"I have had some major issues with the new Mac Pro 8 core 2.8GHz.
I followed apples procedure for data migration from a MDD dual 867 to the new machine. I followed to proceed involving the connecting firewire to the two units. Upon booting the MDD the MDD mac froze up and after a few seconds shut down. I immediately smelled something burning coming from the rear of the MDD. After a minute or two, the MDD allowed me to reboot it and it is working with the exception of a blown firewire 400 port. The 8 core MacPro experienced a similar issue, blown firewire 400 port in the rear. I took both computers to the Apple store in my town, Providence, RI and after testing, they determined a blown logic board on the MacPro. They replaced with MacPro on the spot with a brand new one. I a out of luck with the MDD dual 867. Although it still works fine with the exception of the one firewire 400 port.
(He later wrote with replies to my questions/comments-Mike)
Mike, Thanks for responding. Cable short: cable works fine on the other FW400 connectors. (I asked if it could have a problem that may not be apparent unless flexed, etc. or if there was any damage to the connector (forced in wrong orientation, other contact damage, etc.-Mike)
Damaged/forced connector: possible, but highly doubtful. Firewire cable carefully inserted in both machines in a brightly lit environment. Looked at both connectors on the computers themselves with a magnifying glass. No evidence of pinched connectors or damage otherwise.
I believe the Mac Pro firewire 400 connector is internally faulty. (I don't think that is typical - at least I've not had any other reports of this problem, including replies to this post from other 2008 Mac Pro owners that used FW target disk mode to a MDD tower and others - although a sawtooth tower owner said his system just shut down (no damage).-Mike)
This is something that Apple will look into for sure. In the mean time, they have issued me a brand new replacement Mac Pro.
-James V."

(My comments to the original mail follow) So only one port on the MDD was damaged? The others still work? (If so check for physical damage in the connector.) You could add a PCI FW card to the MDD if the FW controller is really damaged. Did Apple cite any reason for the problem? (shorted cable/damaged connector?) A longshot but could the cable have a short if flexed? Or the FW port damaged? According to the Mac pro specs/dev docs (see below) - it has overcurrent/short circuit protection on the ports. I've seen some damage to FW (or FW/USB combo) Hubs due to too high a FW bus voltage in some macs. (It's 25V on the MDD G4 towers and PowerMac G5 - higher on the sawtooth IIRC (28V), the max per the FW spec.) The PowerMac G5 FW/USB page here has notes that some FW hubs/combo FW/USB hubs were not rated for the (24V and up) FW bus voltage present in some Macs and were "smoked" when used with them. I looked up the Mac Pro Developer Doc (revised for early 2008 models), which has a note about overcurrent protection/recovery:

"Independent Port Over-Current Protection
The Mac Pro provides independent port over-current protection, such that an over-current or short-circuit condition on one port will not affect any of the other ports, as long as the total power available to the ports is not exceeded. When in sleep, the Mac Pro has 25 W of power available to the USB and FireWire ports, and memory. If the combined USB and FireWire port power load exceeds the available power, power to those ports will be cut to preserve memory."

The FW section also refers to the FireWire Developer Note, which in the Mac Pro section lists 12V bus power and includes notes on port being disabled/how to recover if power limits exceeded:

"Mac Pro Computers (January 2008)
The Mac Pro computers with Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 Series microprocessors were introduced in January 2008. The Mac Pro provides two FireWire 800 IEEE 1394b ports and two FireWire 400 IEEE 1394a ports. The four FireWire ports are on the same FireWire bus and share a single 12V DC-regulated power supply that can provide 18 W per port, for up to 28 W total. If a device is added that exceeds the power limit, the port will be disabled but the other ports will continue to function. Unplug the device, and the disabled port will recover in a short amount of time. FireWire port power is provided when the computer is on, in sleep, or off."

If anyone else with a Mac Pro has seen a similar FW problem (or not) with FW Target disk mode with a G4 tower, let me know the details.

" Photoshop CS3 upgrade won't from CS bundle
Hi Mike, I've been fighting to try to get photoshop CS3. I own the CS bundle. I don't need all the extra apps in the CS bundle. If you have a CS bundle don't try to upgrade to an single application in the CS3 group. I found a new Photoshop CS3 upgrade and bought it. I tried to upgrade.
The Photoshop CS3 won't upgrade if you don't have an earlier separate, single application photoshop. I called customer service; the Adobe policy requires the single application for the photoshop CS3 upgrade to work. I looked on the adobe website they say you have to have photoshop CS, CS2 etc. They don't say that you can't upgrade to a single application if you are using a CS bundle.
BEWARE before you buy upgrades...
-Jim B. "

FYI: Jim later wrote (Feb. 7th) that he was told by Adobe support that per their policy he could not update PS CS3 separately and suggested he return the upgrade for a refund.
Back in late December I ordered the Pshop CS3 upgrade to use on the (refurb) AL iMac here - I had owned Pshop versions going back to v2 (on floppy!) but the last upgrade I had bought was "CS" (not CS2). I couldn't upgrade since I could not find my original PS CS (or v7.0) S/N (somewhere in dozens of boxes in the garage) - the "About" box doesn't show the full S/N (missing 4 digits IIRC). I called Adobe support and after some heated comments (on my part) they gave me an "Override" code that allowed the upgrade to install. It may not help but if it were me I'd call back an insist on an override code since clearly you own qualifying previous versions IMHO.
Update: another reader replied he had no problems upgrading to PS CS3 with his previous CS Suite:

" I read with interest the comments by Jim (above) about failing in his bid to upgrade to CS3 from the "CS Bundle." Does he mean the Creative Suite (I assume so-Mike) because that's what I have, and have used since 2004 without updating any of the applications. Finally because I needed/wanted the Camera Raw 4.3 Support for my K10D Pentax DSLR, I got the CS3 Upgrade for, I believe it was $189 or $199 (can't remember but it was cheap). When I installed CS3 it went down without a hitch! No problems whatsoever.
Thus, I don't know what Jim B means about having a problem upgrading to CS3 from the Creative Suite. Now, I had the Creative Suite Premium Edition if that makes any difference, but that's what I had, and what I upgraded from to PS CS3. I repeat, did not ever have installed any other version of Photoshop but the one from Creative Suite Premium. And yet my upgrade to CS3 was without any issues whatsoever. Go figure!

I just don't want people to get the idea that they can't update to Photoshop CS3 from the Creative Suite because of his experience, when I had no problems at all.
Later Gater, David C."

I'd think there should be no problems (PS CS in the previous suite should qualify) - but I'm not sure if anything is a sure thing anymore (regardless of what should happen, it often doesn't) And often there's some reason (or omitted detail) that is not clear from the original report.

DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives:
• IDE LG H55L in Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
  (Noted DVD burn problems were media related. Ref: Dec. 31st news page post re: Feedback from LG GSA-H55N owners on DVD Burning)
  
  Hard Drives:
• SATA Samsung HD501LJ T166 500GB in iMac Intel-CPU (OS X 10.5.x)
• SATA Samsung F1 1TB in (2006) Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
  (links to three 1TB drive comparison review)
• SATA Seagate ST3500630AS (7200.10) 500GB in iMac Intel-CPU (OS X 10.5.x)
• SATA Hitachi P7K500 320GB in iMac Intel-CPU (OS X 10.5.x)
• SATA Hitachi 7K1000 1TB in (2006) Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
  (links to three 1TB drive comparison review)
• SATA Western Digital Caviar GP 1TB in (2006) Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
  (links to three 1TB drive comparison review)
• SATA Western Digital Scorpio 320GB in MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
• SATA Western Digital Scorpio 320GB in MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
  (2 different user reports)

You can read full reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive/brand/interface/mac models (the latest reports are shown first in searches). The database includes reports on Optical Drives (Blu-Ray, DVD, CD/CDR, etc.), Hard Drives, Tape drives, Removable media (ORB, ZIP, MO drives), NAS (Network Attached Storage), in all interface types (IDE, SATA, Firewire, SCSI, USB, adapters).
If you've added/upgraded a drive in your Mac send me the details (drive info/speed rating/mac model/OS used, etc.). Note: Please use the drive for at least a week before reporting on it and test for booting from Disc with internal Optical Drives (as well as burning discs). Thanks.