I have a Firestudio (the bigger version of this) and let me say, it is NOT as reliable as anyone needs it to be. I have had situations where it worked with no problems, and then it wouldn't connect at all to the computer. I move from computer to computer a lot, different OSs as well (mac to winxp) and it hates that.
My troubleshooting approach involved a lot of little things.
-If it has 2 firewire ports on the back, try using the other one.
-Are you connecting through an external FW harddrive? If so, play around with switching the order and which port you use.
-Is the firewire card built in to the computer? Is it an add on? PCI card? Thats what I use, and I think it complicates things. (turning off a hard drive disconnects my interface, etc..)
-Try it on another computer if you have access to make sure SOMETHING happens at least.
-If it has a power switch, try turning it on before starting up your computer, then off when startup and turn it on once your os loads.
Like I said, its really finnicky. Everything has to be perfect for mine to work. Its never just "OH, I'm inspired! Let's record!" This usually follows......"OH wait, I have to fool with this thing for at least 20 minutes. Oh, now I'm not inspired and in fact aggravated! I quit"
You get the idea. Little stuff like that. Personally, I'm selling my presonus interface and running far far away from it over to MOTU's neck of the woods.
I don't wish that upon you. I hope you can get it to work up to your needs. Their tech support won't be very helpful....