Why does my Sony DCR-TRV19 camera not appear in Windows XP via the firewire card?

I was researching this on the net, and I was told that a VIA chipset
motherboard wouldn't work well with this particular camera in XP Pro
SP2 or Xp Home Sp2. I went back to SP1, nothing happened. The camera
does show some sign of life when i take it on and off VCR mode (I get
an hourglass). Something must be working in the camera becuase when I
connect my hard drive (external) to the firewire port I have, the hard
drive doesn't come up. When I take the camera cable out, it works.

Please tell me the camera isn't broke, because it still records and
playsback.

I currently am running Windows XP Service Pack 2
The latest direct x 9.0
Windows Media Player 10
Divx 5
Windows Firewall is off