My Passport wireless Wifi dead

I have a My Passport wireless that up until Yesterday worked perfectly. Today wifi doesn’t work. The wifi LED is blue but it is impossible to find the Wifi with any device I try. I have tried resetting the drive but that did nothing.
When pressing the WPS button the wifi network do turn up but when trying to connect I get “unable to connect to MyPassport”.

Is the drive defective or is there something I can do?

Too soon to declare the MPW defective, since the blue wifi light is lit, meaning it is transmitting.

Also, what exactly do you mean by saying you “reset” the device?  Do you mean you reset / restored it to factory defaults using the two-button press for 10 seconds while the unit was ON?  If so, then the MPW needs to be completely set up from scratch again as if it was brand new. 

Yes, I have done the two-button reset to factory defaults. Didn’t help.
Not possible to set it up from scratch as no wireless network is present to connect to.

Mine did the same thing.  WD rma’d it  Seems like it should be working but working with phone support, never was able to get it  to come back to life.  And at the time mine failed, I only had it less than one month. Reliability is questionable IMO, with all the passport drives.

OK, too bad.  Suggest you call WD support on Monday.  if possible, be sure you updated the firmware before calling.  The original firmware had many bugs.  I don’t think you need wifi for this.  I use the SD card method to install…Also, get it away from any other electrical interferrence – that was an issue for me at setup.

I also have this problem.  I have had MPW since Nov 2014, it has been working perfectly.  Now I am unable to find the MyPassport network on any of my devices. I had it set up to automatically import from an SD card but since I tried a reset it doesn’t seem to do this. I presume that I am now unable to update the firmware from SD.  All very disappointing.  Any suggestions?

Out of a interest, if you have an android smartphone / tablet then its very worthwhile to install a couple of free apps which may help you find out what the problem might be if the mypassport WiFi is not found.

One is a WiFi analyser which shows if the device is outputting a WiFi signal

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en_GB

The other one is a network analyser which shows you all the devices on your network and their network addresses. You can then scan a device and connect to it from within the app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.overlook.android.fing&hl=en_GB

marilynabdulla wrote:

I also have this problem.  I have had MPW since Nov 2014, it has been working perfectly.  Now I am unable to find the MyPassport network on any of my devices. I had it set up to automatically import from an SD card but since I tried a reset it doesn’t seem to do this. I presume that I am now unable to update the firmware from SD.  All very disappointing.  Any suggestions?

Did you do the reset because you could not see it on your network?

Was it configured so that anybody on your network could see the hard drive?

If you scan for WiFi networks on your PC etc can you see the my passport WiFi output?

Another wifi app for Android is WiFi Analyzer which I use frequently to see ALL the wifi signals in my vicinity.  There is not a comperablr app for Apple iOS devices.

Also, can the OP tell us how they “reset” their MPW?

I’m having a similar problem: have had MPW for several months, went to use it today and got flashing red leds, loaded firmware 1.04.06, both PC and iOS device see MyPassport wifi, but I can’t connect to it.  Reset password by pressing power and WSP buttons, still no go.  Don’t know if problem is hdwr failure, firmware or ??  Any idea welcome, have to get resolved tomorrow, departing on long trip.  Thanks.

I can’t find the wi-fi output, using my PC, my iPad or my mobile phone.  I was able to update the firmware from SD following the very clear instructions, but it made no difference.  I have now been in touch with support and they say to send it back for replacement.  I am a little concerned that it says under the factory warranty you only get a refurbished drive not a new one - does anyone have experience of this?

I sometimes have a little trouble connecting, or seeing the MPW Wi-Fi network. When I do, I just hold the Wi-Fi WPS button on the MPW until the blue Wi-Fi LED starts flashing, then try to connect again. That has always worked so far. Try it.

Rod, I think the user guide says that the MPW can go to a sleep mode if not being used a while and shuts off the wifi to save power, and this is the remedy if the signal goes away.

I did that too, but no change.  I have now sent my device back for replacement, but interesting to read about other people with the same problem. 

I originally bought MPW to use during a 3 week trip to Australia last year whan I knew I would be taking lots of photos.  I wanted to be able to back up my SD cards to a hard drive, and also do some basic editing using my iPad.  The MPW was ideal for this and I was very pleased with it.  The current problem occurred a couple of weeks ago when we were on holiday in Scotland and I wanted to do the same things again, but was unable to find the network.  I was extremely disappointed as had been looking forward to spending time in the evenings playing with photos and uploading some to Facebook etc.  Hopefully the replacement will have a longer useful life!

mike27oct wrote:

Rod, I think the user guide says that the MPW can go to a sleep mode if not being used a while and shuts off the wifi to save power, and this is the remedy if the signal goes away.

I probably read that at some time Mike. Now I just do it because it works. :laughing:

When it happens though both blue lights are on, so it isn’t indicating that the Wi-Fi has turned off, which is a bit annoying. In fact it has even happened when the MPW was on power and connected to my home network, I think. I haven’t taken specific note.

I think it stops advertising its SSID, which would also conserve a little power, even if it is connected to my home network. Wi-Fi adapters are definitely capable of doing this. It shouldn’t matter when I am trying to reconnect to the MPW from my iPhone, as the iPhone already knows the network connection details. But perhaps the MPW stops listening for new connections as well. Again, adapters can do that.

So, I just press the button to get it to start advertising the SSID again, which it does when you start the WPS process.

There have been a few people report this problem now. Not enough to say it is going to happen with all MPWs though. I hope it isn’t an indication of a fatal weakness they can all potentially suffer. Cheap Wi-Fi adapters can be notoriously bad for strange failure modes.

You hace it on the home network now?  :wink:  Mine Has done this too on home network once in a whike and I will have to remember this tip. 

Don’t use MPW on home network much these days since I got a WD DL2100 My Cloud NAS/Raid box.  Very cool and very fast.

mike27oct wrote:

You hace it on the home network now?  :wink: 

Cheeky man! :stuck_out_tongue:

Yes, it has been on the home network almost since the start. I have it sit on charge ready to go when required, and if turned on, it connects to the network.

Actually, I mostly leave it turned on to answer questions here. Otherwise it is off and charging. But it is handy to have it on sometimes, so I can connect to it from anywhere in the house, and for all the other reasons you have given in the past!

I have received my replacement MPW.  It appears to be a new unit, all boxed up etc and seems to work perfectly.  I will be very careful with it, to avoid any knocks etc - not that I ill-treated the old one - and I hope that it will give a long service as it is perfect for my needs.  Thanks for speedy replacement and helpful correspondence with WD and this forum.

I have the same problem 

I tried NET ANALIZER app on my iPad and I it didn’t detect my MPW even the blue led of the wifi was on !!! It means that my MPW is not emmiting WIFI when the wifi blue led is on !!!

what should I do ??? Please help!!

thank you 

Achraf wrote:

I have the same problem 

I tried NET ANALIZER app on my iPad and I it didn’t detect my MPW even the blue led of the wifi was on !!! It means that my MPW is not emmiting WIFI when the wifi blue led is on !!!

what should I do ??? Please help!!

thank you 

Did you try other devices like a computer in order to confirm if it was a device-specific issue?