WD My Book Essential not working

If it doesn’t show in Disk Management and you have tried a different USB cable no longer than the one supplied and don’t use a hub it maybe a problem with the bridge board. Also try plugging the drive directly into the wall instead of a surge protector. If it is a bad board about the only thing to try is finding one on Ebay. This explains a bit about the boards  http://community.wd.com/t5/Off-Topic-Discussions/Bridge-Boards/td-p/353839

Joe