Why does Windows XP sometimes fail to recognize my FireWire (IEEE 1394) hard disk after a restart?

A. This is a known problem in XP where the disk fails to start on approximately every fifth attempt. No fix is currently available. The only solution is to unplug the disk, wait 15 seconds, then reconnect the device. If this solution doesn't work, try powering off the computer, wait 5 seconds, then restart the machine.