"Updating your Story HD... Please wait" loop

[mzecher]

First of all, sorry if asked before. I really couldn't find a solution for this.

I own an iRiver Story HD since about 3 months, currently running latests firmware (1.29) updated through OTA.

The problem is as follows: I put any SD card, the device recognizes it and displays "Updating your Story HD... Please wait". This message disappears after a few seconds and then jumps in again in an endless loop. If I pull out the SD card, the device gets responsive again. It happens no matter they are empty or filled with files. The same happens if I put the card with the device off.

I tried with 3 different sized cards:
- Transcend 32GB SDHC Class 10
- Patriot 32GB SDHC Class 10
- Sandisk 2GB SD (don't know which class)

I also tried formatting every card a few times. The same happens with firmware version 1.25, 1.21 and 1.19.

If I remove the "system" folder from Story HD, it reads the card fine until the next time it has to update the database, at which time it goes into the loop again. So, basically I have to remove the system folder each time I plug the device into computer, each time I insert a card and each time I turn the device on (at least it doesn't happen when waking it up from suspend state).

I already wrote at iRiver's customer service a month ago and was told to reformat, to try previous firmwares, and finally to wait to a new firmware version (1.29, which didn't solve anything), but actually got no real solution (still waiting for a new answer). So I decided to ask here, since I think mobileread users know more about this device than the people working at iRiver.

Thanks in advance for the attention and any clue.

[frostschutz]

Do you have any custom books on the internal storage? Is your internal storage full (or close to it) so it possibly runs out of space when populating the database? After deleting the /system/ folder, does it recreate the folder, and is there an EB07W.sys in there? Try cleaning out the internal memory's /book/ folder, there's also /book/download/ which may cause trouble if there's a half finished download in there.

I'm using a Sandisk Ultra II 2GB card myself, works fine for me using 1.29 (and any other firmware really), so it must be something about your setup. I don't own any 32GB cards so I can't test. The largest I have is a Sandisk 16GB but it's MicroSDHC and I don't have an SD adapter for it.

[steven522]

I have a class 10 PNY 8GB card that seems to work fine.
I am just trying out a set of CBZ files though.

[CJJ]

I'm not a techie so I don't know if it would mater but manual says to format as FAT 32, which I did. Also recommends SanDisk and Transcend cards. Doesn't state a class, I can't imagine speed maters that much. The SanDisk 2 GB I use is just something I had laying around from three or four years ago. No problems.

[teh603]

There's three folders on the root level of the Story's SSD. You have to create the exact same folders on the root level of the SD card using a card reader, or you'll end up in that loop. I don't remember if hard- ejecting the card will get you out; I think it does.

Irony is, if you use Calibre to upload books to the SD card, it won't even use those folders. You just have to have them for some reason or it'll freak out. It also doesn't like having stuff not uploaded thru something like Calibre on the SD; I tried using it as a place to back up my writing, and the end result was another loop. So now I have a 4-gig sea turtle on my keychain, and the SD card is a permanent resident of my iRiver since my digital camera uses CompactFlash.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by teh603

Irony is, if you use Calibre to upload books to the SD card, it won't even use those folders.

I don't have those folders, and it works fine for me.

I just have epubs on the card (non-series in the main root folder of the folder, one subfolder per series). It shouldn't cause problems.

A bad file could possibly cause something like that, which is one reason why I put everything on SD card, since you can take it out easily, not so easy when it gets stuck on something in the internal memory.

The Story HD has a debug log feature. If you create an empty file with the name "enable_syslog" in the root of the internal memory, it will write debug messages to a dump_syslog.txt

In that debug log the updating of the database looks like this:

Feb 24 11:57:25 lni local0.info flow: ++DBManager::Generation_BookDB (internal, bSD) (0, 1)
Feb 24 11:57:25 lni local0.info flow: ++DBManager::Shutdown
Feb 24 11:57:27 lni local0.info flow: --DBManager::Shutdown
Feb 24 11:57:27 lni local0.info flow: ++DBManager::Startup
Feb 24 11:57:27 lni local0.info flow: --DBManager::Startup
Feb 24 11:57:27 lni local0.info flow: ++DBManager::Shutdown
Feb 24 11:57:28 lni local0.info flow: --DBManager::Shutdown
Feb 24 11:57:28 lni local0.info flow: ++DBManager::Startup
Feb 24 11:57:29 lni local0.info flow: --DBManager::Startup
Feb 24 11:57:29 lni local0.info flow: --DBManager::Generation_BookDB : 3124 ms
Feb 24 11:57:29 lni local0.info flow: flow_flush_gc : flag = 2

It's a slim chance but maybe if there's a problem there'd be an error message in there.

Make sure to remove the enable_syslog file afterwards, as otherwise it will keep filling up your internal memory and I don't want to know what happens when it runs out of space.

[mzecher]

First of all, thanks a lot buddies for the amazing help. All I could get from iRiver's service was "Your Story HD Wi-Fi needs to be sent in for repair service." (!).

So, after a lot of trial and error, I found that the problem was caused because of long filenames. I'm not really sure, but it seems to me that the filename plus path may not exceed 255 characters in total. I must do some more research, but currently have no time.

So the thing is as follows: the device scans the SD card successfully and creates EB07W.sys into system folder, giving no trouble. Next time it has to scan the card, the "Updating your Story HD... Please wait" loop happens. Formating the card nor deleting everything in it doesn't solve the problem. If delete the system folder and then put the card the device scans the files and automatically creates the system folder and EB07W.sys file as expected. The next time the Story HD has to scan the card it works well if the problematic files where previously deleted or renamed.

I hope I explained the problem well, which in fact seems to me like a bug in the operating system of the Story HD. I'll like to know your opinions.

PS: I made a syslog of the error described but couldn't find any error in it. I attach it, maybe some of you find something useful.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by mzecher

I'm not really sure, but it seems to me that the filename plus path may not exceed 255 characters in total.

Yes, that seems to be it.

I created a folder on the SD card that was 100 characters long and put a foobar.epub in it. That worked fine. So I don't think it's a real problem, as 100 characters is already an awful lot - I don't have such long names anywhere.

Then I created another 100 character folder in that folder and moved foobar.epub there. Then it loops and hangs. Don't try this on the internal memory of the device, if the loop never stops your device is practically bricked at that point. I had to take the SD card out and remove the folder using another cardreader.

The full length of the path name (as seen by the device, i.e. including the mountpoint for the SD card /mnt/SDFAT/ ) at this point was 224 characters so the limit is below 255.

The full path for this file from iriver point of view is actually only 224 chars long at that point, so the limit is something below that threshold. I'll try and see if I can find an accurate value.

iriver should fix this problem as such loops should not occur in any case. If it does not like long path names it should simply say so in an error message.

You can remove your syslog attachment, now that I'm able to reproduce the issue I can look at it in detail on my own device. Although I didn't see anything of interest in yours at first glance. Finding an useful error message in there was a slim chance anyway.


Is your problem now solved or do you still experience loops even when not using over long paths / filenames?

[mzecher]

Interesting, it's good to know that the problem is reproducible. Thanks a lot for your efforts.

If I use shorter filenames, the device works wonderfully. I'm not really sure if iRiver people do know of this character limit, at least it is not detailed in the manual nor was mentioned as a probable cause by the technician with which I wrote to. I'll let him know and tell you his answer, but anyway this shouldn't happen because as already pointed by frostschutz, such a loop with files located in the inner memory may brick your device. I'm glad I didn't try that.

[CJJ]

frostschuz- Maybe you can help me understand this. Is this strictly a result of a long book title combined with the file path info, or are there other factors that generate long file names? Does anyone know whether you can set a file name length limit in Calibre?

I'd hate to run into this and even if iriver started on this problem today we probably wouldn't see a fix for several months.

mzecher- That's great that you are letting iriver know about this problem.
Here is some contact info of the tech I talked to if you don't hear back.

Customer & Tech Support
Jonathan Cho
iriver Inc.
Tel: 949-336-4540/4541
www.iriverinc.com


Thanks

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by CJJ

Is this strictly a result of a long book title combined with the file path info, or are there other factors that generate long file names?

The book itself in my test was simply called foobar.epub, and the file itself was not modified, but the device hangs when the total length (ie. including folder pathnames) gets too large. I'm still not sure about the exact limit, testing it is a bit tedious.

Originally Posted by CJJ

Does anyone know whether you can set a file name length limit in Calibre?

Dunno.

I recommend you don't put books into the internal memory at all, and instead use the SD card exclusively. If it hangs you can always take the card out.

That's what I did from the beginning since long before I even bought the device, someone here already had run into a case where a book bricked his reader. Not sure if he was hitting the long pathname thing or if it bricked for some other reason.

[mzecher]

Originally Posted by CJJ

Customer & Tech Support
Jonathan Cho
iriver Inc.
Tel: 949-336-4540/4541

Yeah, he's the same one I talked to.

[CJJ]

Okay- good advice. Thanks.

I've done that from the beginning on mine as well. But i just loaded a bunch of books on the new one I bought for my wife. I guess i got lucky. I will have to buy a memory card for her as well.

[mzecher]

Okay, this is what the guy from iRiver answered me:

Thank you for letting us know about the character length issue. We will look into this matter and try to have it resolved as soon as possible. If you have any further questions or concerns, please email us back at any time.

I'll let you know if he gives me more info.

[frostschutz]

mzecher, if you already have a contact person at iriver, maybe you could let them know about this issue too (if you can reproduce it, there's a test epub at the last post)? The epub viewer seems to be addressing the display wrong, so 4-5 pixels width that should be on the right appear instead on the left.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170475