I have had a similar issue with my World Edition II. It would be there, but I could not view or connect to anything. I was suddenly losing connection. It was like the drives were spinning down or something. Sometimes a reboot would work and sometimes not. Even though I set it to a static IP address it did not matter much. The drive was timing out, I could not connect to it, not even the admin page. I tried a factory reset of the admin/network settings and that did nothing for the connection issue. It seemed that the power supply was going bad. I know it sounds like an unlikely source, but as soon as I bought a new (non-WD) adapter off of eBay my problems suddenly disappeared. My guess is that the capicators in the WD adapter are going bad and the drives are not spinning up or able to hold power during use, hence the disconnects. It is worth a shot. It worked for me.
Shortly after I posted, WD contacted me via phone. Someone from their level 3 tech support. After spending an hour on the phone with him going over my configuration and my troubleshooting tactics, he deduced it could be the power adaptor. I remembered reading somewhere on a post that adaptors go bad after awhile. I had tried a different one, but it just wasnt cutting it. The drive vibrated and spun for a little bit - but the white light wouldn’t move. I tried resetting it Several times. You name it - I tried it.
We had two power outages right before this became as bad as it did. I dont have a UPS. I have/had a powerful media surge protector. I just learned that one outage (brown out), and they are done protecting. They become like a power strip.
WD sent me a replacement adaptor. I plugged the unit directly into the wall as a test. The white light started to move up and down - but then stopped. We came to the conclusion the drive died. I had it for 1 year.
WD took care of me though !!! A completely different technical support person contacted me.
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In the meantime, my business has been suffering. I suppose its my fault for not having a redundant backup system. Lesson learned.
If I have to backup in 5 different locations - cloud, raid, and whatever, just so I can survive a bad drive/power outage/short - whatever caused this it will be worth it. I have a lot of real angry clients !!!