Firewire power toggle

[JeffAllenNJ]

I have a Firewire device tightly fit in a cabinet that I needed to "reboot" once in a while.  It is a pain to always grab the firewire cable, pull it out, wait 5 seconds, and then plug it back in a few times a day.

Are there any AutoIT solutions so that I can programmatically shut down power to the Firewire port, wait 5 seconds and then restore it?

[JLogan3o13]

The only way I have done so is with the DevCon utility. However, depending on the device, a "hard stop" of simply disabling the port may not be a good idea.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544707(v=vs.85).aspx

[JeffAllenNJ]

I might need a little hand holding here.  Can you elaborate "DEVCON for dummies" when you get a chance?

[iamtheky]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272

devcon disable *MSLOOP

Disables all devices that have a hardware ID that ends in "MSLOOP" (including "*MSLOOP").

 

[JeffAllenNJ]

How do I use this within AutoIt?

[JLogan3o13]

Look here for a list of commands: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff544766(v=vs.85).aspx

It would be something akin to...

ShellExecuteWait("devcon.exe", "/m:\\computer /r <command> <args>")
; Or
RunWait("devcon.exe /m:\\computer /r <command> <args>")

The help file can help you with the params for either ShellExecuteWait or RunWait

[JeffAllenNJ]

duh sorry ... I knew that!

anyway, when I try "devcon disable *MSLOOP", devcon says "no devices disabled" and when I try "devcon enable *MSLOOP", it says "no devices enabled".

[JLogan3o13]

What about if you run it just from a command line?

[JeffAllenNJ]

I am running it from the command line.  Once it works, I can incorporate it into AutoIt.  Unfortunately *MSLOOP does not work for any devcon command

[computergroove]

I needed to use DevCon once in Windows XP and I could never get it to work.

[JeffAllenNJ]

Well, until someone shows that they have successfully used devcon to disable, enable, and restart devices, it is safe to assume that devcon does not work.
 
I finally found that *MSLOOP is really just some sort of example and has nothing to do with firewire.  My firewire port shows up in device manager as IEEE_* but that doesn't work with devcon either.  With a devcon list classes command I see that firewire was actually class 1394.  When I show devices in that class, I get the device id.  When I show that device id, is shows the driver is running.  When I try to disable that device id, devcon cannot.  Yes, I am running CMD as admin.
 

 

C:>devcon listclass 1394
Listing 1 device(s) for setup class "1394" (IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers).
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3044&SUBSYS_30441106&REV_46\5&36BEC05D&0&0800E4: VIA 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller

C:>devcon status "@PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3044&SUBSYS_30441106&REV_46\5&36BEC05D&0&0800E4"
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3044&SUBSYS_30441106&REV_46\5&36BEC05D&0&0800E4
    Name: VIA 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
    Driver is running.
1 matching device(s) found.

C:>devcon disable "@PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3044&SUBSYS_30441106&REV_46\5&36BEC05D&0&0800E4"
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3044&SUBSYS_30441106&REV_46\5&36BEC05D&0&0800E4: Disable failed


No devices disabled.

Edited August 2, 2014 by jaja714

[JeffAllenNJ]

bump ... after a few years ... I am still seeking a solution for this I'm tired of bumping my head every day unplugging and plugging this thing in!

Perhaps someone has new insight into how best to control certain ports on a pc with AutoIt?

Edited May 19, 2016 by jaja714