SONY 505 problem with SD CARD help please

[wayamauro]

Hi everyone,

I just purchased a Sony Reader 505 and everything is great. Now I am trying to transfer some books to a 8G SD card with no success. When I insert it into the device it does recognize it(as it shows the symbol refreshing on the 505 screen), but when I go to Sony Library or Adobe Digital Editions the problem arise. Both software will recognize the SD card and show it as "SD CARD" next to "Library" and "Reader" but when I am about to transfer some book, or to add a collection it gives me an error such as "Unable to complete the operation because the destination can no longer be accessed". Now the card is not locked, and it has been formatted in FAT32.

Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong?
Thank you all

PS: I have been trying with Calibre as well with the same results, this is the error it reports ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device (21, 'GetDiskFreeSpace', 'The device is not ready.')

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\gui2\device.pyo", line 57, in run
File "calibre\gui2\device.pyo", line 220, in _upload_books
File "calibre\devices\prs505\driver.pyo", line 116, in upload_books
File "calibre\devices\usbms\device.pyo", line 674, in _sanity_check
File "calibre\devices\usbms\device.pyo", line 207, in free_space
File "calibre\devices\usbms\device.pyo", line 168, in _windows_space
error: (21, 'GetDiskFreeSpace', 'The device is not ready.')


Thanks again!
Does not matter anymore, it is a BRICK right now. I have no idea why. I did nothing out of the ordinary. It is not turning on, it does nothing. I shut it down after trying to transfer the files, but now it is not coming back on. I plug it on the USB and not even the light comes on. It is 2 days old and it has been on for about 30 minutes.

Any ideas as to why this happened? I guess I will have to return it.

Just more information, the firmware was updated when I bought it (brand new 2 days ago) and I charged the battery full. Now it was also full when this problem happened, and it wont turn on.

MORE NEW INFO: I used a paper clip to reset it and it is back to life. Nevertheless I am returning and getting a new one, as this one seems to me may be defective.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Now the orange and red lights were alternatively blinking, then orange only keeps blinking.
Does that mean my battery was not full and it is deceiving due to the calibration of the battery? I do not have a wall charger and I charged it through USB (front) and the red light stopped(telling me it was fully charged) and the screen showed a full battery.

[gwynevans]

OK, some things to note re charging - You can't charge via USB using a wall adapter, it has to be a PC. If the PC sleeps, or you unmount the device, it won't charge. Red = charging, orange = USB activity (or booting).

A PSP charger will charge it via the round connector & to start, it's easy to get confused about it being dead or flat battery.

[wayamauro]

I am charging through USB to a PC. I do not have a wall charger. Do you know why the SD card problem was happening though? Oh and another thing, I am charging the device again through as USB as I write right now, and it had the red light on. Now, it has been on chraging for less than 20 minutes and the red light is off, that meaning there is no light on the device at all. That, I know by the manual, means that the battery is fully charged. That's what happened the first time I charged it as well, and in the end it seems to be deceiving. So my question is how do I know whether it is really fully charged or not? No light, and the battery shows full, but so it was like that when it stopped working and went dead.

Thanks!

[kmvargo]

You may be having issues with the reader recognizing your card. The specs for the cards are -

Memory: 256 MB standard (200 MB Accessible), Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo 8 GB, SD card up to 2 GB (some non-SDHC 4GB cards may work), or up to 32 GB with SDHC cards and version 1.1 firmware.

You might want to try a different card. I use a 4GB PNY SDHC card and haven't had any problems.

[wayamauro]

I was using a Kingston 8GB 50X elite Pro. I have been trying to find out whether it is SDHC or not, and I can not tell. You guys know how I can find out?
Thanks

[BeccaAnn]

It's not an SDHC card. In other words, you need to buy another SD card and don't go higher than 2gb.

[wayamauro]

Cool, thanks. I just tried a 2GB and it works. How can I know it is SDHC when I buy one?
Still I wonder why it wouldn't turn on...due to the battery or due to the weird thing with the card? In the end i used a clip and pushed reset, and it came back to life. I know the battery read full though. Could anybody tell me the best way to charge it with a USB cable for the first time? It only took like 2 hours the other day just for the red light to turn off. Isn't that too fast? The battery showed full after that, and the only problem happened today. Right now for instance I am charging it on the USB port on the back of the computer, as I have read the ones on the front are not good enough to charge devices. The red light is on.
What I want to know from other people that didn't have a wall charger is : how did you charge it for the first time? How long did it take you and did you notice a problem with the calibration of the battery in the first few days you used it?

Thank you everyone, I appreciate your help.

[dordale]

Actually, if it's 8gb it IS a SDHC "Secure Digital High Capacity" card.

The 2gb card may be either a standard or an SDHC card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_digital

My guess is that the standard card would more likely work with the 505--as before the firmware update that's all that was supported by the 505. When Sony updated the firmware to include ePub support they also added support for higher capacity cards. I've read several posts here from people who have trouble with higher capacity cards.

dordale

[wayamauro]

Thanks Dordale,
yeah well I do not really know if it is HCSD, but it didnt work. The firmware was the latest i believe. At least it was 1.1. I just got a new one right now so hopefully it will be ok. I also got a wall charger, the original Sony charger.
Should I first turn on the device then plug it in on the wall charger or just plug it in the device while it is off?

Thanks again!

Just returned the new one due to ghosting, now I am back to this one.

[gwynevans]

With the wall charger to the round socket, it can be charged while using it - just plug it in & the battery symbol should show that it's charging as well as the red led.

[wayamauro]

Hey gwynevans it shows the red light while the device is turned off while charging, but it does not show any battery symbol. Now if I turn it on while charging it then yes, it does show a false full battery reading and a bolt.
Is that what you were referring to? (assuming of course I am using a wall charger, which I am)

Thanks!

[duckeedoug]

As a general rule most SD cards 2GB or less will be a standard SD card. Most cards 4GB and above will be SDHC cards. Although there are 4GB SD cards which could be either, but I have never seen a 4GB standard SD card. I have never seen a card 2GB or smaller as being a SDHC card, but I suppose that this possible.

I have purchased so many SD cards for various devices and the standard is usually as indicated above.

[wayamauro]

The thing is that the 8GB does work on my GPS, but my reader is not taking it.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by wayamauro

Now if I turn it on while charging it then yes, it does show a false full battery reading and a bolt.
Is that what you were referring to? (assuming of course I am using a wall charger, which I am)

That's it - it also means that you don't need to stop reading to charge it either, which is sometimes useful. It also seems to charge faster that way although I've not done timings.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by wayamauro

The thing is that the 8GB does work on my GPS, but my reader is not taking it.

I'd suggest that for the moment, you don't use any SD card with the reader and just use it's internal memory. That will mean that there's no chance of running into any issues caused by the SD card and secondly, you'll probably find that there's no day-to-day need to use a card!

They're useful if you must have all your books to hand, but the reader doesn't do all that well[1] once you go over a few hundred books, which you can normally[2] get on the internal memory.

/Gwyn
[1] The device slows down when indexing after a USB disconnect/SD card insertion, plus the index pages only show 10 titles at a time, so you end up having to page through them a lot.
[2] Normal books are typically only around 1/2 a MB or so so unless you're into graphic novels, you probably will have no need for a card for a while.