IQ Pocketbook 701 IQ problems with SD card & library

[Tytonegro]

Hello to you all. This is my first post. I spend hours looking and reading this forum, specifically on the Pocketbook IQ, but I haven't found a thread that seems to cover the problems I encounter.

My Pocketbook IQ experiences sofar:

The start of march 2011
I received my first PB 701 IQ from Pocketgoods, Germany. I started updating the system software to version 2.0.3 and discovered shortly after that books were appearing and disappearing at random. Also the internal SD card was often not accessible by the PC via USB. I suspected a loose contact in the IQ. I contacted Pocketgoods and the IQ was exchanged for another without problems. Hurrah.

Start of April 2011
My new IQ arrived in good order. I played around a bit with it.
* I checked the accessibility of the internal SD card by USB. OK.
* I upgraded to Eclair 2.0.3. OK.
* Both internal (PocketBook701) and external sdcrds (sdcard) are there on the PC. OK.

I connected the IQ to the PC (Windows XP) to upload some more pdf - books. (I use mainly pdf files , ranging in size from 1 page 20KB to hundreds of pages > 40 MB, titles are usually not extremely long and normally don't contain "strange" characters).
There was *no* internal SD card, only the external one!
What th f*, I thought I had received another IQ...

I dismounted the external SD card and reset the IQ. Again I plugged in the USB and there was the internal card again! I uploaded some books and unplugged from the PC.
The library managing/indexing software is not only very slow, its also very buggy.
Many times I have seen an error message "process : ua.pocketbook.bookinfo has stopped unexpectedly", also the bookshelf application seems to suffer from similar crashes.
Although the number of books shown of the main page increased a few times, it did *not* show a number that was related with the number of books I had on the IQ at any time.
Also when opening the library, I see the directory structure I uploaded, but most directories appeared empty. Some pdf's were visible and accessible from the library. Sometimes more seemed to appear after a search command.

When using the file manager (OI File manager) all files were there and accessible. That is, most of the time, because sometimes (after some time in hibernate mode), again the internal SD card was gone! (Pocketbook701 directory : "This folder is empty"
When I connect to the PC the external card is there, but when I try to see the internal card I get the message : "Please insert disk into drive G)
(External card is F:, internal card is G: normally with me)

I contacted Pocketgoods. Waldemar offered very kindly to refund my money. He did not recognise these type of problems.

I decided to test things without external SD-card. So far the internal SD card (Pocketbook701 directory) is there and files are accessible by the OI File Manager. That looks promising...
But the library is totally useless. A lot of books stay invisible.
The process "ua.pocketbook.bookinfo" still keeps crashing at irregular intervals. Probably the indexing process is restarted after every boot-up. Although annoying, I can work around this by using the file manager, I find that handier anyway, since it shows GIF files and HTML files easier. Not all data I want to keep/use for reference is in pdf or e-book format.

Any help would be very much appreciated. Even though I have the opportunity to get my money back, I had rather that my IQ is working :-)

Sorry, it's a long story, and probably important details are still missing :-)

Thanks Tom

[fjtorres]

1- Try rebooting the IQ and as soon as you can go to Settings--->Applications--->Running services and shut down everything except the Android keyboard.
Try it then.

2- If that fails, you might try Nuking the setup by installing 2.0.2 and reinstalling 2.03. Then try #1 above.

3- If that fails, try with a different SD card because you either have a bad IQ or an incompatible card. Or both.

Good luck.

[fjtorres]

BTW, for PDF reading, try Repligo instead of the bundled PB Reader.
For epubs try Aldiko, Coolreader 3, FBreader, or Overdrive Media Console.
For Mobi/PRC try Coolreader 3, FBReader, or Kindle, for Pdb try Coolreader 3.
For HTML, TXT, or RTF, try FBreader or Coolreader 3.

There really is no compelling reason to use the PBReader app for anything.

[hiaig]

I don't have any advice for you re the internal card. For me, I don't see it at all when I hook the IQ up to the PC. I don't even bother with the internal card anymore.

In fact, since I don't use it at all, I swapped out the 2 GB microSD with a 1 GB microSD card. My internal card is only used for a2sd purposes (you know what this is if you have been reading various threads on increasing IQ's apps installation capacity).

My suggestion: it is easiest to keep all of your files (media, books etc) on your external card.

ua.pocketbook.bookinfo crashes all the time. That was why I removed that app after rooting.

I don't find the library app that useful so I use other apps (moon+ reader / coolreader / aldiko) to read.

Cheers

[Tytonegro]

Hi guys, thanks for your fast responses. I'm always amazed to see that some people are appearantly always there...

To fjtorres:
I'll try your re-booting / service shutdown route the next time when I come across the problem. For now I work without ext. SD card.
BTW : I tried 2 different 4 GB cards : one class 2, one class 6, that didn't do the trick. With the ext card fitted the *internal* card sometimes disappears!

About the readers:
Repligo is only available as a market/pay reader. I don't mind paying $ 4 for a good prog, but I can't use market (yet ;-)

I installed FBreader, but it does not do html, txt files...?
Haven't checked out on Cool reader or Moon yet....
Adobe works and displays at least one pdf that PBreader doesn't.

Trying to download something on the IQ (even very small things) always gives me the error: Cannot finish download, There is not enough space!
No space? Where? Why not?
So usually I do it on the PC and transfer it to my IQ later.


To hiaig :
More amazement, that it is appearantly so normal that you/we have to use buggy stuff. I haven't come to the point of rooting and using a2sd etc. Seems all very complicated despite the extensive manual in some thread here of the forum...

Thanks sofar, Tom

[Nightwish]

Yeah, the pocketbook app crashes for me too, I had to give up and install Aldiko. Which is ace, anyway. You should alter a file to install Aldiko 2, but I don't know which one anymore.
Or just install the firware repack.

[musicman2523]

upgrade to 2.06 and see if that helps.
I've had mine since Dec. and no problems at all really.
The only thing i've noticed is that I MUST plug my iq into my computer BEFORE turning it on and shut if OFF before unplugging. Otherwise it hangs up.
Other than that i've had NO problems at all. I love the thing.

[Tytonegro]

I tried the various suggestions mentioned by fjtorres and musicman to no avail.

I suppose the idea to quit all services before hooking up to the PC is to prevent some task locking the USB device... ?
It didn't make any difference.

Hooking up to the PC and switching the IQ on after that doesn't help either.
Also plugging in while hibernating and then switching the IQ on doesn't work.

On one occasion I thought it worked, but alas, I could repeat it. While I was copying files from the internal SD to the external SD, windows sudenly complained that source files were not readable (anymore).
Indeed, the internal card had disappeared again...
When dismounted from Windows, the internal drive (Pocketbook701 dir) was "empty" after this event.

I can't believe the IQ has a hardware fault, this is the second one, the previous one was replaced for exactly this fault by Pocketgoods.
I also tried with 2 different SD cards, so also there I don't expect to find the guilty one.

Reading Hiaig's response it is probably easiest to just neglect the intenal card indeed.
I'll continue trying and will also update to 2.0.6

One never knows ;-)

Tom

[Tytonegro]

In above msg it should read : I could *NOT* repeat it....

[hiaig]

Tytonegro:

Your internal card will only be seen by your PC if AND only if you boot up your IQ without your external card.

After bootup, if you insert your external card, your PC will see both the internal and external card.

This will last until you power off (not sleep) your IQ.

If you boot up your IQ with the external card in place, you will only see the external card on your PC.

So if you want to see both your internal and external card. Everytime you boot up your IQ, you have to make sure that your external card is not inserted.

Hope that helps. This does not explain why the IQ works the way it works .... but then, you already know my thoughts on the internal card .

Cheers

[Tytonegro]

Thank you Hiaig for getting more into the details!
Yes, you are complete right.
For me it is such a crooked way of thinking, probably just as easy to understand as Chinese or Russian, maybe that explains ;-)

So this is what I did to check:

STAGE 1 :IQ booted with Ext card mounted:
-----------------------------------------
----> ONLY ext card visible on IQ
Hooked up PC by USB:
----> ONLY ext card visible on PC
Disconnected/dismounted from PC:
----> ONLY ext card visible on IQ (same)
Dismounted ext card in IQ, removed card:
---> internal card NOT visible!!

STAGE 2 : Only Internal card
----------------------------
Switched off IQ and booted again (only with int card):
---> The Internal card is visible on IQ again, hurrah!
Hooked up PC by USB:
---> Internal card is visible on PC
Disconnected/dismounted from PC:
----> Internal card visible on IQ (same)

STAGE 3 : inserted EXT card
---------------------------
Inserted external SD card:
---> now indeed BOTH SD cards are visible on IQ !
Hooked up PC by USB:
---> ... and BOTH SD cards are visible on PC, Wow ! ;-)
Disconnected/dismounted from PC:
----> BOTH cards visible on IQ (same)

After this I switched off the IQ and booted again, to, surprise, be back at stage 1...

CONCLUSION
>>>>>>>>>>
- Don't bother about the internal card, as Hiaig sugested earlier and do everything on the external card, because the internal is too small to hold all your stuff.

OR

- Upgrade the internal (micro) SD card to a proper size and don't bother about the confusion about cards being visible or not.

BUT

Now we have Eclair 2.0.6, that formats your internal card into 2 Linux partions and 1 "normal" partition for the user, is it still possible to upgrade to a larger internal card without problems?

What is the way to proceed?
1. Backup your stuff
2. Swap internal card for a bigger one.
3. Install 2.0.6 (again, from an external card as usual), but now on the new/bigger internal card.
4. Put your own stuff back again.

Is this the way to proceed?

I didn't dare to give it a try, since I don't have a possibility to (low level) format the card in case things would go wrong. The PC only sees the "normal" partition when using a Panasonic format utility and doesn't restore the card to the original real size.

Personally I would prefer to use only the internal card, but I'll wait until more is clear.

Tom

[hiaig]

Originally Posted by Tytonegro

What is the way to proceed?
1. Backup your stuff
2. Swap internal card for a bigger one.
3. Install 2.0.6 (again, from an external card as usual), but now on the new/bigger internal card.
4. Put your own stuff back again.

Is this the way to proceed?

I didn't dare to give it a try, since I don't have a possibility to (low level) format the card in case things would go wrong. The PC only sees the "normal" partition when using a Panasonic format utility and doesn't restore the card to the original real size.

Personally I would prefer to use only the internal card, but I'll wait until more is clear.

Tom

Theoretically, it should work the way you suggested ... but who knows.

If things go wrong, just install one of those free Virtual machine apps, load up ubuntu and use gparted to reformat the card.

Cheers

[Tytonegro]

After all the confusion about the IQ and how it handles SD cards, I decided to swap the internal card for a bigger one.

- I bought a *Transcend* 4Gb class 6 card.
- I'm running Eclair 2.0.6
- I exchanged the internal 2 GB with the new 4GB
- I inserted an external card with the 2.0.6 update ...
...and re-booted/re-installed....

Everything appeared to be working fine. The card showed about 2.8 GB space, the rest is used by the Linux partitions as before.
But then suddenly files/books were not readable anymore on the IQ. The system would not even shut down and start up normally. When it started up I got the message that there was an internal memory problem and that I should contact my supplier...

I removed the card, tested on the PC, saw everything was broken, formatted the card and did the whole process again.

Same song as before, seemed to work first, things got from bad to worse and this time the card was totally unreadable and could not be formatted anymore in the end.

I suspected a faulty card, claimed warranty, got a new card, and everything went the same as before ;-)

This time I only tried once, the second new card was still useable on the PC, so I just gave up. I re-installed the original 2GB internal card and now I'm using an external 4 GB class 2 card without any problems.

Has this something to do with the brand of the card?
Other experiences, good or bad, which brand/type card?

Thanks

Tom

[hiaig]

or the EXT2 partition is too large for the IQ to handle.

I recalled tselling said that his ~700GB works fine. How large is your Ext2 partition?

[Tytonegro]

Hiaig:

I suppose you mean 700MB ;-), but I alo suppose the sizes of the Ext2 partitions are just the standard 650 & 330 MB since the PC partition is about 2,8 GB (= leftover from 4GB - 650MB -330MB)

PS I remember seeing a thread with various SD card brands that work or don't work, but can't find it anymore...