Reset and recharge - Read this first

[Patricia]

A few people have been a bit confused about doing a soft or hard reset on their readers when they freeze, or otherwise misbehave. As a consequence, they have been plunging paperclips and other pointed objects into every orifice or aperture that the Reader possesses. This does not lead to happy results.

Here are a couple of hints:

Re-charging
1. If your Reader freezes, the first thing to try is a long recharge. This is also the thing to try if the battery meter seems to drain too quickly. (It sometimes takes several charge cycles before the battery bars display accurately. And I have found that several short recharges often lead to inaccurate battery displays. A long mains recharge puts this right.)

Recharging via a mains charger is essential if a PRS500 has become completely drained or frozen, and is often more reliable with the PRS505.
If you have a PRS500 it came with a mains charger. The PRS505 doesn't. But, in both cases, a Sony PSP charger works too (borrow one from a teenager). Plug it in, connect to the reader and check that the little red charging light comes on. Then leave it for several hours, preferably overnight.
In many cases this has solved the problem entirely.

Reset
2. If your Reader is still frozen then you will have to try a soft reset. If that doesn't work then try a hard reset. These both involve prodding a straightened paperclip (or similar) into the hole on the back of the Reader. Remove the cover. Turn the Reader over. There is a very small hole. It is labelled 'reset' in very tiny letters. Do not stick the paperclip anywhere else. And before trying a reset, read the instructions.

Reset Instructions
can be found on the wiki:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Sony_Portable_Reader

Or you may consult the manual (which should appear in your ebook/Connect library).

I hope this helps.

[vivaldirules]

Thank you for the very informative post, Patricia. I had missed this.

[shousa]

This has been found to work in at least 2 cases - mine and kiwijen's.

RESET while using wall charger may not work after crashing or having start-up problems (does not matter if screen is blank or has something on it from crash time) but while USB charging does - this brings back the red light. So if red light does not work then charge 3 hours on the wall charger then disconnect that and charge on USB and reset.

This may bring your 505 back to life.

[shousa]

Here is a better description:

1) 3 hour wall charge (so I recommend buying a psp charger) first.

2) Disconnect wall charger

3) Connect with USB to a PC (from USB to USB as if you are going to transfer files)

4) Try RESET on back of 505 then POWER switch.

[Randa2060]

if you take you stylis and unscrew the tip the other end of the stylis tip becoes a "reset button probe" i think its just a safer way of doing it so that nothing gets damaged

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by Randa2060

if you take you stylis and unscrew the tip the other end of the stylis tip becoes a "reset button probe" i think its just a safer way of doing it so that nothing gets damaged

Obviously, a tip for the PRC 700 only. Thanks, Randa2060.

[phildavies]

Despite lengthy rechargiing. ny Sony Reader refuses to display antying but the message "Updating firmware now ..." Neither soft nor hard reset does anything and the device is invisible to my computer (which is a Mac running Parallels, though I've also installed Calibre recently) Can I open it up and remove the battery? Should I pay Sony 50 pounds just to look at it?

[igorsk]

You need to run the firmware updater now. Here's the one for PRS-500:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu...d=2866&os_id=7
NB: it's better to run it from real Windows (i.e. a PC or Bootcamp'd install), not emulator.

[vman]

I bought a PRS-505 in France, firmware is 1.3 but its language is French: how I can downgrade the firmware so to have English language?

[dpierron]

As I said here :

After meddling with the Updater, I found a (quite simple) way to make it update my Reader, which I share with you here :

1. download the Sony Updater program containing the US firmware (named PRS-505 Updater 1.1.00.18040.exe)
2. extract "PRS-505 Updater 1.1.00.18040.exe" to a new directory (it's a ZIP archive in disguise)
3. in this directory, edit the eBookUpdater\scripts\updater.xml file : delete the lines 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 and 70.
4. run the PRS-505 Updater.exe program and update your Reader

Hope this helps !
David.

[vman]

Thanks David, the problem is I'm not able to extract the US firmware in a new directory: when I launch that it's opening a file called "PRSDC8E.tmp" and is going to install the firmware ... being not able to to that due to the reason we know yet.
Do you know where I could download a different version of that file so I can unzip and modify following your instrunctions?

[vman]

I have been able to extract the files but opening the mentioned file there isn't any line 61,62,63,64,65,66 and 70.
Just to provide the full information, here the content of the file:
Here the content of the mentioned file: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <document xmlns="http://www.kinoma.com/fskin/1" id="DOCUMENT" width="420" height="220">
- <model>
<variable id="deviceVersion" value="No PRS-505 connected" />
<variable id="updateStatus" value="Connect a PRS-505 to update" />
<variable id="READER_MODEL_NAME" value="PRS-505" />
- <code>
<function id="initialized">this.updating = false Updater.setClient(this) this.button = this.container.updateButton this.progress = this.container.progress this.image = this.container.image this.checkmark = this.container.checkmark this.softwareLabel = this.container.softwareLabel this.versionLabel = this.container.versionLabel</function>
<function id="updateBegin">this.container.dontDisconnectLab e l.show(true) this.updating = true this.button.enable(false) this.progress.show(true) this.progress.setValue(-1) Updater.update() Updater.startPollStatus()</function>
<function id="updateStatusChanged" params="newStatus">this.container.setVariable("upd ateStatus", newStatus)</function>
<function id="updateComplete" params="result">if (0 == result) this.container.bubble("showUpdateCompleteDialog") else this.container.bubble("showUpdateIsntCompleteDialo g", result) this.container.dontDisconnectLabel.show(false) Updater.stopPollStatus() this.button.enable(false) this.progress.show(false) this.progress.setValue(0) this.updating = false</function>
<function id="deviceAdded" params="version">var modelAndVersion = version.split(";") var model = modelAndVersion[0] var version = modelAndVersion[1] var type = model.split("/"); var updatableModelName = this.READER_MODEL_NAME.value if (type[0] != updatableModelName) { var msg = "This updater only supports model " + updatableModelName this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", msg) } else { this.softwareLabel.show(true) this.versionLabel.show(true) this.image.brighten() this.container.setVariable("deviceVersion", version) if (this.compareDeviceVersion(version)) { this.checkmark.show(true) this.button.enable(false) this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "This PRS-505 is up-to-date") } else { this.checkmark.show(false) this.button.enable(true) this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "Please click below to continue") } } var notificationShown = this.container.getVariable("notificationShown") if (notificationShown) this.container.bubble("scheduleTimeOut")</function>
<function id="deviceRemoved">this.softwareLabel.show(false) this.versionLabel.show(false) this.checkmark.show(false) this.button.enable(false) this.image.dim() this.container.setVariable("deviceVersion", "no device") this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "Connect a PRS-505 to update")</function>
- <function id="compareDeviceVersion" params="deviceVersion">
- <![CDATA[ var updateVersion = this.container.getVariable("updateVersion")
var version = deviceVersion.replace(".", "")
return updateVersion <= version

]]>
</function>
</code>
</model>
<background id="background" active="false" left="0" right="0" top="0" bottom="0" />
- <default-button text="Update" id="updateButton" right="0" width="80" bottom="-45" height="30" active="false">
- <code>
<function id="click">this.container.model.updateBegin()</function>
</code>
</default-button>
<panel left="0" top="0" right="0" bottom="0" />
<blendImage href="../assets/updaterAssets/sonyEbook.png" id="image" blend="76.8" left="10" width="92" height="117" />
<image href="../assets/updaterAssets/check.png" id="checkmark" visible="false" left="10" width="92" height="117" />
<label align="left" id="latestLabel" text="New software version:" right="80" width="190" top="35" height="30" />
<label align="right" text="1.0" id="updateVersionLabel" variable="formatedUpdateVersion" right="40" width="80" top="35" height="30" />
<label align="left" id="softwareLabel" visible="false" text="Current software version:" right="80" width="190" top="55" height="30" />
<label align="right" text="1.0" id="versionLabel" visible="false" variable="deviceVersion" right="40" width="80" top="55" height="30" />
<label align="center" visible="false" id="dontDisconnectLabel" text="Update in progress. Do not disconnect" right="40" width="230" top="98" height="30" />
<progress value="0" id="progress" visible="false" right="40" width="230" top="124" height="20" />
<label align="center" id="statusLabel" variable="updateStatus" right="0" width="310" top="138" height="30" />
</document>

[vman]

Please, I'm right surrender now: I need help ... THANKS beforehand

[dpierron]

Ok, sorry, my bad... I guess when I edited the file it was reformatted somehow...

So, in this file, search for the following :

if (this.compareDeviceVersion(version)) { this.checkmark.show(true) this.button.enable(false) this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "This PRS-505 is up-to-date") } else { this.checkmark.show(false) this.button.enable(true) this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "Please click below to continue") }

and replace it by this :

this.checkmark.show(false) this.button.enable(true) this.container.setVariable("updateStatus", "Please click below to continue")

In fact, you are simply bypassing a test on the device version...

Tell me if you need more help !

David.

[vman]

David, sorry, how do you edited the file? I tried to open that but it isn't accepting any change then I used Word but it seems to freeze the Updater when I launch that.