can a Oxford 911 MicroChip be used with any firewire port?

A device with an Oxford 911 chipset (there's more than one chip to the 911, therefore it's a "chipset") will work on a PC with FireWire. I have an external FW drive with that chipset and it's been very reliable.

yes it'll work. Some devices require a powered 6 pin port, and those own't work with the 4 pin port Sony uses. But that has nothing to do with the oxford 911 chip.

It's more than just Sony who uses the 4-pin port on PCs. I've seen them on Dell and Gateway laptops too, and on barebone PC systems (such as the SFF Shuttle systems on the front panel). Those ports are fine for connecting camcorders, but are a pain in the butt for pretty much everything else (especially iPods).

yea I know that, but sony pioneered it.

thanks,
i was asking because i need to get a firewire external hard drive, and i found one but it said something abouth the oxford, so i was just wondering,
thanks
jon

I'm curious, is it possible to get a inbetween cable that has an external wall wart and wire going to the cable that has the 4 pin plug on one end and the 6 pin now powered port on the other? I know its kinda klunky but it seems like it would work.

I've seen those. There was a guy on eBay that sold those as a solution for connecting and charging iPods to laptops with 4-pin FW ports. There aren't any on eBay now, but the cable was pretty much a Y-adapter with a 4-pin plug on one end, and male and female (the male being for the iPod power adapter) 6-pin jacks on the other. I'm actually wishing there were some on eBay now, because a friend of mine just bought an iPod and wants to connect it through the 4-pin FW port on her Dell laptop.

One of many Google hits
http://www.usbfirewire.com/Parts/rr-fw-ipod-adapter.html

thats pretty handy!