You need to add an extra word after "were" or "had been" like "there", "here" or a verb (e.g. to come). Sometimes "if you were" and "if you had been" can be used interchangeably. For example: "If you were there, the accident wouldn't have happened" means the same as "if you had been there, the accident wouldn't have happened". "If my cat were alive, I would have taken her with me" means the same as "If my cat had been alive, I would have taken her with me". I think the difference is "if you were" is a hypothetical situation, meaning "if that were the case, then....". So, you can put either a positive or negative sentence with "if you were". For example: "If you were here, she wouldn't have done it" OR "if you were here, you must have seen here do it?". "If you were driving, we wouldn't be in this mess" OR "if you were driving, you would have seen the mess ahead" Whereas, "if you had been" is stressing that things could have been different if only you had acted differently. It is stressing that you could have changed things (hypothetically). Therefore, a negative sentence usually follows "if you had been". In my opinion "if you had been" sounds more like blaming someone or criticising for what they did by saying that the bad result would not have happened otherwise For example: "If you had been here, she wouldn't have done it". "If you had been driving, we wouldn't be in this mess". "If you had been more cautious with our money, we would be in Spain right now" (an example with a positive sentence afterward, but it still sounds like it is blaming the other person)

The difference is that the first one makes sense , but the second one doesn't.

As Charlie says, only the first one makes sense. It is the 3rd conditional, which is a contrary to fact condition in the past. The second one is occasionally used by native speakers, at least in America, but it is definitely not standard English. By the way, it would be better to say "If you had arrived earlier" or "if you had been / gotten here / there earlier".

The first one is correct. It is an example of the 3rd conditional. “If you had ______, you would have _________. “If I had worked harder in school, I would have been more successful in my career.”

Both sentences are missing a location or action in the first half of the sentence to complete the condition. Since earlier is comparing time in this case, it refers to a point or period of time, so earlier and before can be interchangeable here. So you can check your sentence that way. “If you had been before” and “if you were before” don’t make sense. “If you had been here/there before” “if you had been paying attention before” “If you were here/there before” “If you were paying attention before” are good to go so “if you had been here earlier, the accident wouldn’t have happened”, “If you were paying attention earlier, the accident wouldn’t have happened” etc will make sense to English speakers. Grammatically, this a type 3 conditional phrase: unreal past condition leads to unreal past result. So the “If you had + past participle…” is correct.