Firewire external HD takes a few times to be recognized?

I'm on a PC. All my USB devices will be recognized first try, including HDs, and including the same HD. But I use Firewire with it cuz it's faster and doesn't use up USB. So often when I plug it in, the light will go on, everything looks normal, except the drive won't pop up in explorer. In Safely Remove Hardware, it does say WD My Book Device IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device. But when it finally works, it has that, and also WD My Book IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device - Drive(E:).
Sometimes it takes one try, sometimes it takes a few tries, sometimes 5. I used to think it had something to do with coming out of sleep or something (I always eject it before sleeping otherwise my laptop won't come back from sleep). But I just tried it from turning on my computer (accidently turned it off last night), and it took a few tries.

Please nothing about Macs or I'll find out where you live and you know the rest..lol

You should get a mac. :)

But seriously, I think I have the same problem with a brand new WD 2TB external that has USB & Firewire.

The Firewire seems to be just fine on my mac at home, but when I try to connect it my PC at the day job, it always hesitates.

It's one of these drives
www.amazon.com

I have a funny feeling it has something to do with a bizarre hidden CD drive install disc that I can't seem to get rid of. Something called "WD SmartWare".

Check out this page looks like it tells you how to get rid of it:
superuser.com
I dont think thats the problem tho, I dont have it. If your firewire works fine on the mac it might actually be a pc/mac thing, cuz macs have supported firewire longer.

Many PC's use that little 4 pin Firewire cable (like for a camera - left) as opposed to the POWERED 6 pin on a Mac (right).

www.gearslutz.com

Could that make a difference on the boot speed and recognition?

Maybe.. I use that 4 pin cable

is there anything that you do that makes it start to work? you said several tries... does that mean you're unplugging the firewire and plugging it back in or are you restarting your computer? how long do you let it sit there before you unplug/restart it? I use a Mac and that happens from time to time... but not super often

Yup, I just safely remove the one thing that pops up, and then plug it back in. It happens like every other time for me. Sometimes it'll work for a while though. I can't really figure out what it could be.

is it partitioned?

Nope not at all

It might be the cable.. it was a cheap 8pin to 4pin I got off Amazon. I mean it was less than a dollar. The shipping was more expensive lol. But that's how much cables are really worth, $5 is just a markup.

I bought a better cable and it didn't fix it. It hasn't taken more than one try since I got the new cable, which is better, but still..Any suggestions?
At least I got a new cable. It's a Belkin, it fits tighter and seems strong, like it wouldn't disconnect easily. (no misquote on any of that lol)