Hanlin V5 doing a great imitation of a log

[JojoTheGreat]

Hello.

I've had my Hanlin V5 for a while (Sept '09, I think) and I do love it like other people love their children. I have never updated or changed or done anything. I've just read hundreds of books happily. Until yesterday.

It was left on over the weekend and the page had gone funky looking, half walk between two pages and just NOT RIGHT. I just hit the button for screen rest and back on and then it was fine. I hooked it up to my computer, downloaded a couple of txt files. After that it just got progressively weirder. It wouldn't do anything when I hit buttons. I would try to chose menu options, you know, like opening the folder where I keep my books, and it just wouldn't do anything.

Now, it won't even start up properly. I tried to hit the button to turn it on, it just ignored me. Sometimes it would beep at me 4 angry beeps and flash a very mean read light. I pulled the battery and left it out for a while replaced it and turned it on but it did nothing. Now, I have it charging (even though I charged it over night last night, in case that was an issue) and it won't start up. It's just stuck on the teacup screen with the little status bar at the bottom about half done.

I figure I should try to update the firmware, but I don't know if I can do that since it won't even turn on.

My heart is a little broken. Any advice you've got will be most greatly appreciated.

XO,
Jojo

[DaleDe]

Try using it with power plugged in. Does it behave ok in this mode? If so it is likely that your battery is getting old and needs replacing. You can do an upgrade with the unit plugged in but it won't fix a bad battery. A battery is only good for about 18 mos to 2 years. Pay special attention to the battery gauge on the unit but you will need activity to see it change since there is no screen update between pages. Try a eBook format that leaves the status bar on the screen like mobi.

Dale

[JojoTheGreat]

I tried using it while plugged in and it didn't help. When I tried to turn it on I got stuck on the teacup screen. I then tried to restart it and the screen just went wonky. The right half was blank and the left half had vertical stripes.

I usually keep a good eye on my battery (I read almost everything as txt) and the battery life has diminished over the past few months, but it's still been holding a charge pretty steadily for around 2-3 weeks.

Thanks,
Jojo

[DaleDe]

Well with your screen description I think it looks like a hardware problem.

[JojoTheGreat]

I did manage to update the firmware, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. Now it's just stuck on a different start up screen without even the benefit of the cute tea cup. It's really not moving any further.

If it is a hardware problem, is there anything I can do? Anywhere I can send it for repair?

As soon as this started, I freaked out and bought a new one (I am a panic shopper) so according to fedex, I should have a bebook mini by noon tomorrow. But I would really love to make this one work again. Or at least I would like to know what went wrong and how to not let it happen to again, since I bought fundamentally the exact same product.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by JojoTheGreat

I did manage to update the firmware, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. Now it's just stuck on a different start up screen without even the benefit of the cute tea cup. It's really not moving any further.

If it is a hardware problem, is there anything I can do? Anywhere I can send it for repair?

As soon as this started, I freaked out and bought a new one (I am a panic shopper) so according to fedex, I should have a bebook mini by noon tomorrow. But I would really love to make this one work again. Or at least I would like to know what went wrong and how to not let it happen to again, since I bought fundamentally the exact same product.

Check with Jinke. They are the manufactures and will be able to repair the unit I expect. http://www.jinke.com.cn/Compagesql/English/ Perhaps they will have a suggestion.

Dale