Why won't WinXP recognize my WD MyBook by firewire?

August 1, 2007 3:52 PM

How can I get my Western Digital MyBook drive to show up when connecting with firewire? I've connected with USB 2.0 to my WinXP machine and installed the firewire drivers that came on the hard drive. Rebooted, then plugged in the drive with firewire. Can't get Windows to recognize the drive. I've also installed the firewire drivers on the Western Digital site. Still no luck. Any suggestions?
posted by RossWhite to technology (4 comments total)

Go to computer management (Control panel -> administrative tools) and see if it shows up in Disk Management.

I'd also check device manager (right click on My computer -> properties -> hardware) to see if your firewire adapter is working.
posted by mphuie at 4:54 PM on August 1, 2007

two things to check.
Right click on 'my computer' and choose manage
take a look in disk management. You should see the drive there. Also look in the device manage for any items with a question mark.
posted by filmgeek at 4:57 PM on August 1, 2007

damn my slow iPhone typing.
posted by filmgeek at 4:58 PM on August 1, 2007

Hi everyone. I managed to get a hold of a support tech at WDC after a couple hours of waiting. He told me that the culprit was the firewire cable... they shipped units with defective cords which short out the firewire port.

He instructed me to return the unit to where I bought it and get another, but sternly warned not to use the firewire cable that came with it. WDC is shipping me a fresh one... which won't short out the firewire port.
posted by RossWhite at 8:00 AM on August 2, 2007