Windows 7 Windows 7 Install Issues: External Hard Drive Not Recognized via FireWire

i installed windows 7 and immediately had problems. after spending literally days worth of time on the phone to Microsoft support my original problem remains,they can't fix it. but my latest problem,which they can't fix either is my computer no longer recognizes my external hard drive through the firewire port.it works fine thruogh the usb port. the device manager says the fire wire port is working properly and ive updated drivers and then gone back to legacy drivers per hp support.nothing works.2hrs on the phone to windows 7 support was just a waist of time. i have a hp pavillion desk top 1 yr old and a western digital ext hard drive