[evilgenius]

Connected via firewire but it says theres a problem ( code 39 ). Ive tried the latest drivers from Canon site and its still not working.. bit strange wouldnt you say?

[senu]

code 39?? That sounds like a microsoft "CD rom type" error code IIRC haven't come across it lately...
At any rate you shouldn't need any drivers from Canon if the firewire OHCI drivers are installed ( as part of the windows installation) and working well within windows
There are usually 4 reasons why a DV camcorder and windows wont communicate

1: Faulty cable
2: If fire wire is on a PCI card it it is either dislodged or If it is on board, damaged
3 Dodgy camcorder DV socket .. or DV out need to be enabled in its menu
4 Windows is slightly disabled

While WMM should detect a firewire connection it doesn't always do so
For starters .. check this on another PC before trying a new cable

[MarkE19]

Another couple of thoughts:

Is the firewire port onboard a soundcard? This is often probelmatic and easily fixed by getting a separate ~£10 PCI firewire card.
If you already have a firewire card is it in the PCI slot next to the graphics card? These 2 slots often share PC resources and obviously the graphics gets priority.

Also you normally need to make the connections in the correct order. I suggest you shut down the PC (optional). Plug in the firewire cable to camcorder and then into the PC. Boot the PC (if shut down) and then power up the cam in VCR/playback mode.If everything is working then Windows should now detect the cam. You can then start the editing/capture software. If the software is started before the cam is plugged in and in playback mode then the software ofdten does not detect the cam once it is switched on.

Also worth checking in Device Manager to make sure the firewire card is working ok. If you need help on finding it then let me know and I'll tell you how to do this.

Mark.