MacBook Pro (2009): Boot Camp: Windows 7 (64): FW & ExpressCard Issues

My MacBook Pro, of 2009 vintage, has both FireWire 800 (FW 800) and ExpressCard among its data & communications ports.  These work fine in Mac OS X, but not in [Boot Camp > Windows 7 (64-bit)].  That’s how it’s always been with this laptop.  A while has passed since I last searched the web, so I wondered whether any solution had finally been found.  I was prompted by the serendipitous discovery (in a desk drawer) of an ExpressCard to FireWire card, offering dual FS800 ports.  It was originally purchased in an attempt to work around the non-functioning (in BC-W7) native FW port of the machine, but that attempt had not, to date, been successful.  I wondered if maybe a solution to using that work-around might now be available.

No.

Sadly I just wasted valuable time looking around.  All I confirmed was that I was not alone with this problem.

  •  It might maye a difference if the ExpressCard/FW800 is inserted during boot-up.  I am not familiar with such devices, and in previous attempts I think I only inserted it once the machine had already booted-up.
    • LINK
  • Experiment:
    • Boot-up with FireWire ExpressCard inserted, connected by FW800 cable to a FW800 drive (a GRaid mini), itself separately powered from its own power supply (since I did not assume the ExpressCard would supply power through the cable).
    • Result:
      • The system obtained and loaded drivers for a “PCI Bridge” device.
        • I think that means the ExpressCard.
      • I was prompted to restart the system.  This I did.
        • The card was still plugged-in and with powered external drive connected to it.
    • Test
      • No-go.  The FW drive still did not appear in Windows Explorer.
      • On the other hand, the ExpressCard was listed under the “Safe Disconnection” icon in the taskbar.
      • From this, I was able to display information about the ExpressCard:.
    • ExpressCard Device:
      • Devices & Printers
        • Problem detected with Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
          For more information open the device property page to view details
          [View Details]

          • Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller Properties:
            Location: PCI Slot 5 (PCI bus 14, device 0, function 0)
            This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12)
            If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.
            {BUT this is misleading advice…}
  • Links:
    • http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/477958-mbp-boot-camp-w7-cant-see-sxs-osx-can.html
      • David Esp:
        • On a MacBook Pro, official SxS card in ExpressCard slot is seen OK by Mac OS. However on same machine running Boot Camp Windows 7, it is not seen.
      • Michael Wisniewski
        • Yup, the Express Card slot in the Unibody MBPs is not supported by Bootcamp/Vista/Windows 7. I’ve tried every card I could get my hands on and spent several hours trying to fix it. Seeing as they’ve dropped the EC on the MBPs I don’t think we have much hope of getting it resolved.
        • Here’s the basic error you’ll get in Windows.
          • Quote:
            This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12).
            If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.
        • I’ve spent hours trying to re-allocate/disable resources all to no avail.
    • http://mac.bigresource.com/MacBook-Pro-Do-the-new-17-allow-the-ExpressCard-slot-to-be-used-with-Windows-7-Vista-b5AHBOC8r.html
      • Neither the 2008 nor the 2009 models allowed the ExpressCard slot being used with Windows 7/Vista.  Three weeks ago I asked Apple about this simple question and got escalated three times just to get no answer (1. Called shop line -> got connected to tech support -> tech support ask her boss -> boss send the question on to Apple engineers and promised to send the answer per email).
      • I’ve come to find that no Expresscard will work in a new unibody MacBook Pro when running Windows. Apparently, the system drivers or emulated BIOS create a situation whereby there are no resources available for the expresscard device. I have seen numerous posts on the matter and my personal experience is that any card using Silicon Image, Jmicron or Marvell chipsets will not work effectively rendering the slot non-functional under Windows.  All of the cards tested work in my previous generation MacBook Pros running similar operating systems. At least one of the cards works under OS X indicating that the problem lies in the system drivers or resource allocation as defined in the emulated BIOS.
      • I’ve got Windows 7 RC 64-bit installed on a 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro (dual boot using Boot Camp) with an ExpressCard slot. I also got a FileMate SolidGO 3FMS4D48M-WR 48GB ExpressCard SSD; the drive works beautifully under OS X, but is not recognized at all by Windows 7 when it’s in the ExpressCard slot. In Device Manager, the yellow caution icon appears in front of the Standard ACHI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. The drive does not show under Disk drives or in Disk Manager.  The corresponding Device Status message is: “This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12). If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.” The drive is recognized as SATA under Mac OS X and also works fine in Windows when plugged into a USB port instead of the ExpressCard slot (at which point it is not treated as SATA, but USB). I’ve tried the latest Boot Camp drivers, but that has no effect.
    • http://att.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=696523&page=24
      • To DaGr8Gatzby : You seems to have installed Windows 7 in EFI. Have you got some problem(s) regarding your Graphic Card ?  If not, is it possible to give us the result of pci -i 00 00 00 > *.txt for your VGA adapter and for your Pci Bridge  (for those interested in posting your “log”, you have to replace “00 00 00” by the values of your VGA Adapter and the related PCI bridge. Mine is here.
      • So I am able to boot into Windows 8 now with the Intel accelerated graphic driver. However, there is an exclamation mark behind the “Intel HD Graphics” in the device manager. The message is as follows:
        • The device cannot find enough free resources that it can use (Code 12).
          If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.
        • I have tried it with all PCI bridges with primary bus=0 and I will always get the message above.
      • I have the same results
        • Code 12: This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use
      • Diagnosis
        • Two devices have been assigned the same input/output (I/O) ports, the same interrupt, or the same Direct Memory Access channel. The assignment was made by either the basic input/output system (BIOS), the operating system, or a combination of the two.
      • Resolution
        • This error message can also appear if the BIOS did not allocate enough resources to the device. You can use Device Manager to determine where the conflict is and disable the conflicting device.

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