If you're still using XP, I suggest updating to 7, as it has better support and your problem might be solved. (Microsoft will be discontinuing support for XP in less than a year.)
Firewire is not an exotic technology and there's no reason a budget Firewire card should not work. However, unless you have some strong reason for using an older version of Windows, I'd suggest at least trying 7, which can be downloaded for free and used for up to 30 days.