Been using the CONNECT program to buy and download books as well as my load my own documents for some time now with no trouble.

All of a sudden when I connect the Reader via USB (it says "USB Connected" at the bottom), and start the software, it lists the books in Library, but is not recognizing the device.

I can connect to the Store, but can't see the files on the Sony Reader any more.

When I open Win Explorer, not finding it either. Checked Device Manager, nothing wrong there under USB or other folders.

I did a reset on the Reader and rebooted the computer (WinXP SP2), no joy. Also reloaded the software. It said it was already installed and asked if I wanted to re-install, so said yes.

I suspect somehow the drivers are missing or corrupt. In the Connect Drivers folder, there are three drivers listed.

I thought I might be able to reload them from the CD, but don't see any way to do that.

Naturally, this happened too late to call the techies today, and now they won't be available until next Tuesday.

Any suggestions?

Oh, yeah, went to the Sony site and to Drivers, but said no programs or drivers are available for that product. Big help!

Oh, yeah, went to the Sony site and to Drivers, but said no programs or drivers are available for that product. Big help!

Disregard these two posts, I got it fixed. Just wasn't thinking it through, I guess.

I put in the CD again, went to Control Panel's Add New Hardware, and it evidently loaded the correct drivers, as it works fine now.

too bad, missed the chance to talk to that nice techie in India! :)

EXACTLY the same thing happened to me just before Christmas: sudden refusal of the Connect program to accept the Reader.

My Sony Reader stopped appearing on the Connect program when connected. It was fine for many days and I downloaded lots of books, but when I tried to download some family photos, the program crashed. It says "not responding" at the top.

Also, the program won't come up at all if the Reader is connected to the USB port. Any mouse click while the program is up, if the Reader is connected, inactivates the Connect program and it just hangs.

So far I have reinstalled the software after de-installing it; I have bought another USB cable (no difference from the one packaged with the Reader); and I have tried to get it to work on my husband's computer by installing the software there, but none of that worked.

The Reader does work --- I can read my books and also charge the battery --- but it won't connect to the program that allows downloads of new books and rearranging.

Once the program hangs, the computer must be rebooted before it will come up again, and the Reader must NOT be connected to the USB port or it won't come up at all.

KlondikeGeoff said, “I put in the CD again, went to Control Panel's Add New Hardware, and it evidently loaded the correct drivers, as it works fine now.”

We tried that, and worked through the "add hardware" in Control Panel, but nothing. Then we did RTFM (Read The ...Friendly Manual) and pulled the back cover off and reset the Reader with a paperclip, and it DID reset, but the collapse of the Connect program continues: just can't connect to Connect no matter what.

I have had plenty of contact with the help staff ---- two chats and one phone call over several days and now I have a long e-mail in detailing the problem. They have all quickly shunted me to various other sites and numbers (But it was over Christmas and New Years :xmas: ) --- the guy on the phone suggested it might be a bum USB connecting cable after I suggested that, and I went out and bought a new one for $30, but that was not the problem. Both cables do connect validly.

I tell you what I think: I think it's a bug in the program. Because why would the Reader work fine, but the PROGRAM suddenly refuse to connect and hang?

KG: I have not had any problems with the CONNECT software with my Reader. However, unlike my mp3 player, the Reader never shows up under Windows Explorer. The only way I can see the Reader is through the CONNECT software.

No, wait! It can't be a bug in the program, because we installed the program from the original CD on the computer upstairs, and the Connect program still hung just the same: therefore it has to be the Reader itself. New install, new computer: the common element is the Reader.

QUERY: Earlier the day it went down I plugged in both the power cord (that recharges via the house current) and the USB cable to the Reader at once. (I don't know why I did that, but they don't say not to.) Could that have caused a problem?

Hi All,

I had been able to use the Connect software to add books to the reader via my XP SP2 laptop, but now, despite reinstall of Connect software, the Reader is "USB device unrecognized. Can't see it in Device manager, at all. Reset the Reader, but no change. Battery shows 3 bars and has not previously discharged.

I put the Reader Connect software on a new XP SP2 desktop machine, which at leaset shows a rectangle icon on the Connect software's device dsiplay, but the computer hangs when trying to left or right click that icon.

Any help much appreciated.

Thank you very much

Fury

Well, a hard reset didn't help the constant crashing of Connect on two computers no matter how many times I reinstalled --- the problem is clearly in the Reader itself.

Unfortunately, the hard reset did lose all content, and of course I can't connect with Connect to get it back. I'm going to try to get them to fix the Reader at Sony.

They are letting me return the Reader for repair to California, and say it will be back within the week; I hope so! I'm reading Wild Fire on the computer screen instead and the bad guys were about to blow up four American cities and trigger a 122 city retaliation when I hard-reset my Reader..............

I know this is what people get for being an early adopter. :rolleyes:

I have the same symptoms in CONNECT, but WinXP is happy with my reader.

If I run CONNECT Reader without the PRS-500 attached, it works fine.

When I connect the PRS-500, CONNECT Reader goes to "not responding".

If I look in Control Panels>System>Device Manager>USB Controllers, there is a Sony Reader. The driver is the Sony driver and the "device is working properly".

If I disconnect the PRS-500, CONNECT Reader comes back to life.

Everything worked fine last week.

Any suggestions before I call India??

/Randy

Ouch, sorry to hear all you guys having problems! For people experiencing this on only one computer I would of course try to uninstall Connect completely, delete all the remaining folders and then reinstall it, then hard reset the Reader and finally if nothing else works update your USB drivers.

Phebe, this is happening on two computers for you so it's probably a Reader problem, but a hard reset did nothing. :( Do you happen to have a memory stick/SD card in your Reader? What if you take it out and then connect it? How long have you let it sit connected to your computer waiting for it?

Ouch, sorry to hear all you guys having problems! For people experiencing this on only one computer I would of course try to uninstall Connect completely, delete all the remaining folders and then reinstall it, then hard reset the Reader and finally if nothing else works update your USB drivers.
..{snip}


What happens when you do this "hard reset"? Does it clear memory? That would be an extreme step to take when you've lost the ability to reload the device. If it's just a "reboot", then it might me a more reasonable diagnostic technique.

What do I need to backup to keep my purchased books? I don't want to delete the books by mistake and be unable to reload them. I also pulled the Sony initial load off to make space, so that is in some files somewhere. The CONNECT Reader program seems to have it's own ideas about file naming and such.

BTW, having tried all the permutations of cable, memory stick, and cradle while all the software checks seem to be OK, the official Sony help desk response is that my problem "will require some research".

Hard reset does clear your Reader's internal memory, so yes, if you cannot connect it to sync you will be stuck with nothing to read (I don't remember if the default samples get reloaded). As far as backing up the purchases, Sony allows you to redownload all past purchases at any time through the Connect store, so I wouldn't worry to much about that. It's under your account in the purchase history section.

The default samples don't reload, but they are on the CD.

Your bought books are stored in one of the subfolders in the ConnSoft install, but you can export them by putting them on an SD with the ConnSoft, and then using Windows Explorer to copy them where ever. They do have really nasty filenames, but you can change that if you like without affecting the way ConnSoft sees them since it uses the embedded meta-data, rather than the filename.

And, of course, as LG says, you can re-download them from the ConnStore, but it gets to be a pain if you have more than a few of them. :shrug:

With thanks to Steve and Andy at Sony, my reader has returned to operation!

To recap the symptoms, the CONNECT Reader software and PRS500 worked fine separately. When the reader is connected the CONNECT Reader software freezes up. Once the reader is disconnected, both work OK. Alas, that means no new books or files. Arrgh.

The following things were NOT the problem, though worth checking first: the cable, the cradle, the Memory Stick, the drivers, the CONNECT Reader software. It's of note that uninstalling the CONNECT Reader software does not delete the library on disk, as some folks had led me to expect.

The problem is that the USB link was in a "bad state" in the reader. The hardware folks at Sony know that this can happen, that is why the "Don't" symbol appears on the screen. I explained that this was dumb because the cradle requires the cover to be closed on the reader, so you can't see the symbol. The hardware guy had not actually used the cradle.

The problem can only by reset by a complete reset. There are two kinds of reset, after you do the Vulcan-pinch you can choose to erase everything and return to factory settings or not. Just rebooting, without the erase, does not clear the problem. After you erase, you only have the four "sample" books on the reader. All the other excerpts are on the installation CD (as somebody else here told me).

However, the good news is that the erase does reset all the USB registers and fix the problem. Prevention requires that you exit the CONNECT Reader software before you disconnect the cable or cradle. This is not in the manual, at least I never saw it, but the hardware guys both said it was mandatory.

I hope this helps the next user.

/Randy

Well, a hard reset didn't help the constant crashing of Connect on two computers no matter how many times I reinstalled --- the problem is clearly in the Reader itself.

In my discussions with the Sony hardware folks they said that if a hard reset and erase didn't fix the reader it had probably experienced a chip failure. There have been reports, like Phebe's, and apparently the solution requires a trip back to Sony. Fortunately, I didn't have it this bad.

Excellent news, RSaunders, glad you got it straightened out. :yes:

RSaunders, same problems as you are having, right.

Leaping Gnome, no, I didn't use a memory stick. As to how long I would leave it connected ---- not too long, several minutes. It was photos (several) that I was trying to download when it went nuts (if I get it back from San Diego, I won't try that again! It can just be a virtual library.) so now I wonder if I had left it all night at some point, would that have helped.

But the photo file sizes weren't bigger than the books and the books downloaded quickly, so I don't know.

Anyway, it's supposed to be back soon, if the Aussie who told me where to send it is reliable about time estimates.

With thanks to Steve and Andy at Sony, my reader has returned to operation!

To recap the symptoms, the CONNECT Reader software and PRS500 worked fine separately. When the reader is connected the CONNECT Reader software freezes up. Once the reader is disconnected, both work OK. Alas, that means no new books or files. Arrgh.

The following things were NOT the problem, though worth checking first: the cable, the cradle, the Memory Stick, the drivers, the CONNECT Reader software. It's of note that uninstalling the CONNECT Reader software does not delete the library on disk, as some folks had led me to expect.

The problem is that the USB link was in a "bad state" in the reader. The hardware folks at Sony know that this can happen, that is why the "Don't" symbol appears on the screen. I explained that this was dumb because the cradle requires the cover to be closed on the reader, so you can't see the symbol. The hardware guy had not actually used the cradle.

The problem can only by reset by a complete reset. There are two kinds of reset, after you do the Vulcan-pinch you can choose to erase everything and return to factory settings or not. Just rebooting, without the erase, does not clear the problem. After you erase, you only have the four "sample" books on the reader. All the other excerpts are on the installation CD (as somebody else here told me).

However, the good news is that the erase does reset all the USB registers and fix the problem. Prevention requires that you exit the CONNECT Reader software before you disconnect the cable or cradle. This is not in the manual, at least I never saw it, but the hardware guys both said it was mandatory.

I hope this helps the next user.

/Randy

Hi Randy,

I'll try what yousaid, but have a few questions, please.

1st, I have had 2 computers fail to recognize , previously installed and functioning printers (2 printers on each machine), giving an error message "USB device not recognized," when plugged into any USB port on eah of the computers, since this Reader problem occured. I am on XP SP2 oneach machine. How did you remove the software from your PC, plese.

2nd, I don't know how to check for port conflicts. Any advice there much appreciated. Could this be a port conflict/corruption problem primarily?

Thank you very much

Fury

Suddenly, after three months, my reader and connect won't talk to each other...the end of a beautiful relationship?
Connect software freezes as soon as I put the usb plug in the reader and ask it to do something (I could make a comparison but it would get me in trouble at home!) I have done a hard reset twice and no change, so I guess I am going to find out how good the extended warranty is that I purchased from Sony.
It seems like a lot of the units are having this problem...is this a product defect or an instructional failure?

Just got off the phone with the Sony Extended warranty people. First question they asked was"what kind of laptop is that?" It went downhill from there...they are going to call me back in a couple of days when they sort it out!!!
RIGHT!!!

Just got off the phone with the Sony Extended warranty people. First question they asked was"what kind of laptop is that?" It went downhill from there...they are going to call me back in a couple of days when they sort it out!!!
RIGHT!!!

I called sony support, and after going through three people, I was sent to the Reader Hardware dept who determined that I should ship it to San Diego; week to ten days before I see it again.

I called sony support, and after going through three people, I was sent to the Reader Hardware dept who determined that I should ship it to San Diego; week to ten days before I see it again.

*bummer* I hope you still have a paperbook or two to read for the time being ;)

*bummer* I hope you still have a paperbook or two to read for the time being ;)
Actually, I have a couple of p-books that I bought before the reader that I never got to read because I had the e-reader

Hi Randy,

I'll try what you said, but have a few questions, please.

1st, I have had 2 computers fail to recognize , previously installed and functioning printers (2 printers on each machine), giving an error message "USB device not recognized," when plugged into any USB port on each of the computers, since this Reader problem occurred. I am on XP SP2 on each machine. How did you remove the software from your PC, please.

2nd, I don't know how to check for port conflicts. Any advice there much appreciated. Could this be a port conflict/corruption problem primarily?

Thank you very much

Fury
I also had multiple computers unhappy. Apparently I should have known to expect this as the problem is in the circuits in the reader.

I use WinXP SP2, and I checked by going to Start > Settings > Control Panel and running System. Then open the Hardware tab and click the button for Device Manager. Then open the little + for Universal Serial Bus controllers and scan down for the reader. You won't have the right driver installed unless you've installed CONNECT Reader on the computer. Until you install the program you get nothing. Good luck.

I called sony support, and after going through three people, I was sent to the Reader Hardware dept who determined that I should ship it to San Diego; week to ten days before I see it again.

This was my problem, the Connect program would not connect with the device at all, as reported above on page 1 of the thread, and after more like five or six utterly hapless "support" people contacts --- they have multiple ways of saying they don't have a clue now: e-mail, instant chat AND phone --- they said to send it back to Santiago.

Before I wrote the city address on, I checked one more time: it wasn't Santiago, it was San Diego said in an Australian accent.

The Reader came back in ten days fixed with a new motherboard, and a note saying to use the remove device software in Windows. So I do.

I'm not going to try to put on pictures --- that was when it went down. But so far, it's working fine again.

My guess is, needs work on whatever that vulnerability is. But I've got 65 books on it, so I'm okay for now.

I do think they need to deal with the help desk problem. If their people just have no idea, how is that helpful?

I received my reader back from Sony repairs today. The problem was evidently also the motherboard, which was replaced. Now it works fine. They didn't mention the windows issue but I will do as they suggested regarding the "remove hardware" program.

Mitchll