WD Passport Ultra not recognized - at all!

chmillman

New Member
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10
Hi all,

In the process of installing a new Win 8.1 machine, going mostly OK, but I have a WD Passport Ultra that is not working with it at all. I plug it in, it lights up and spins, but never shows up as a drive either in "This PC" or in disk management; nothing at all in device manager either. I would have said defective unit, but it works perfectly on all my other installs including Vista, 7, 8.0 and even a Mac! Don't know what to do here, I can certainly access the files on another machine and transfer, but I would like to use this drive with the new machine...

Any ideas?

Thanks, --ch
 

My Computer

System One

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    Windows 7, 8.0, 8.1
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    i7
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    ASUS
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For some odd reason between Window 8 and WD's Passport drives, they tend to somehow mysteriously drop their drive letters. I've had this happen to me on an older (less than a year drive) and a brand new one I got for Christmas.

Anyway go into Disk Management and check to see that the drive is showing and it has a drive letter. It it's showing but has no drive letter, assign one and your issue should be resolved.

If the drive isn't showing, make sure your cables are good, and not too long as this will also cause the drive not to show up.

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built by me
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    Haswell i7-4770K
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    Gigabyte G1 Sniper 5 (BIOS F9)
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    Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 gig (1866MHz)
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    RAM Speed: 1866MHZ @ 9-10-10-27-2T, 1.5v
Unfortunately, the drive isn't showing at all... The cable is the original (very short) cable provided with the disk. It all works on all my other machines including one with Win 8.0...

In the taskbar notification area, I get a constant flicker of the "safely remove" icon when the drive is plugged in, as if it's trying to do something but not succeeding... Even in Disk management I see a quick flicker of the scroll bar, like it tries to connect and fails...

--ch
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7, 8.0, 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    16-32
    Graphics Card(s)
    Quadro
Then try different ports and/or different cables. And if you have another PC try the drive there; It could be the drive itself that's bad.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built by me
    CPU
    Haswell i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1 Sniper 5 (BIOS F9)
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 gig (1866MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9-280 Vapor X
    Sound Card
    Soundblaster ZXR
    Monitor(s) Displays
    NEC PA242W - 24 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 512gig 850 Pro SSD (OS), Samsung 256gig 840 Pro SSD (photo editing), Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB HD
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000 G2
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF X
    Cooling
    Corsair H100i Closed Loop Cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance MX
    Internet Speed
    High Speed
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
    Other Info
    RAM Speed: 1866MHZ @ 9-10-10-27-2T, 1.5v
Then try different ports and/or different cables. And if you have another PC try the drive there; It could be the drive itself that's bad.

as I mentioned in my previous posts:

It all works on all my other machines including one with Win 8.0...

(I do not have another machine with Win 8.1)

I also tried all the other ports, front and back, on the machine in question - first thing I did - same symptoms... Anything else plugged into those ports work fine, including mice, keyboards, usb sticks, etc...

--ch
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7, 8.0, 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7
    Motherboard
    ASUS
    Memory
    16-32
    Graphics Card(s)
    Quadro
Well other than suggesting you may have a bad drive, I'm out of suggestions.

Good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built by me
    CPU
    Haswell i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1 Sniper 5 (BIOS F9)
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 gig (1866MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9-280 Vapor X
    Sound Card
    Soundblaster ZXR
    Monitor(s) Displays
    NEC PA242W - 24 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 512gig 850 Pro SSD (OS), Samsung 256gig 840 Pro SSD (photo editing), Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB HD
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000 G2
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF X
    Cooling
    Corsair H100i Closed Loop Cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance MX
    Internet Speed
    High Speed
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
    Other Info
    RAM Speed: 1866MHZ @ 9-10-10-27-2T, 1.5v
If your Ultra is USB 3.0, and you have a USB 2.0 port available on the PC, try plugging it in to the USB 2.0 port to see if a drive letter is assigned. If not, check Disk Management to see if it is recognized.......after that, I don't have any further suggestions.........

Good luck and Happy New Year!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
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    ASUS CM6870-us012s
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    16 GB DDR3 at 1333 MHz
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    Realtek High Definition Audio
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    1680 x 1050
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    16-1 Card Reader:
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    ASUS
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    IBM PS/2
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    Blu-ray Disk Combo
    2 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0 front; 4 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0 back
    Video output: 1 DVI-D, 1 HDMI-Out, 1 VGA (D-Sub)-Out
    LAN: wired (10/100/1000) and wireless (802.11 b/g/n)
If your Ultra is USB 3.0, and you have a USB 2.0 port available on the PC, try plugging it in to the USB 2.0 port to see if a drive letter is assigned. If not, check Disk Management to see if it is recognized.......after that, I don't have any further suggestions.........

Good luck and Happy New Year!

Already suggested....

Anyway go into Disk Management and check to see that the drive is showing and it has a drive letter. It it's showing but has no drive letter, assign one and your issue should be resolved.

If the drive isn't showing, make sure your cables are good, and not too long as this will also cause the drive not to show up.

Good luck.

Also suggested trying different ports - post #4
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built by me
    CPU
    Haswell i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1 Sniper 5 (BIOS F9)
    Memory
    Corsair Dominator Platinum 32 gig (1866MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire R9-280 Vapor X
    Sound Card
    Soundblaster ZXR
    Monitor(s) Displays
    NEC PA242W - 24 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1200
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 512gig 850 Pro SSD (OS), Samsung 256gig 840 Pro SSD (photo editing), Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB HD
    PSU
    EVGA Supernova 1000 G2
    Case
    Cooler Master HAF X
    Cooling
    Corsair H100i Closed Loop Cooler
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech Performance MX
    Internet Speed
    High Speed
    Browser
    IE11
    Antivirus
    Norton Security
    Other Info
    RAM Speed: 1866MHZ @ 9-10-10-27-2T, 1.5v
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