Just making sure

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by chaley

Now this indicates that something is truly broken. It says that between the last time you connected and this time, *all* the books were changed/deleted. This is not reasonable, but that is what calibre is seeing when it looks at your Kindle's files in main memory.

I am beginning to suspect a hardware problem. Have you recently changed computers? USB cables? USB ports where you plug in the Kindle? Anything?

No computer, USB cable, or port change.

Originally Posted by chaley

The debug log indicated that there was one new book on the device.

I did a lump transfer of about 10 books well before that connection - like 3 connections before that - but anything is possible I guess. I can't explain it.

Originally Posted by chaley

preferences -> import/export -> sending books to device.

Automatic

````````
Another connection:

This part is from the cmd window:

C:\Users\Just Me>calibre-debug -g > caldebug.txt
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\ui.py", line 350, in get_file_type_metadata

File "site-packages\calibre\customize\builtins.py", line 209, in get_metadata
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 844, in get_metadata
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 218, in section_data
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 203, in section_offset

error: unpack requires a string argument of length 8

This part is from the debug text - it was hung up for quite a while and I closed Calibre, bad I know, but it wouldn't let go and it wouldn't eject either.

Starting up...
Started up in 4.64199995995
Job: 1 Get device information finished
No details available.
DEBUG: 0.0 USBMS: Fetching list of books from device. oncard= None
DEBUG: 0.0 USBMS: dirs are: G:\ documents
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252
DEBUG: 129.5 USBMS: count found in cache: 0, count of files in metadata: 39, need_sync: True
DEBUG: 129.5 USBMS: starting sync_booklists
DEBUG: 133.3 USBMS: finished sync_booklists
DEBUG: 133.3 USBMS: Finished fetching list of books from device. oncard= None
DEBUG: 133.3 USBMS: Fetching list of books from device. oncard= carda
DEBUG: 133.3 USBMS: Fetching list of books from device. oncard= cardb
Job: 2 Get list of books on device finished
No details available.
DEBUG: 139.3 USBMS: starting sync_booklists
DEBUG: 140.4 USBMS: finished sync_booklists
Job: 3 Send metadata to device finished
No details available.
Job: 4 Get device information finished
No details available.
DEBUG: 1324.9 USBMS: Fetching list of books from device. oncard= None
DEBUG: 1324.9 USBMS: dirs are: G:\ documents
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Failed to read MOBI cover
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252

[chaley]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Automatic

You might consider changing this to manual. The Kindle doesn't really make use of automatic management. (Sony, Kobo, and Apple do.)

...
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252
Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp1252

This cannot be right. It is saying that calibre *cannot reliably read* from the kindle's memory.

Calibre expects that the 'drive' that the kindle supplies will work. In your case, the kindle's drive doesn't work. This isn't a calibre problem, but is a kindle/OS/??? problem. The only thing I can suggest is that you turn the kindle off (reboot it) between unplug and replug.

Perhaps someone else with a K3 can jump in? I don't have one, so I cannot do any physical tests. From what I can see, it sounds well-and-truly broken, but I can't be sure. At this point, and given all the other problems that kindles have, nothing a kindle will do will surprise me.

[pghaworth]

Are you saying the K2US is broken? Don't seem to be having problems with it outside of Calibre connections. I did a reboot just as a matter of course last night before the three slow connections and then again after this last hung connection.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Are you saying the K2US is broken? Don't seem to be having problems with it outside of Calibre connections. I did a reboot just as a matter of course last night before the three slow connections and then again after this last hung connection.

I am saying that the disk connection that calibre sees does not seem to be reliable. I say *seem* because I cannot see/know everything that happens to your K3.

It isn't *normal* that on one connection, calibre sees the cache and books correctly, then on another connection, calibre doesn't see the cache and isn't able to read the books. Disk drives are not supposed to behave that way. Whether that means the K3 is broken or not, I cannot say. It could simply be the way the K3 behaves. Regardless, something seems very fishy, and I hope that other K3 owners can help determine what is going on.

[kovidgoyal]

definitely sounds like hardware trouble, I can't reproduce on my kindle. In general intermittent problems are most likely to be hardware related.

[pghaworth]

Thank you both for your help.

[pghaworth]

Quick question. I did some "housecleaning" and testing. After the cleaning I changed usb ports and had no problem connecting quickly. When I changed back to the old port it hangs. When I reconnect to the other port it's fine again. Sounds like the hardware issue is with the computer usb port rather than something else, right? Or am I looking at this wrong?

[kovidgoyal]

yup that port is holding a smoking gun

[pghaworth]

Thanks Kovid.

I just want to say again how much I love and appreciate Calibre, you, your team, and all the rockin' support we users have access to. And Darko holds an especially dear place in my heart for his help with feeds.

Thanks again chaley!

[theducks]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

Quick question. I did some "housecleaning" and testing. After the cleaning I changed usb ports and had no problem connecting quickly. When I changed back to the old port it hangs. When I reconnect to the other port it's fine again. Sounds like the hardware issue is with the computer usb port rather than something else, right? Or am I looking at this wrong?

You might want to look at the device manager for that port and look at the port/status for anything unusual (like Yellow Explanation Marks)

[pghaworth]

Excellent point. I would have gotten around to that eventually but I'm sick so much that the brain doesn't grab things as quickly as it should. Thanks for the reminder.