My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 keeps randomly disconnecting. HELP!

I am having an extremely frustrating problem with my Passport drive.  It seemingly remdomly disconnects then immediately reconnects which interrupts the file transfers.  Sometimes it runs for one minute, sometimes for 20 minutes, but it almost always disconnects before the transfer is complete.  I am attempting to transfer several very large files that total about 1TB. 

I am running a Dell XPS 13 with W7.  I have the My Passport 2TB USB 3.0 external #WDBY8L0020BBK-01.

Here is what I have done to try to remedy the problem so far:

  • Exchanged the drive.  I thought it was faulty so I exchanged it for a new one.  Same exact problem. 

  • Updated the driver for my computers USB controller which is a “Fresco Logic xHCI (USB3) Controller FL1009 Series”.  I am running driver version 3.5.73.0 for it.

  • Went into control panel and set power settings to “maximum performance”.

  • Went into control panel and prevented Windows from “suspending” the drive.

  • Went to the properties of the USB controller and attempted to uncheck “allow computer to turn this device off to save power” but the computer rechecks the box with every reboot.

  • Installed the software that came on the drive from WD factory and ran the firmware updater. 

  • Changed the sleep setting on the drive to “never” in the WD software package.

Here are the details of the problem as I know it so far.  I only have 2 USB ports, a 2.0 on the left and a 3.0 on the right.  I am transferring files from an old 2.0 external to my new Passport 3.0.  When I plug them into their respective ports I get the terrible random disconnects.  When I reverse the plugs (plug the 3.0 in to the 2.0 plug and visa versa) I don’t get disconnects, but I only get 2.0 speed.  This was all done trying to transfer from one external directly to the other. 

If I move a large file from the 2.0 drive to the hard drive on my laptop then attempt to transfer it to the 3.0 (through the 3.0 port) I still get the terrible random disconnects. 

I am at my wits end with this problem.  I have been on google all day trying different combinations of things with no success.  The drive is virtually unusable in the 3.0 port.  Please help!

Try contacting support for this

Hello There,

Please post your solution to this problem once you get it fixed please. I am having the same problem and have also been on google for a couple days.

Thanks,

I contacted support by email on Wednesday and received a reply today.  They requested my address so that they can send me a new USB cable. 

Two things about that. 

  1. I live in a small country in the Caribbean right now so I wonder if they are going to mail it internationally for me.

  2. I don’t think it is the cable since I had everything replaced once already.  I exchanged the first drive I had because it was doing the same thing. 

So I guess we will see if they mail me the cable and if it fixes the problem.  I seriously doubt it will but I will follow their instructions.  They also suggested I run the test found here:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940

So I am currently in the middle of that.  Be aware that this test runs about 6 hours on a 2TB drive.  I will keep you updated with my progress. 

I contacted them as well a couple weeks ago. They also suggested they were going to send me a new cable. From the research I have done there seems to be a “power” loss issue with the USB 3.0 yet another site says the fresco logic driver 3.5.24.0 works fine without an issue. I have not tried it myself.

Thanks for keeping me posted, seems like everyone is having this issue.

I (knock on wood) think I have the problem fixed. 

I tried to roll back my driver to 3.5.24.0 but the computer wouldn’t let me.  So I completely uninstalled the USB controller to the point that it didn’t show up in device manager at all.  Then I restarted the computer and let it do its thing.  It automatically detected that “new” hardware was found and installed the driver autimatically.  The machine came with 3.5.45.0 (if my memory serves me), but after the complete uninstall the computer automatically installed 3.5.20.0. 

I transferred about 50gb back and forth a few times from the 3.0 drive (through the problematic 3.0 port) with no problems.  I am currently transferring about 170gb from my 2.0 drive to the new 3.0 drive with them both plugged into the proper port and halfway through there is no disconnect.  I am still going to take up supports offer of the free cable since I can’t be sure this is fixed until I do several more transfers but I would suggest doing what I did. 

After several long days of banging my head against the wall I hope this is it.  I also want to set the power plan back to “balanced” since the “high performance” is sucking my battery dry in record time.  I will keep you updated with my progress. 

A SOLUTION HAS BEEN FOUND AND REQUIRES NO ADDITIONAL PURCHASES!

You all can thank Ayssl3  for this fix.

1) Went to Control Panel

2) Change view by to Small icons (View by is in the top right corner)

3)Go to Power Options

4)Then Click “Change plan settings” for the power plan you are using (text is in blue)

5)Then Click “Change advanced power settings” (text is in blue)

6)Then another window will pop-up. Scroll down and look for “USB settings”

7)If you click the little plus on left of USB settings, “USB selective suspend setting” will appear

8)Press the little plus next to “USB selective suspend setting” as well and “On battery:” and “Plugged in:” will appear

9)It should say DISABLED so switch it to DISABLED for both “On battery” and “Plugged in”

10)Then press Apply and then OK (Unless you want to configure other plans as well.

11) If you want to configure other plans that you use, leave that window open and Click the down arrow next to whatever plan you are active on (it will say something like this: Power4Gear Entertainment [Active]    ^). If you click the down arrow next to that other plans will drop down. Just click whichever ones you use and set them to DISABLE.

 

Switching it to Disabled will solve the problem.

I appreciate your follow-up, however I had tried this and it didn’t work. 

The driver roll-back that I mentioned in my previous post was the solution to the problem.  Crazy that I had to roll back to a driver that was already outdated when my computer was released but that is what fixed the problem.  Anyone having similar problems should check drivers and consider rolling back to the earliest available driver they can find.  Test it then update one version at a time until it stops working.  Go back to the last version and leave it at that. 

Hope this helps someone out there!

Hi there - sorry to ressurect a somewhat old post, but I am having exactly the same issue.

Interestingly, I have been attempting to do exactly the same thing as kyroguy - transfer large files from a USB 2.0 drive to the new WD My Passport 2tb USB 3.0 drive, plugged into the USB 3.0 port. I  have a similar USB 3.0 controller - Fresco Logic xHCI (USB3) Controller FL1000 Series. The drive’s firmware is up to date, and all power management is disabled (and always has been).

The fix for me has been to update the Fresco Logic xHCI (USB3) Controller driver to version 3.5.30.0 - but this is not the newest version, and as kyroguy pointed out, newer versions of the driver caused the same problem. So it seems there is a narrow range of Fresco Logic driver versions that properly support this drive - older versions and newer versions of the driver do not work.

I would suggest rolling back to the oldest driver that I mentioned. Mine have been flawless since that change.

kyroguy, is it driver version 3.5.20.0 or 3.5.2.0 ?

i just bought my passport 2tb. i have the same problem, i can’t watch movie because it always disconnect! so anoying!!! pls help! 

Tell us a bit about your setup (motherboard, laptop, usb controller, whatever you can find out. I have solved this problem for myself and dozens of others found this to work for them. I describe the problem and solution here:

http://www.npcglib.org/~stathis/blog/2013/03/01/hardware-problem-western-digital-my-passport-usb-3-0-disconnects-randomly/

Let us know what happens. gl

SOLVED!  :smiley:

Received this registry fix from fresco logic and finally problem is gone

Download this registry fix which was sent to me by fresco logic tech support. double click to install (add to registry) and REBOOT. This is a power management feature that is malfunctioning and the registry add fixes it. I had tried EVERYTHING to fix this for months and this is the only thing that works. No need to use outdated drivers any more…> [Deleted - Trancer]

If you are having this problem with your WD external drives on a USB 3 hub made by Fresco Logic, the below fix was sent to me by Fresco Logic Tech Support and solved the problem immediately.  Those that have different USB Hubs in their computers should take caution in using the below fix.  

OK. SO  I’ve been told to warn users of the potential risk in using a registry file edit due to the fact that everyone’s systems are not the same:  USE THIS DOWNLOADED FILE AT YOUR OWN RISK. WD is not responsible for any problems someone may have in using this linked file.  THAT being said.  I have used it and this thing completely solved the problem for me in disconnecting drives that are connected to the fresco logic USB Hubs out there.  The file was sent to me directly from FRESCO LOGIC support.  and lo and behold it worked!  PLEASE USE THIS FILE AT YOUR OWN RISK!   I know it worked perfectly for me, but may not for you… although I believe it will likely work for most people having this specific problem.   https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_8dnVBTREGMeEFVclZ1WUNpUVk/edit?usp=sharing

To use: once downloaded, double click on the registry edit file to install (add to registry) and REBOOT. This is a power management feature in FRESCO LOGIC’s USB 3 Hub that is malfunctioning and the registry add fixes it. I had tried EVERYTHING to fix this for months and this is the only thing that works. No need to use outdated drivers from fresco anymore.   

Below is the email I received from tech support at FRESCO LOGIC regarding the problem and the file he sent to me that solved the problem:  

Dear Sir,

I am sorry to hear that you are encountering problems with your Fresco controller.

It sounds like you may be experiencing a device-specific issue associated with power management. Power management has been enabled more aggressively in these recent drivers, which would explain why you are seeing this issue with our most up-to-date software.

I have attached a registry setting file that will disable some of the device power management features. Please enable the registry setting by unzipping the attached file and double-clicking the resulting .reg script.

Please do let us know if this resolves your issue or not.

Sincerely,

Fresco Support Team

Just to give an idea of what this problem has caused me these last few months: My WD passport 2TB drives were CONSTANTLY disconnecting mid file transfer while I tried to use them on my USB 3 port on my laptop. The USB 3 drives from WD I have were completely useless to me as I could not use them on my fresco logic USB 3 hub. I had contacted ASUS tech support about the problem, they eventually advised me to update my laptop’s bios to a version that was (unbeknownst to me) known to brick people’s laptops.  Sure enough the bios update completely bricked my laptop.  I couldn’t even power it on.  So I had to send it in to ASUS for repairs that ended up costing me $200  and was out of a laptop for about a month.  This is the kind of headaches that result from bad drivers and support from large companies.  Now I can say definitively that this fix has finally been the thing to work after all the headaches.  Fresco Logic (the maker of the USB root hubs that are having the most problems is now very aware of the issue and told me they are going to work on a fix for this in their future driver updates.  Good luck… hope this helps. :smiley: