Thanks for looking, Jim. I think I already reached that conclusion a few weeks ago.
Just hoping some one smarter than me knew a cheat.
My DAW is about 12 now, and the Saffire about the same. My other computer is Win 10 and with a shiny new FireWire card in it with nothing to connect to.
Since FW is now rare and/or expensive, I'm looking at the cheapest one I see at GS/SA, a MOTU.
Anybody heard of them?
To answer some of your questions; the card does show up consistently in the Device Manager. The Saffire does receive power from it, but they ain't talking.
I tried running as administrator, plus in compatibility with XP SP3, Vista and Win 7.
Tried running the latest driver for the Saffire (2.71) and a couple other FW drivers not specifically for it. They all fail when the Continue Anyway button never appears.
Slart, I know you didn't just happen upon that page. Thank you for taking the time and trying to help.