Help, my pocket pro is locked and can't unlock it

[KarateMonkey]

OK, so after sitting at my desk hooked up to a charging cable all morning I was suddenly able to get my Pocket Pro to respond. (FWIW, I pushed the reset button for a few seconds then immediately unhooked the power cord.)

Being a glutten for punishment I immediately set out to try and hook it up to my computer via the USB cable again, this time through a port in the back of the computer. It seemed to work, and forced me to restart the computer. When I got back I could see the Pocket Pro drives, but when I tried to do anything to the files that locked the computer up.

I shut down my computer and unhooked the Pocket Pro. It locked up again and I hit the reset button. It took a couple tries to successfully restart again, but seems to have managed.

I am not brimming with confidence at this point that it will continue to work properly.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by KarateMonkey

OK, so after sitting at my desk hooked up to a charging cable all morning I was suddenly able to get my Pocket Pro to respond. (FWIW, I pushed the reset button for a few seconds then immediately unhooked the power cord.)

Being a glutten for punishment I immediately set out to try and hook it up to my computer via the USB cable again, this time through a port in the back of the computer. It seemed to work, and forced me to restart the computer. When I got back I could see the Pocket Pro drives, but when I tried to do anything to the files that locked the computer up.

I shut down my computer and unhooked the Pocket Pro. It locked up again and I hit the reset button. It took a couple tries to successfully restart again, but seems to have managed.

I am not brimming with confidence at this point that it will continue to work properly.

Just a couple of thoughts (I havent ordered mine yet so I can't speak specifically about the PP, but experience similar to yours with mp3 players).

- Have you tried a different USB cable? Some people have reported issues with the USB cable (which Astak are addressing). This could answer why the PP might not be charging and the computer is locking up ie: Windows accessing the USB device, the cable failing and Windows locking up as a result of not being able to access any further. If you computer locks up just leave it for 5-10 min and see if the computer comes right. Sounds similar to Windows accessing and losing midway a network drive....locks the system.
- I have experiences with some MP3 players that is when the device isn't unmounted properly they can fail to start. From what I had read in the past it was something to do with locked files, certain sectors not cleared and files not fully written to the drive, a job usually done as part of the unmounting process (think of it as you not shutting down your computer properly and a disk scan occuring next reboot).

Just a thought.

[KarateMonkey]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Just a couple of thoughts (I havent ordered mine yet so I can't speak specifically about the PP, but experience similar to yours with mp3 players).

- Have you tried a different USB cable? Some people have reported issues with the USB cable (which Astak are addressing). This could answer why the PP might not be charging and the computer is locking up ie: Windows accessing the USB device, the cable failing and Windows locking up as a result of not being able to access any further. If you computer locks up just leave it for 5-10 min and see if the computer comes right. Sounds similar to Windows accessing and losing midway a network drive....locks the system.
- I have experiences with some MP3 players that is when the device isn't unmounted properly they can fail to start. From what I had read in the past it was something to do with locked files, certain sectors not cleared and files not fully written to the drive, a job usually done as part of the unmounting process (think of it as you not shutting down your computer properly and a disk scan occuring next reboot).

Just a thought.

Since everything seemed to work OK over my lunch break, I decided to try again, and was able to access the built in memory well enough, although slow, but the flash card never did work. I couldn't get them to turn off and ended up having to hit reset on the reader again.

Today I'm not impressed with the USB support, and general stability of my reader, but I'm glad it seems to still be working.

[tamzilla]

If you haven't already, you might also want to try a different SD card. I had a problem with my Gen3 where a bad SD card caused it to act all kinds of wonky. It would either lock up when I connected it to the computer, or all of the data on the SD card would disappear. Reformatting the card didn't work, it would format and check out ok until I put it back in the device and tried to connect it to the computer again. Of course the Gen3 is completely different hardware, but it might be worth a try if you happen to have an extra card laying around.

If you still can't get it to connect consistently, I would definitely contact Astak. They seem to be very committed to making sure everyone is happy with their device. If they want you to return it for an exchange, you could always ask them to cover the return shipping. They might just do it.

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by Morlac

One thing that occurs to me is that these lockups are happening when the battery has been completely drained.

If I understand correctly from what others have said about this kind of Lithium ion battery, the smart sensors in the system are supposed to prevent it from actually draining to 0% to avoid the risk of battery failure or explosion on a recharge. Thus, "0 bars" is never the same thing as no-energy, as "0 bars" is calibrated to some % charge remaining.

For that to work, the system would have to shut down completely to avoid any further charge being drained below the 0-bars level.

So what if that step is not working and the battery is being drained below 0-bars? At that point, you might still have the protective mechanism preventing you from initiating the charge cycle. You'd suddenly have a completely unresponsive battery where it had been working fine right up until the failure.

Quoting from Battery University.com

Extreme low voltage must also be prevented. The safety circuit is designed to cut off the current path if the battery is inadvertently discharged below 2.50V/cell. At this voltage, most circuits render the battery unserviceable and a recharge on a regular charger is not possible.
There are several safeguards to prevent excessive discharge. The equipment protects the battery by cutting off when the cell reaches 2.7 to 3.0V/cell. Battery manufacturers ship the batteries with a 40% charge to allow some self-discharge during storage. Advanced batteries contain a wake-up feature in which the protection circuit only starts to draw current after the battery has been activated with a brief charge. This allows prolonged storage.

In spite of these preventive measures, over-discharge does occur. Advanced battery analyzers (Cadex C7000 series) feature a 'boost' function that provides a gentle charge current to activate the safety circuit and re-energize the cells if discharged too deeply. A full charge and analysis follows.

If the cells have dwelled at 1.5V/cell and lower for a few days, however, a recharge should be avoided. Copper shunts may have formed inside the cells, leading a partial or total electrical short. The cell becomes unstable. Charging such a battery would cause excessive heat and safety could not be assured.

It's possible that we cannot charge it due to this failsafe mechanism, but I was able to turn it on for less than 5 seconds a couple of times after charging it for a lot of hours. In the low charge case, I wouldn't be able to charge it at all or turn the reader on at all....also, something that I find very interesting that the battery never got hot (at all) even after charging for several hours.

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

IF you are having any problem, PLEASE call techncial support! The toll free number is: 1-866-368-8788. Let us try to solve the problem and authorize a remedy. I appreciate that everyone jumps in trying to help (great community spirit) but we may be aware of something that you are not and we can remedy situations like this.

We are constantly trying to assist you... so please try this and then let us see where it all stands.

Robert,
I did call and email tech support. I talked to Amy. She asked me if I had follow the recovering steps from the FAQ and I answered that I did. I was then told to send it back to let them look at it.

No offense Robert, but if the system has an alarm to indicate the failure (i.e. 4 beeps, 5 beeps), your tech support team should have the information of what those alarms means.

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by KarateMonkey

OK, so after sitting at my desk hooked up to a charging cable all morning I was suddenly able to get my Pocket Pro to respond. (FWIW, I pushed the reset button for a few seconds then immediately unhooked the power cord.)

Being a glutten for punishment I immediately set out to try and hook it up to my computer via the USB cable again, this time through a port in the back of the computer. It seemed to work, and forced me to restart the computer. When I got back I could see the Pocket Pro drives, but when I tried to do anything to the files that locked the computer up.

I shut down my computer and unhooked the Pocket Pro. It locked up again and I hit the reset button. It took a couple tries to successfully restart again, but seems to have managed.

I am not brimming with confidence at this point that it will continue to work properly.

Good luck. Try to keep using it without connecting to the computer and see if it stays alive
I was able to bring mine back to life after continuous CPR (charging battery, resetting it, etc) but only for a few seconds...then it went back to the land of the dead.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Morlac

Robertb --

Thanks for the reply. Simply depleting the battery the normal way shouldn't cause these problems, though. You should only see the kind of behavior I proposed if the normal built-in safeguards against draining the battery too far are not working. When they are working, it's like having the gas gauge in your car show "E" when you're really only down to your last gallon or so.

This is also a problem because people aren't necessarily seeing the gauge drop below 1/2. Some have been reporting that the battery seems to drain faster than expected (e.g. dropping from full or 3 bar straight to zero).

<snipped> !

The problem may be that the sensor is not yet calibrated close to correctly and you are depleting the battery way deeper than you believe.

[UchihaNaru]

sorry i'm kindda lazy to read through the wordy replies. So what exactly is causing ur PP to be locked? Now, I'm pretty skeptical of locking it lest I can't unlock it..

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by UchihaNaru

sorry i'm kindda lazy to read through the wordy replies. So what exactly is causing ur PP to be locked? Now, I'm pretty skeptical of locking it lest I can't unlock it..

You know -- this is the problem with the world today -- people can't be bothered to learn things, they just want to be told things.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You know -- this is the problem with the world today -- people can't be bothered to learn things, they just want to be told things.

I'm going to add to that, its not that they can't be bothered to learn things, its they can't be bothered putting in any form of effort. They want it all, they want it now, and they don't want to lift a finger to get it.

[SDRebel]

Originally Posted by UchihaNaru

sorry i'm kindda lazy to read through the wordy replies. So what exactly is causing ur PP to be locked? Now, I'm pretty skeptical of locking it lest I can't unlock it..

no body knows. I originally thought it was removing the SD card while on and locked, but it now seems to be a battery or some related issue.

[KarateMonkey]

Locked up on me again. I tried the instructions I eventually got after my first E-mail to Astak, and managed to get it running again for a couple minutes, but then it locked up again.

I'm home today so I can spend the day talking to customer service, but all their lines are busy.

I really just want to exchange it for a working one.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by KarateMonkey

Locked up on me again. I tried the instructions I eventually got after my first E-mail to Astak, and managed to get it running again for a couple minutes, but then it locked up again.

I'm home today so I can spend the day talking to customer service, but all their lines are busy.

I really just want to exchange it for a working one.

Then that's what you should do! Just ask for an RMA number.

Consumers should never hesitate to return something they are not happy with.

[KarateMonkey]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Then that's what you should do! Just ask for an RMA number.

Consumers should never hesitate to return something they are not happy with.

I finally got through. They're sending me a shipping label.

How long do I have to wait to get it back. I can't go back to paper now. Maybe my wife will let me buy a Jetbook to cover me in the interim. Then when the Pocket Pro comes back we'll have a reader for each of us.