Need PCI FireWire Card to replace dead onboard firewire in quicksilver G4 - want deep sleep and no f

I've got a Quicksilver G4 Running OS 10.3.4 that recently lost it's onboard
Firewire. So it's time to add it back in with a PCI card.

I started reading about deep sleep being inhibited by add in PCI firewire
cards.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/firewire/fw_usb_card_deep_sleep.html
and file corruption with USB/Firewire PCI Combo Cards
http://www.macintouch.com/pcicombo.html

I definitely want to preserve the ability of my computer to enter into deep
sleep, and I don't much like the idea of data corruption resulting from
certain combos of USB and Firewire devices being plugged into the card
simultaneously. That sorta defeats the purpose of the combo card.

Well now I've read so many problem reports that my head is spinning. I
figure some of the user feedback (which is mostly from 2003 and earlier in
2004) on macintouch and xlr8yourmac might be specific to each individual
funky system, and furthermore might be outdated by OS/driver/firmware
patches. Hopefully some of these problems have indeed been fixed, because
after all this reading, I'm feeling like I'm trying to choose the "least
broken card" whereas I'd like to select one that "just works".

So I'm definitely looking for recommendations for a trouble free PCI
FireWire or FireWire / USB2.0 combo card that doesn't interfere with deep
sleep, corrupt your data, or otherwise make anything blow up. If you've got
a recommendation, feel free to stop reading right now and reply to the
group.

Here is what I've gathered and distilled from reading I've done so far.

1) The macally FH2-UF24 USB2.0 / Firewire PCI Combo Card.
http://www.macally.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=51
Most of the reports on xlr8yourmac say it will let the computer go to deep
sleep when nothing is attached. Macally acknowledges deep sleep problems on
their support page
http://www.macally.com/techsupport/faq/faq_pci_sleep_issue.html
There are reports of sleep/wake/freeze problems with certain devices
attached and the file corruption issue (which I see no mention of on the
macally site) is of even greater concern
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/firewire/fw_usb_card_deep_sleep.html#corruption
http://www.macintouch.com/pcicombo.html
Are any of these issues fixed? Old news yet?
Also, the USB 2.0 combo card doesn't even appear on the US website
http://www.macally.com/products.html
All I see there is the FH-UF2 1.x combo card. There are many more flavors
of PCI cards on the European site. What's the deal with that?

2) Orange Micro OrangeLink+ USB 2.0/Firewire
There is one deep sleep complaint from a guy running the card in a computer
with an OWC Mercury Extreme 1.4Ghz on OS 10.2.8.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/firewire/fw_usb_card_deep_sleep.html
I'd need to read/hear some positive feedback before assuming it will sleep
nicely in my quicksilver.

3) Sonnet Tango 2.0 FireWire/USB 2.0
http://sonnettech.com/product/tango_2.html
or the Allegro FW400 http://sonnettech.com/product/allegro400.html
Either one would be fine by me if it played nice with my quicksilver running
10.3.4 and go to deep sleep, but I'm dubious that either one fits the bill
considering the legit looking copy of "Sonnet eNews - March 2004" I turned
up in a Google search.
http://www.tegjpn.net/USeNews.htm - Not that I know anything about this
site, but I can't see why anyone would forge an eNews letter, so I assume
this is legit.
Sonnet eNews - March 2004
Tech Tip - Mac OS X 10.3.x and Deep Sleep

Symptom: After I updated my system software to Mac OS X 10.3.x with a PCI
adapter card installed, or after installing a PCI adapter card into a system
that was already running Mac OS X 10.3.x, the computer will not go all the
way to Deep Sleep.

Issue: When the Mac OS version 10.3.x cannot completely identify a card
running on the PCI bus, it will only put the machine into a so called "doze
mode," the machine is using less power, however the fans continue to run.
This is the power management part of the Mac OS, and prevents malfunctions
of the computer or peripherals that might result from sudden loss of power
to the PCI bus. This is not a defect in either the Mac OS nor in the PCI
card, as this behavior is prescribed by the specifications of sleep mode.

Solution: This is an issue that is not specific to Sonnet's PCI adapter
cards, however it has been seen across a wide range of third party PCI
cards. While Apple has not made any statement regarding future versions of
OS X that will recognize a wider range of PCI cards, it is hoped that this
will be addressed over time.

4) Adaptec FireConnect 4300:
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwide/pr...chnology/FireWire-1394/FireWire-1394+Adapters

From Adaptec's ASK Knowledgebase, Answer ID 4059 answers the following:
"After installing the FireConnect 4300 adapter in a Mac running Mac OS X
10.2 (Jaguar), the system will no longer come back from the Sleep. Is the
FireConnect 4300 compatible with the Sleep function in Mac OS X?"

"Since the FireConnect 4300 uses standard, embedded 1394/FireWire drivers in
Mac OS X, it should be compatible with Sleep.
If you encounter errors while trying to recover from Sleep, then try
removing all 1394/FireWire devices from the FireConnect adapter and test
Sleep once more. If the system recovers from the Sleep function in the Mac,
then try to isolate the issue to a device by re-attaching them to the
adapter one-by-one."

After reading the Sonnet eNews, I'm dubious that the Adaptec Card does any
better in 10.3.x. Can anyone give me user feedback here?

So.... Those were just a few cards that I had read *some* positive reports
about (as opposed to the 100% negative stuff I read about some keyspan
cards, which sound like they are a disaster in terms of sleeping the
computer into a coma.)

I'll consider any card that gives me working firewire ports again and
preserves my functioning deep sleep mode. Some other cards I spotted in the
massive confusion of reports I've read through:

Fire Wire Depot had the following to say at
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/firewire/fw_usb_card_deep_sleep.html
With all of the conversations going on in various threads online, we have
determined after doing some testing that the following FireWire Depot PCI
host adapters can go into deep sleep:
1) IOI-4601 dual channel PCI
2) IOI-4602 dual channel PCI
3) U2FW-PCI01 FireWire/USB2 combo PCI

but that was in regards to OS 10.2.8. No clue what the verdict is in
10.3.x.

A 9/12/2003 post to
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/firewire/fw_usb_card_deep_sleep.html gives me
some hope that this product
http://www.firewiredirect.com/firewire/products/adapters_pcicombo.shtml at
FireWire Direct might stand a chance of satisfying my lofty goals of deep
sleep in 10.3.x, but once again, I'm dubious after reading that Sonnet eNews
report about.

People talking about combo cards that avoid the apparent data corruption
problem of the Macally USB/Firewire combo, pointed to these two
http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/PCICards/PCICards.asp
http://www.ratocsystems.com/english/products/subpages/pcifu2.html praising
them for having Molex connectors on the PCI cards that supply direct power
independently of the PCI bus. I've got no clue if the corruption issue
is/was actually power related, but I'd certainly be happy to grab either one
of these two cards if I hear back some 10.3.x deep sleep success stories
with one of them.

No clue how these IOGEAR cards stack up but they offer a straight firewire
card and a combo card as well
http://iogear.com/main.php?loc=productcategory&category=firewire&category_id=43
Yet another option.

Thanks in advance everyone for any feedback you can offer,
-Ethan