My “My Book” is less than 48 hours old. First backup (SmartWare 1.4.5.2) OK
Updated Firmware - OK.
Tried to update SmartWare - to 1.5.4.8. Mistake. Failed.
Interestingly, every time I try to run the .msi I get an error 1603. But checking the version number recorded in Windows Error Viewer shows a vs. # increase. So I’m going to keep trying. (I have reported to Support by email anyway!)
To achieve these upticks in the the vs. # I have had to disable all WD Services and Processes - and disconnect the External drive.
Windows continues to show plenty of errors and “information” in the Event Viewer Log of course.
Meanwhile the Drive is unusable. Smartware reports far less is on the drive than I can see from Explorer. Backup & Retrieve are grayed out and there is now a drop down box replacing the two drive representations. No way to click and select the My Book to bring the Backup and Retrieve tabs to life.
No problems with CPU so far - Could that be because the Software is not working?
As someone reported earlier in this thread - a clear case of misrepresentaion. As for fitness for purpose ???
I will watch this thread and report any progress - even if I give up and switch to anothe backup program!
I joined this forum last Sunday night and have made only a few posts concerning how bad the Smartware was and that my CPU was running at 100% and all of the RAM was being used. Yesterday afternoon out of the clear blue I received an unsolicited call from a level 2 tech support person at WD while I was standing on a line in my neighborhood post office. WD had read my posts and he called to correct the issue. I requested that he call me at home later in the evening as the issue was with my home computer. He called as promised and I allowed him access to my computer. He corrected the issue and now everything is back to normal. I am backing up like it should be able to do, not using any RAM to speak of and the CPU usage is under 5%.
If you registered for this forum I hope that you included a contact phone number as they reached out to me without receiving a single call from me first.
I am not sure why western digital releases versions without properly testing.
I am running windows xp sp3 and it is failing just like you described.
These are not just us. A few days ago, there was a product review in NYTimes for WD MybookLive and the reviewer said installing stuff and really configuring for this product is not easy. I had a lot of trouble when I first bought it. I thought I am over the hump, not this nonsense again.
When you download stuff from Apple, Microsoft, it installs without pain. Why is it not so Western Digital?
Shall i go back to the old version? I do not like wasting weekends like a fool.
…A few days ago, there was a product review in NYTimes for WD MybookLive and the reviewer said installing stuff and really configuring for this product is not easy.
Staying with vs. 1.4.5.2 seems to be working for me (For now?) 1.5.4.8 did not.
1.4.5.2 was what came with the drive. After a full uninstal of the update (Using free Revo uninstaller). I reinstalled the older software and am ignoring WD’s info that a new update is available - at least until I see solutions in this forum or direct from WD.
No issues with CPU or memory usage at the moment - although it’s a bit heavy for a while when I first unlock the drive. To be fair, I am a heavy user of large graphic files. (17GB of new files last Sunday) So I would expect some pretty heavy CPU & read/write activity on start up.
No contact from WD and I am not willing to post my cell phone number.
I Downloaded update and tried to install it and it failed. (citing error 1603-please try again or contact support)
Tried to install again - same results.
I then rebooted and tried to open WDSmartware thinking the previous version would run - nothing !
Tried to uninstall - that failed - citing a script error in some file.
I am now locked out of my WD drive since WD Smartware won’t run to allow me to enter my setup password.
Thanks for nothing but headaches!
I have emailed “Support” and received a reply stating that they must call me on the phone to help me through the problem. Give me a break!! Does WD ever generate software that is ready to use or can they provide a fix for what appears to be a common problem??
I believe it is time to relegate WD hardware/software to a yard sale and look for a good Seagate setup
By the way, I have - Windows 7 Home Premium x64 with all updates…
I also am wondering just exactly what version this update is supposed to be…the download is named 1.5.4.11b and during the failed installation, there is reference to 1.5.4.5 and 1.5.4.8 ???
I recently got a new computer running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and I also am now having even more issues than I did on my old computer.
I tried this version and it failed miserably so I went back to 1.5.1.6. Now that version too has greyed out backup and restore tabs. The My Book Essential is attached and the activity light is blinking but WDSmartware is no longer able to find it. I am sure that it is not backing up my files any more.
I see another post (2 weeks ago) that suggests that a new update 1.6 should be released soon. When is soon?
I presume you have the Backup and Retrieve tabs but they are greyed out (an unexplained feature of the latest software). The Home tab should have an icon for your computer and, to the right of it, an icon for your WD external Drive. Click on the icon for the WD Drive and, after a few seconds, the Backup and Retrieve tabs should become active and cease to be greyed out.
I’ve seen nothing recently from WD about the release of SW 1.6.
