do not atach some parts...
in my case it was not firewire but for an USB output (not yesturdays model). as far as i could tell all that was missing was a conector and a "hole" for that trough the chassi, yes i poped it open to see, there was even holes filled with solder for the pins of said conector, sadly we could not find a suitable conector at the time...
in your case i wonder why not other os or hw-detection software detects it?

[Harry Kuhman]

.....in your case i wonder why not other os or hw-detection software detects it?
I think the most likely answer to that is that it really isn't there. I can't imagine Knoppix finding it if several other hardware status programs don't think it's there. Yes, I have seen seen cases of features built into systems and then not being made available in the final product too. But I really don't think it's hapening here. Maybe someone with detailed knowledge of HP notebook internals can confirm it one way or the other. Or maybe someone knows what Knoppix uses to say that firewire is available.

Of course, I sure would like it to be available

[OErjan]

hmm, i hae just searched firewire AND 3.8.1, guess what, this seems like a bug, you are not alone with this ghost detection. i am currently downloading to see for myself.

[lotech]

I got the same problem on the 3.7 with kernel 2.6.X, so I guess it is the bug in the kernel, not only Firewire I don't have on my desktop but also PCMCIA, they all came for free !

[OErjan]

eeeh, no, I think it is the autodetection that is wobbly.

[Oswald Glinkmeyer]

3.8.1 detects my non-existent Firewire on my Compaq Presario 1200 laptop, vintage 1999. I don't recall it ever doing it on under 3.7, but I'll watch more closely as it was something that caught my eye the first time I booted 3.8.1.

glink