XP No Longer Recognizes Mini-DV via Firewire [Fix-Long]

I ran into this problem the other day and thought I'd post the (my)
resolution here in case anybody else comes up against the same thing in the
future;

I needed to capture some footage I'd recently shot with my Canon Mini-DV
Camcorder. So, like I'd done hundreds of times before, I connected it via
firewire to my PC and turned the camera on.

I was immediately met with XP's "Found New Hardware Wizard" informing me it
had "discovered" my Camcorder and asking me if I'd like to install it.

Obviously this camera wasn't "new" to XP, but Windows being Windows, I
played along and told it to go ahead with the "install" anyway.

Of course, the "automatic install" failed, and I was then asked to insert
the "installation disk that came with the hardware".

Well, this particular camera didn't come with an "installation disk" because
it doesn't need one. All it needs to connect to the PC, is for the PC to
have a functioning IEE1394 (Firewire) port. I knew this to be true, because
this cam worked the very first time I ever connected it to the machine.

Ding! Ding! There's the clue. Something MUST be up with my Firewire
situation.

I immediately discarded the cable that connects the cam to the PC as being
the problem. I reasoned that if XP could "sense" there was "New Hardware"
to install, the cam and the PC MUST be communicating, and therefore the
cable is OK.

Next logical step is to poke around in Device Manager.

Sure enough, There's a dreaded yellow (!) next to "Unknown Devices".

Expanding "Unknown Devices" reveals an entry called "Unibrain 1394PC" that
is not functioning properly.

Never heard of it, so I Google a little and didn't learn much. But since it
said 1394 (which is Firewire) I knew it probably had something to do with my
problem. I confirmed the association to Firewire by looking at the entry
called IEE1394 Bus Host Controller (still in Device Manager) and seeing the
following: "OHCI Compliant IEE1394 Host Controller\Unibrain 1394PC".

OK. Disconnected the camera and first tried uninstalling "Unibrain" from
"unknown devices" in Device manager and rebooting. But all that
accomplished was to have the "Found New Hardware" wizard pop up and tell me
it found "Unibrain" but could not install it.

I'll spare you all the rest of the details of my trials and errors, and cut
right to the fix (for me) from here:

While In Device Manager, I uninstalled BOTH the "Unibrain" reference in
"Unknown Devices" *AND* the reference to it under IEE1394 Bus Host
Controller - AT THE SAME TIME.

Rebooted, and watched the 'wizard' pop up again and reinstall the controller
on it's own.

Oddly enough? My Firewire connection worked properly again and I was able
to import the footage via WMM, even though all references to "Unibrain" have
disappeared from Device manager.

Like I said. I really don't understand what "Unibrain" is/was. All I can
figure is that maybe it's some part of Windows XP that's supposed to be
contained WITHIN the IEE1394 Bus Host Controller, but somehow got seperated
from it on my machine?