Western Digital WD5000G032 World Edition (Blue Rings) - Not Powering Up - No blue rings

Hi there,

I have a WD5000G032 that is having problems. I can power up the unit and hear the drive spin up but the blue rings on the front panel do not illuminate. Also the ethernet port doesn’t ‘flash’ to indicate communications like it used to (just stays steady).

Can I pull the drive to extract my files or is it all toast ?

I am considering buying another identical unit and moving the drive over to see if its the host boards (not the drive) that have failed.

Any help or suggestions appreciated as I have a lot of family info/pictures on there.

Thanks.

I have a similar problem with mine, however, my blue light comes on and makes the clicking sound that indicates normal activities.  Wtih all that I still can’t access the drive through my home network.  This problem started this week… please help us!

There are now three of us with a very similar problem; please see the post entitled “No blue light”.

I’ve written to WD so expect some information tomorrow (28th September) as it’ll be the third working day since sending off my email. Will post info as soon as I get it; would you please do the same.

I hope Community members aren’t reluctant to tell us our My Book World Edition drives are dead … I’m very much expecting the worst …

quellaverde

I’ve just this minute received a reply from WD - on the eleventh working day after my query when they tell us they’ll answer in four working days.

Good luck :

Dear quellaverde,

Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is ******.
We apologize for the late reply to your message.
We would like to advise you to have the power off for 1 day and see if that solves the problem.
That means the temperature is getting to high and is not willing to start trough.

Than take of the data and save it somewhere else.
Because this drive is no longer in warranty we can no longer exchange the drive for you.

We apologize for the inconvenience.
If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
******
Western Digital Service and Support

Hi,

Mine too just died today and has the same symtoms. Did anyone have any luck recovering the data on the drives without taking it apart?

I fixed mine by dissassembling the unit and re-assembling it. Must have been a flaky connection somewhere.

As soon as it was running I backup up all the data. Luckily nothing was lost.

I’ve been in touch with Western Digital Support again; this is their suggestion to overcome the problem several of us are experiencing with their products :

Dear Mr. B… ,

**Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is S … (WD’s technician)

Please reset the My Book.
The reset button is on the back of the device.
To reset the the My Book, please follow these steps:

  1. Turn off the device and disconnect all cables from the unit.
  2. Insert a paperclip or narrow tipped pen into the recovery slot on the back of the
    unit. Press and hold down the reset button.
  3. While continuing to hold down the reset button, connect the power cable to
    the back of the unit.
  4. Hold the reset button down until 10 seconds after the power/activity LED
    lights on the front of the device, then release the button. The unit may take up to
    three minutes to boot up completely.
    Note: The default user name is admin and the default password is 123456

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
S …
Western Digital Service and Support**

I feel it’s pointless to say that no change was noticed. Instruction #4 says, " … until 10 seconds after the power/activity LED lights on the front of the device …" BUT THIS IS THE VERY PROBLEM: THERE ARE NO BLUE LEDS ALIGHT !!!

I hope their expert is only trying to eliminate possible superficial problems. We’ll see ……

I’ll let you know of further developments …

Frustratedly,  quellaverde.

I’ve received another email from Western Digital Service and Support :

**"Dear quellaverde,

Thank you for your reply.

If a reboot and a reset does not bring back the drive to live, and the internal drive is still spinning, then the controller of the drive is defect.
As the warranty of the drive has already expired, you can open the casing and connect the internal drive to a computer for data recovery.
You would need a Linux system in order to recover any data, as the drive is formatted in a Linux format.
If you need help, recovering the data, please contact a data recovery company or your trusted computer store.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
S*****
Western Digital Service and Support"**

… at last there are positive developments in my crusade …

Welcome to the club. Very same problem.  No “blue rings” (not enough power) from adapter. So, I put out hard from the case, dock. This is simple sata drive and for power, use if you have, an external PC power supply. On connector which goes to the MB, brick green wire with any black which is near by. Connect “L” sata power cable to the hard. You also need a sata (red, orange or blue :slight_smile: ) cable. This cable connect to electronic “wd engine” and disk. Also connect  network cable and NOW bring the power from adapter which cames with WD NAS, to this WD electronic circuit (sorry for language).

Because I have the same problems, I decide to change the hards. Can anyone successfully did it?

I tried to make a copy of WD network “My Book Blue ring” hard disk with Acronis True image WD Edition.
So, take out the hard from “network case” and put it in PC. Choose source and destination disks and “proceed”.

Found that on source hard there are some kind of linux raid partitions. Before proceed action, there is also a
warning in Acronis sw, for “boot linux floppy” or something.
Well, where to find it, this linux boot software?

What kind of linux or better, how to extract (and copy) it from source hard, after all.

Does target hard disk must be exactly the same type and capacity?
When copy (clone) done, why target drive do not want to boot, when is putting back to the case (original works),  etc.?

Does exist the WD software for copy the OS from one hard to another or it is firmware duty?

Thanks.