My Passport recognized as Initio Combo Device Class

My problem:

  I have a 1Tb My Passport SE external drive that is recognized as an Initio Combo Device.  I realize that this is probably due to my firmware being corrupt so Windows (xp and Windows 7) reads the bridge device rather than the drive itself.  I’ve been reading forum after forum the past few days and have tried many possible solutions but I feel that I am stuck with a bricked HD.

System(s): I’ve used two different laptops with different operating systems and get the same result

  - Laptop 1

     - HP Pavilion DV1000

      - Windows XP (SP3)

     - Laptop 2

        - Eee Mini PC

         - Windows 7 Home edition

* NOTE - The HD worked on both computers before

Things that I have tried so far:

  - Four different cables (3 different types of cables)

   - Uninstall/Reinstall - keeps coming up with Initio Combo Device Class

   - Looked for HD on device manager/Disk Management - Didn’t show up as drive on either one

    - Opened services (local) and ensured that “plug and play” and “removable storage” was enabled and started

   - Firmware update using WD Firmware Updater

      - Didn’t work.  I got this message:  "WD Firmware Updater is unable to determine the appropriate firmware for your

         drive."

    - dismantle the drive and remove the HD from the SATA adapter.

        - The SATA adapter is built in to the HD so it is impossible to remove the HD from the adapter.

I know it is this specific HD and not my computers because I have three other my passport HDs (same model number) that work just fine.  This one I let a friend borrow and it came back in this condition.  My friend doesn’t know what he did, but he did replace my HD which was nice of him.  I just want to get the data from it.  Is this possible or have I exhausted all possibilities?

  Thank you in advance!

v/r

Griz

Hello,

I think you have exhausted all the trouble shooting techniques, I’ll suggest you to contact a data recovery company in order to retrieve the data.

there is only one poster fzabkar that has any real understanding of those boards. He has helped some of those up to the technical part identify and fix the problem. Other than that the only option is professional data recovery which is expensive.

Joe

TxAxZxZ wrote:

My problem:

  I have a 1Tb My Passport SE external drive that is recognized as an Initio Combo Device.  I realize that this is probably due to my firmware being corrupt so Windows (xp and Windows 7) reads the bridge device rather than the drive itself.  I’ve been reading forum after forum the past few days and have tried many possible solutions but I feel that I am stuck with a bricked HD.

 

System(s): I’ve used two different laptops with different operating systems and get the same result

  - Laptop 1

     - HP Pavilion DV1000

      - Windows XP (SP3)

 

     - Laptop 2

        - Eee Mini PC

         - Windows 7 Home edition

 

* NOTE - The HD worked on both computers before

 

 

Things that I have tried so far:

 

  - Four different cables (3 different types of cables)

   - Uninstall/Reinstall - keeps coming up with Initio Combo Device Class

   - Looked for HD on device manager/Disk Management - Didn’t show up as drive on either one

    - Opened services (local) and ensured that “plug and play” and “removable storage” was enabled and started

   - Firmware update using WD Firmware Updater

      - Didn’t work.  I got this message:  "WD Firmware Updater is unable to determine the appropriate firmware for your

         drive."

    - dismantle the drive and remove the HD from the SATA adapter.

        - The SATA adapter is built in to the HD so it is impossible to remove the HD from the adapter.

 

 

I know it is this specific HD and not my computers because I have three other my passport HDs (same model number) that work just fine.  This one I let a friend borrow and it came back in this condition.  My friend doesn’t know what he did, but he did replace my HD which was nice of him.  I just want to get the data from it.  Is this possible or have I exhausted all possibilities?

  Thank you in advance!

v/r

 

Griz

 

 

 

I sent you a PM.

Hi TxAxZxZ

Did you manage to sort out the problem with your external drive?  If you have found a fix for it then please let me know how you fixed it.

My WD external drive just did the same thing today :frowning: It was working fine when I used it last night but this morning it came up as an Initio Combo Device and I cannot access it…

Please help!! I am not sure whether it was some sort of windows update that upsets the driver for it but up until yesterday it has been working very well.

Thanks,

Hieu

It sounds like the circuit board is bad. If the drive is under warranty call customer service.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for quick response.

When you say the circuit board is bad, what do you mean by that?  I have power to the drive, its light is on and the hdd seems to be spinning.  But I can’t see it anywhere on my computer.

It’s the board the USB port is connected to. The only person that has any real understanding of these boards is fzabkar look at his posts or PM him.

Joe

Joe,

Thanks for the info.  If thats the case I will open up the case and remove the sata to usb adapter then connect it directly to my pc to see if it that works

Joe,

Thanks for you response earlier.

I have managed to get my western digital 2.5" drive to work again.  I removed it from the plastic case, took off the sata to usb adapter and connected it directly to my motherboard.  Started up my desktop and it was recognised as a drive straight away :slight_smile: finally I can get the data off my drive.

Regards,

Hieu

I had the same problem - drive recognised as Initio Combo Device Class. Almost gave up on it. Then I noticed that the drive spins for a few seconds after power on - but only if it has been disconnected from mains for a while. I then connected it to the usb port BEFORE powering the drive up. Bingo! recognised immediately. The key is for the usb port to recognise the drive while it is still spinning, once it stops then the Initio controller is found.

So procedure:

While it is plugged in and recognised as Initio device, go to device manager, right click Initio controller and select uninstall. Then unplug from usb immediately after confirming.

Leave drive for an hour or two disconnected from mains.

Plug drive into usb

Connect to mains and listen for drive to spin up. If it is like mine it will then be recognised as a drive and keep spinning. If it shuts down it will then be recognised as Initio again. Good luck!