The response I got from support for my elite was ‘RMA the unit’.
If I knew a simple firmware update would cause this much trouble I would not have purchased from WD in the first place.
It smacks of bad software QA.
I´ve had the same problem. Try to reinstall the firmware. Unplug all USB leave only WD and run firmware updater once again. Restart PC then unplug USB and power cord from WD. After that everything went good with my WD.
Hope it helped. 
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Well I run into the same problems today with my 1 tb drive. The firmware update worked, but the new Smartware (Huh, smart??) just vanished from the system after installation. It even said it was installed. (Yeah it did, but only for the time the installation was running…)
But I was so lucky to keep my previous updates (firmware and smartware) on my system. So I first went back to firmware level 2.003, which updated smoothly. After that I tried the new Smartware, but still nothing on my system… So I also installed Smartware 1.2.1.26. Also no problem.
So now it is all working again, but what a mess is this! I cannot believe this has been tested properly!!
Regards
Frans
When you unplug and replug the power from your My Book while it remains plugged into the USB, The “CD Drive WD Smartware” Autoplay comes up. If you just say “open to view files”, you get “CD Drive WD Smartware” under “Devices with Removable Storage” but no My Book, eventhough the “Driver Software Installation” window from down at the taskbar says “WD MY Book is Ready to use”. If you say “Run WD SmartWare.exe” rather than “open to view files” when the “CD Drive WD Smartware” Autoplay comes up after you unplug and replug the power, the WD SmartWare prompt comes up from inside your My Book where you can then unlock your Book. You wil lnotice that the WD SES Device is what takes so long to complete installation. What is it? Perhaps this is what becomes the initio combo device. Do any of the support guys at WD actually use a Book?
I had the same problem after updating the firmware v.2.010 and the Smartware 1.4.1.1. My Book Elite (1 TB) and the VCD failed to be recognized, even after restarting the computer. The password was entered, but not disabled, prior to performing these.
What i did:
I re-ran the firmware update, then unplugged both the USB connector and power supply from the WD drive. The power button (on the back) was also pressed (but I don’t know if that is critical). The cables were left unplugged for at least 20 seconds, then re-connected. The computer recognized the new hardware (My Book Elite & VCD) and they now function properly.
At least you guys were able to download the firmware update.
Mine has been downloading for about three hours now and the updater still says don’t disconnect anything the download is still in progress.
I’m sure something is wrong but I’m afraid to stop the download.
unlike most of you, i’ve had my mybook esential for several months. it is a 2tb and i had 75% of it used up. i had a 1tb for a year before getting a newer one. i have never upgrading anything in all of that time, but for some reason, tonight i did and after updating the firmware, my computer restarted itself and when it came back up, my mybook wasn’t recognized. thank **bleep** i found this thread! i did what many of you recommended and re-installed the firmware and disconnected everything for about 20 secs and once reconnected, everything is working again, and i was also pleasantly surprised to find that all my stuff was still there as well, i had a sinking feeling that all of my things would be erased, but praise sweet little non-existent baby jesus that it was all still intact… THANK YOU ALL!!!
That’s why you need to have more than one copy. Glad you lucked out a lot haven’t. A lot of them backed up to external then deleted from PC.
Joe
I was experiencing the exact symptoms you describe. I switched out the cable and it now works. The cable tha didn’t worked was thinner and flimsy, the one that did work was well insulated thicker - in other words, I’m not sure if the cable broke or if it’s the wiring or pin-outs or something else; but, a different cable fixed the problem.
I spent hours trying to figure out what went wrong. I unpacked the My Book Essential, installed and updated Firmware and voila I could not set my drivers, I could do a backup - I was so frustrated. I searched and searched on the internet until I finally found the right search words…
wd my book Initio Combo Device Class - that led me to this website. So I am here to say - Update the software again and unplug for 30 to 30 seconds. Unplug the USB from computer and External Hard Drive. Unplug the AC Adapter. Replug everything, the correct driver will be installed and presto you are in business! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HAAAALEEEEELUUUUUUJAAAAAAAH!
It works like a charm! :smileyvery-happy:
Yes, it works. Just got new laptop with W7 Enterprise, so I cannot stop antivirus, etc. I kept getting the parsing error – was ms.net framework issue. WD site states that latest firmware works with 3.5, not 4.0. New computer came with 4.0; I re-installed 3.5. I re-installed firmware, and power-cycled WD drive (my book essential 1.5T). THEN, I turned OFF the virtual CD in settings, and power cycled again. Now I can see the other programs and info beyond back-up. All seems to be working fine again.
Downloaded firware updater Rev 2.018 and tried to patch my WDBook 2TB drive. This is attached to my iMac-i7 and it’s the only thing attached per the instructions. Even rebooted the iMac before starting.
It’s been running for over 2 hours now. The message says “Updating drive, please do not disconnect or disrupt power to the drive” and the CPU shows at least 3 cores maxed out since it started. Something must be happening because different cores load and unload but there’s no indication of how far along in the process. I’ve never seen any kind of patch take this long, I could have copied the entire contents of the drive by now.
It would be nice if the online instructions had some indication of how long a ‘normal’ patch should take.
Anyone actually successfully apply this update? If so, how long did it take?
I don’t know much about Macs but a while ago there was a firmware update and it had to be ran on Windows not Mac to work. http://community.wdc.com/t5/External-Drives-for-Mac/My-Passport-for-Mac-frimware-update-problem/td-p/17742/page/5
Use 8/16 by screwedconsumer #47 I don’t know if it applies to your mac or not. Posting there might get more notice.
Joe
After 5 hours of fairly heavy CPU load with no progress, I cancelled the firmware update, rebooted and tried again. This time the progress bar came up and it only took a couple of minutes for the update to complete.
Lesson learned: If the firmware update takes more than a few minutes and the updater doesn’t give you any feedback, it might be caught in some kind of loop. Exit and try again.
My WD MyBook Essentials 2TB drive is now at firware 2.018, WD SmartWare software version 1.3.2.5.
Reference page: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/wdsmartwareupdate/Step1.asp?id=wdfMB_Essential&os=mac
My feelings on these firmweare updates is if it ain’t broke don’t fixit. Unless your having issues that need to be fixed or it is security related I wouldn’t be in a hurry to update firmware. I fried my video card earlier this year graabbing the newest driver for it. It had a bug in it and messed up the fan speed.
Joe
I have the “Passport Essential”. Used it once to perform backup. several months later I went to do another backup, and it came up with “Initio…” I first checked their web site, and found this model is not supported for firmware under their matrix. I tried another small cable with the same bad result on two other computers. I Googled the problem, which brought me here, and I started to panic, as I thought I bought a lemon! Called Tech Support who asked me try a few things. They determined the drive was bad and asked me send it back for replacement. I decided to try a different thicker cable for my Harmony Remote, and it worked! The original WD cable was no longer working!..go figure.
