Maureen -

Have you tested the USB ports with other non-WD devices to verify they are functioning properly other wise?  I have used a USB mouse in all 4 ports and yes it works just fine.

I will read the link you provided thank you.  I am puzzled as to why it has taken a week to get to this point.  I have been in contact with Dell and up to your response, not much progress.  Service Request#: ********* for your reference.  Please feel free to research and contact me directly. 

Thank you.

Hello CTGuy240,

I have seen this occur before. The Western Digital chipset has a conflict with the USB port technology. Sometimes, the right USB 3.0 work and the left USB ports only allows 2.0 connectivity, or one port of the four will work (such as in your case), or none will work at all.
Have you tested the USB ports with other non-WD devices to verify they are functioning properly other wise? If the ports work fine with other devices, we know that the WD chipset is likely the cause.
We have had some success in resolving the problem by uninstalling the Intel chipset and allowing Microsoft to install automatically. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725782.aspx

Please let me know if this resolves the problem for you. I will forward on your issue to see if there will be a firmware update in the future to address this problem.

Maureen  [tag:IWork4Dell]

It is a 2.5" WD My Passport 1 TB self powered external drive.

Is the drive a 2.5" self-powered unit or a 3.5" that uses an external power supply?

Maureen - 

Besides the USB mouse I have used USB drives, 98% of the time no issues.  Once I did get a message about the port being 2.0 and the USB drive can operate faster in a USB 3.0 port.

You are suggesting that I uninstall the Intel WiUSB devices?

Thank you

Yes, CTGuy240, those are the drivers that you will want to uninstall.  Then allow Windows to autodetect drivers for the USB device. 

There is a possibility that there may still be a conflict with the external hard drive chipset that will not allow the one port to work.  Or cause it to work intermittently. 

Currently there isn't any firmware update that Dell can implement that would resolve how the 3rd party hard drive interacts with USB ports. 

Please let us know if this resolves the problem for you.
Maureen  #Iwork4Dell

I am having this issue with a new E6540

i have a seagate that drops out all the time on usb 3.0 cable, however if i use a usb / mini usb  to provide usb 2.0 it works, i have WD drives that do the same, yet I have one WD that does not..

Now are you ready for this...  I was handing a DELL 1TB USB 3.0 external drive today and guess what.. IT DROPS OUT!!!!!!!!!  and its a DELL DRIVE!!!!!!!! Part Number 1F5AP3-570
 you are saying the chipset issue with WD devices but your own DELL drive dont work..

this is annoying and needs to be corrected..  i have seen my files get corrupted because of a copying and it drops out..

I have the same laptop (Dell E6540 except i7-4810MQ).
I can confirm that this exact behavior occurs with both the following external USB 3.0 hard drives

(1) MydigitalSSD OTG 256GB External mSata SSD.  - USB 3.0

(2) 1TB Toshiba Canvio External HD - USB 3.0

Both drives work fine in USB 2.0, they both work fine in another desktop machine.They exhibit this behavior (only works on the Left Hand USB 3.0 port) in both Win7 and Ubuntu 14.04.1

Ugh!

Same issue for me, WD 2TB drive dropping out and not working at USB3.0 speed on Latitude E6540. Did not have this issue on my previous Dell, so the money spent on upgrading the Dell has been a complete waste because of the USB issues.