Firewire Repeater Hub or new USB interface with my new laptop???

I've been using a Roland/Edirol FA-66 Firewire interface with years and it's been rock solid.  My desktop is slowing down and I also wanted something portable.  I was able to get an incredible deal on a great very high-end dell laptop from my office (slightly used by me).  It has a firewire mini port so I hooked up the correct cables, notice that the BUS power setting on my FA-66 won't turn the lights on, OK - no problem - I'll just use the FA-66 DC in power supply.  But even with that, it drops out every time.  So I've read that laptops typically have inferior firewire hardware and/or drivers - is it worth looking into a Firewire repeater hub that has it's own power supply (looks like these are at least $100 ?), or is it time to move to a USB interface (I'm considering the Roland Quad Capture - approx $269)?  Thanks in advance for any advice!

Firewire is a dying standard now. Firewire on laptops kinda sucks, as you said, and the only way to get "decent" Firewire is through cardbus, which is also getting less and less common and changes every so many years. Considering the price I'd probably say drop it (or use it on your old desktop as a backup system) and get a new interface. Do you really need four simultaneous inputs?

Floyd : tell me the laptop/Dell model ! il look up its firewire interface

One thing I like about the Quad is the Monitor mix, which my FA-66 has and I do use when recording.  It looks like the Duo doesn't have that function.

After a little more research online it sounds like with a TI chipset the firewire connection from my laptop to FA-66 should work just fine.  My laptop has an ExpressCard port and I'm going to order this Firewire adapter (below) card for $40 and give it a shot.  No reason to spend $270 if this will do the trick.  The reviews on amazon.com are great and sound like several people have ordered this to resolve the same issues that I'm having.  I'll update this post either way (success or failure).
StarTech.com 2 Port ExpressCard Laptop 1394a Firewire Adapter Card (EC13942)

Manufacturer: 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller Driver version 6.1.7601.17514 (and it's up to date)
Driver Provider: Microsoft
I've read a lot online about issues with the default firewire devices with this particular laptop model, and laptops in general.  So I think getting a TI chipset should do the trick. 

The problem with laptops and FireWire is that the cardbus slot also has a chipset that interfaces between the card you're going to use and the computer hardware. Dell often use a Ricoh chipset as the cardbus controller and it is known to be very flaky in connection with FireWire. So even using a TI chipset FireWire card in some cases is of no help if the cardbus chipset itself is dodgy.

Unfortunately you can't tell beforehand what the outcome will be. At least it's not a super expensive experiment. Hope it works out.

Well, I've been testing for a few days with the new firewire express card and everything is working well now.  The express card is a little annoying and sits right on top of the dvd drive, but not annoying enough to spend another $200-$300 on a new usb audio interface (not yet at least)