[DM-MUG] Help in disagnosing something....not sure what is going on

[Victoria L. Herring]

I have iMac G5, fairly new and works fine, at least I thought so.  I
have LaCie FW backup drive which also works fine but I noticed that
sometimes when I restart the main computer it won't load on top =
isn't even seeable to be mounted via disk utility.  However if I pull
out the cable from port 1 in back of the iMac and put it in port 2,
then the LaCie loads on the desktop.

I repaired permissions and tried to restart the computer then but got
the spinning beachball of death [plenty of ram and all works fine]
but it won't stop so I try to forcequit and it won't let me do that
either, there's no indication of something not responding and I can't
forcequit either.  So I finally held down the restart/power button
and turned off the computer.

I started up the computer and this time, the FW LaCie [which had
remained in Port 2] did not mount onto the desktop, again.  I checked
Disk Utility again but it didn't see it and didn't mount it.  I
switched its plug back to Port 1 and voila, the LaCie mounted on
desktop.

Then I went to do a get info on the LaCie and again got the spinning
beachball and nothing stopped so tried to do a force quit - it said
the Finder was not responding.  So I again turned off the comptuer by
holding down power button.

Well, the LaCie didn't load up again, tho it is plugged into the Port
that it had shown up on.

I suppose it's more than a LaCie issue or port or cable issue, all
this futzing around with the Finder too and restart issues ==

Where do I start?
-- 
Victoria L. Herring, Attorney, Civil Rights, Discrimination & 
Employment Law, <http://www.HerringLaw.com>;  Travel research, 
<http://www.JourneyZing.com> and /blog;   Photographs at 
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