The blinking light of annoyance fix, can anyone help?

[crankypenguin]

I have 2 external USB3 Western Digital external hard drives. A 1TB and a 2TB. When I turn off the computer, one plays along nice and powers down and the little white light stops blinking / being lit. But the 2TB external hard drive light continues to blink. Now the drive itself is not moving, I checked, no noises coming from inside. Now is this a known bug, should I be worried? The hard drive works ok, there are no other problems with it but I still would like an answer to this question. Now here are some specs on the drive in the form of a picture.

 

[AddRAM]

I would think it`s more of an issue with the enclosure, dock, not the hard drive. I would say just unplug the thing if it`s not spinning.

 

[crankypenguin]

I would think it`s more of an issue with the enclosure, dock, not the hard drive. I would say just unplug the thing if it`s not spinning.

No no, it spins down just fine. Everything about the drive says its turned off, except for the light that blinks in a nonstop pattern, as if searching for a host. I tried changing the S states in the bios, didn't work. I tried turning off all the *Allow USB this and that to turn on the computer* didn't work. What about a firmware update, what do you think about that? WD has a universal updated for the firmware, but I am a bit iffy about doing a firmware update on an external HD if you know what I mean. I just want the light to shut off

 

[Layback Bear]

Are you using two external hard drive docks. One for each drive with separate usb ports? How are these docks powered?

 

[crankypenguin]

These are 2 normal WD My book externals ( USB3), both powered externally via a cord attached to a strip.Only the newer 2tb is acting up. They look like this:

 

[crankypenguin]

This is the other 1tb one that acts normally when powering down my rig. In case you want to see how they differ.

 

[crankypenguin]

I know the easiest solution would be to simply unplug the drive at night when I go to sleep, but it is far away from my computer, which would mean I have to get up and do it. I am disabled and an amputee below the knee, so it's not out of laziness that I don't want to get up every night before I go to bed to turn it off, it would just be a pain to do so, literally as my leg is not my only problem. I have to live with a shattered lower spine and pelvis. So it's painful getting out of bed at night. It's why I would prefer to solve this without having to get out of bed.

 

[Britton30]

A last-ditch solution would be the Homer Simpson black tape over the light.

Does the light blink even with the USB cable unplugged?

How is USB setting configured in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings\Advanced Settings?

 

[crankypenguin]

A last-ditch solution would be the Homer Simpson black tape over the light.

Does the light blink even with the USB cable unplugged?

How is USB setting configured in Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings\Advanced Settings?

Funny you should ask that. When I unplug from the motherboard, the light shuts off. Here is a pic of the power plan. I have tried USB selective suspend on/off, no change, I tried all the possible configurations with sleep, no change, I basically tried every config you can think of with the power options, the light continues to blink.

 

[crankypenguin]

One thing I can think off, is that my motherboard is a 970a-ud3 which contains on/off charge for apple devices even when your computer is off, perhaps the external HD thinks, that since there is power in the USB3 ports, the computer is on? But I tried shutting down computer, unplugging it from the power source via the PSU cable, and the damn light still kept blinking. So this is just strange. Something seems to be forgetting to tell the external to power down. It's why I asked about a firmware update.

 

[essenbe]

Cranky, there is usually a setting in bios to disable USB charging when the computer is off.

 

[AddRAM]

Just as an experiment, turn off the PSU on the computer and see if the lite goes off. I`m betting it will.

 

[crankypenguin]

Just as an experiment, turn off the PSU on the computer and see if the lite goes off. I`m betting it will.

Read post #10

 

[Layback Bear]

After checking in the bios you could try using another usb port. Maybe a usb 2.0 just for testing the light. Swapping the usb connections of the two externals.
This may allow you to figure out whether the bios, Windows or the external drives is causing the problem.
I don't know why Windows Power Options would only effect one of your external drives or just certain USB ports.
** If you swap the port connection between the two externals it should let you know whether it's the hard drive and its enclosure or the computer.
Here is a goofy thought.
Partition your bigger drive. Could be that Windows doesn't know what to do with a 2 tb drive/partition.
Could you show us a picture of Disk Management with every thing plugged in.

By Golden:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[crankypenguin]

Strange, I never noticed that 31mbs of unallocated space. Do you think I should do anything with it Layback Bear ? Would extending the space that comes before the 32mb be a good idea, or should I make a new simple volume first? Strange indeed. Or move the data off my L drive onto another, and create one large partition with the 32mbs included?

 

[essenbe]

Cranky, I do not presume to answer for Laybackbear. However, that 31 MB will not hurt anything if it stays just like it is and is not enough space to be concerned about. I would think you have backups of everything on your computer anyway. If not, it is highly recommended to have backups in at least 2 different places. If the 31 MB bothers you, I see no resaon you could not extend the L partition to include the 31 MB without any issues.

 

[Layback Bear]

I agree with essenbe. I wouldn't worry about that 31 mb. I'm presuming that both external drives are hook up at the time of the snapshot.
I don't understand why a MBR (Master Boot Record) is on Disk #6 (L) (Movies).
Is (L) one of your external hard drives?

 

[Solarstarshines]

Ralph have you had a go at the WD site for Firmware last time that happened to me that fixed it


WD Product Update

 

[Layback Bear]

crankypenguin can you boot into Windows without Drive (L) hooked up.
That would let you know if a MBR is also installed where it should be and removing it from (L) wouldn't stop you from booting.

 

[crankypenguin]

Ok guys. Answers. I can boot just fine into my PC with L drive not hooked up.( External USB3 ) just fine. Solar - When doing my google searches, yeah I was lead to this all in one WD firmware repair .exe but im afraid to use it, does it wipe the data on the drive while updating, not to mention I have 7 other drives hooked up 1 of which is also external. So yeah, bit of a pickle here. I have backups OF backups, no worries there. I am really anal about backing things up.