Problem adding Firewire drive to Mac

[afab]

I'm a PC guy who inherited an iMac. I'm trying to add an external firewire drive to the system but it is not plug-and-play. It's a generic 60G WD drive in a generic external case with a Firewire link to the system. Here's what happens when I try to plug it in:

I plug in the drive and nothing happens. The system does not recognize the device is attached. I then power down the drive and power back up. Now the drive pops up on the screen, along with an error message that says a firewire device stopped working and I should redo the change I just made. I power cycle again and the drive is now seen by the system.

HOWEVER, IT STILL DOESN'T WORK. If I try to go to the drive, the system just freezes. (The mouse works, but that's it.) Frankly, I don't know what to do with the MAC. Yes, it has been itilialzed for the Mac. It *should* work, but it doesn't.

What do I do? Thanks for your help.

mark

 

[afab]

I've also tried changing the jumpers to slave -- didn't help. I even installed a brand new 40GB WD drive -- system still won't see it. According to the WD site, these drives can be used on Macs. I install the drive but Apple Drive Setup doesn't see it at all. :-( Thoughts?