PRS-T1 PRS-T1 freezing with unusual icon

[Berzelius]

My wife's PRS-T1 froze the other day. In the center of the screen was a largish, circular icon that I can best describe as two curved arrows chasing each others tails. It may have been revolving but, to be honest, I cannot recall whether or not it was.

Pressing the on/off button or pushing a paperclip in the small reset recess did not work. I got it working again by connecting it to a USB port on my PC.

I have 2 questions, if I may.

1) What exactly is this icon - there was no text, just the icon? In the user manual this icon is shown as indicating 'Updating database'. However, it also says that the icon would be displayed in the status bar, which was not the case here.

2) Is there any other way of recovering from this kind of freezing. The reason I ask is that we have had a similar problem of freezing a couple of times and, in each case, connecting to my PC has cured it. However, we are going on a cruise soon and I really doubt if anyone would allow some stranger to plug an unknown device into their laptop! So, what else could I try if the need arose?

[AnotherCat]

You are aware that when you do the paperclip push of the reset button that you then have to push the power on switch after that in order for the T1 to reset, else nothing happens?

Connecting a T1 to a USB port does a power on, so that will have the same effect as pushing the power on switch after having pushed the reset button, and that may be what you are experiencing.

Only mention it just in case not realised, as it is different to many devices which normally reset with just the reset button push.

The icon appears and revolves when the T1 has dedicated itself to processing such as when doing a complete power down or power up; if the reader freezes during that time the revolving freezes.

[Berzelius]

Thanks for that. I was totally unaware of it! Over the years I've pushed paperclips into a number of different devices and that's the first time I've come across a 2 part process.

[Rizla]

Do a search for T1 Hard Reset. That should fix it. However, you will lose your books. If you're going away, I recommend you back up all books onto a micro-SD card that you slot into the T1 in the reader. That way a hard-reset, if you need to do it, will not zap all your books. They'll remain on the SD-card. But test the process first.

Personally I suspect T1s are a bit flaky, though there are many who will disagree.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Berzelius

Thanks for that. I was totally unaware of it! Over the years I've pushed paperclips into a number of different devices and that's the first time I've come across a 2 part process.

No problem.

Turns out that you are not the only one, as a result of my post I have had feedback from several others saying they also were unaware of it. Off hand, it is the only device that comes immediately to my mind too that requires the power on button to be pushed as well for the reset. Hopefully, that was the only problem with your wife's T1.

If you continue to have lockup problems then I would suggest first, as it is so easy to do, deleting the books.db files off the reader (via computer/USB) and any memory card, turn the reader off then on again and it will rebuild the files itself. No books will be lost but a backup is always worthwhile. Failing that, there is the option of a full hard reset, as Rizla suggests, which is a multiple button push and order procedure and will lose all the books, notes, etc. The method for which is described on Sony's website support pages and, I think, some threads here.

[bla]

That icon usually means that the reader has gotten stuck opening some file.. as already suggested a soft reset will usually cure it... if not, it may indicate a malformed epub in which case you should plug it in via usb and delete the last few books added.. I used to get that when I got impatient at the sluggish response of the touch screen and kept tapping the thing lol... seemed to jam the thing up... I have found that if I re-cycle the power on the t1 after a charge it seems to help to keep the device healthy

[Shopaholic]

Originally Posted by bla

That icon usually means that the reader has gotten stuck opening some file..

Not necessarily. I've put my reader down for the night and put it in sleep mode but some time later, on it's own, it started getting the circling arrows icon. Which I think just means, wait basically.

It caught my eye because it went from the screen saver image to white with the arrows. **shrugs**