Internal memory problem with Pocket Pro

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Aptosreader

Not that I'm aware of. The PP is the only device that seems to have that behavior. No problem with flash drives, ipods, SD cards, cameras etc... .

Every device can have a specific entry (based upon USB ID).
"If this guy attaches, do this." Somehow, it thinks the PEz should not be a removable device and restores the connection.

1 rogue out of many good guys

We really need a Mac person to step in right NOW

[Aptosreader]

A mac person may not be necessary. I am now booted on a PC (xp) and am having the exact same problem. Reformatted the internal memory (FAT`16), loaded some books (copied from the SD card to the internal), safely ejected the disks, and (sigh!) nothing but the recent files folder in the internal memory (SD memory is loaded and functioning well). Called tech support earlier and they have no Macs (double sigh!). It may be time for this baby to take a trip through the mail.

[Solicitous]

Have you after unplugging the PP turned it off then back on? This would force the PP to re-read the FAT table (I don't know alot about FAT16, do blocks change when formatting? This would mean the PP would need to re-read the internal storage)

[Aptosreader]

Have you after unplugging the PP turned it off then back on? This would force the PP to re-read the FAT table (I don't know alot about FAT16, do blocks change when formatting? This would mean the PP would need to re-read the internal storage)

Thanks Solicitous, yes I did turn the PP off and on again (also hit the reset button on the back) to no avail.

[jusmee]

OK, here's a wild suggestion.

I remember that some preformatted USB thumbdrives would come with about 4 partitions created so that various operating systems could use them. I only found out because it prevents some bios's booting from the USB device. Is it possible the Apple formatting has done something to the partitioning?

The cure was to use a partitioning tool to remove all partitions then put back just one. It might be interesting to look at that drive using fdisk while it is mounted. Even if it looks OK, it might pay to wipe the partition table and start again. However, I seem to remember that Windows fdisk wasn't good enough to sort it out, and I had to use fdisk under linux. I imagine one of the better disk utilities out there on the market could also do it.

[Aptosreader]

OK, here's a wild suggestion.

I remember that some preformatted USB thumbdrives would come with about 4 partitions created so that various operating systems could use them. I only found out because it prevents some bios's booting from the USB device. Is it possible the Apple formatting has done something to the partitioning?

The cure was to use a partitioning tool to remove all partitions then put back just one. It might be interesting to look at that drive using fdisk while it is mounted. Even if it looks OK, it might pay to wipe the partition table and start again. However, I seem to remember that Windows fdisk wasn't good enough to sort it out, and I had to use fdisk under linux. I imagine one of the better disk utilities out there on the market could also do it.

That's an interesting thought. Does that mean that formatting the internal memory on the PC does not remove the possible extra partition(s)? I'm not a normally a Windows user (not since my IMB PC with 2 floppy drives circa 1987) so maybe someone can direct me how to remove partitions in XP. Thanks for the info.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Aptosreader

That's an interesting thought. Does that mean that formatting the internal memory on the PC does not remove the possible extra partition(s)? I'm not a normally a Windows user (not since my IMB PC with 2 floppy drives circa 1987) so maybe someone can direct me how to remove partitions in XP. Thanks for the info.

Formatting formats a partition, even if it's just one partition for the whole drive. Deleting a recreating a partition leaves you with a raw partition that needs to be subsequently formatted.

I believe XP has a drive manager in the computer management section under control panel, and it also has the command line 'fdisk' program. However, XP is limited and often can't deal with partitions from other operating systems.

Hence this is why I had to use the linux 'fdisk' partitioning command. I suspect the GUI linux program 'gparted' MIGHT also be able to do the job.

Maybe Apple also has such a tool?

[jusmee]

I felt I must warn you to proceed with caution.

I just opened mine under linux using fdisk and tried to list the partition table. See what fdisk reported below. Now this is similar to what the preformatted usb drives had - only plainly even linux doesn't really understand it. While in may be possible to delete the partitions, it's obvious that the PP is meant to be set up like this. Maybe yours is now different due to something the Apple system has done and hence the problem.

# fdisk /dev/sdc

Command (m for help): m
Command action
   a   toggle a bootable flag
   b   edit bsd disklabel
   c   toggle the dos compatibility flag
   d   delete a partition
   l   list known partition types
   m   print this menu
   n   add a new partition
   o   create a new empty DOS partition table
   p   print the partition table
   q   quit without saving changes
   s   create a new empty Sun disklabel
   t   change a partition's system id
   u   change display/entry units
   v   verify the partition table
   w   write table to disk and exit
   x   extra functionality (experts only)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/sdc: 385 MB, 385875968 bytes
12 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1012 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 744 * 512 = 380928 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69737369

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device.

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   ?     2513134     2739867    84344761   69  Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(68, 13, 10) logical=(2513133, 6, 42)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(2739866, 9, 25)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc2   ?     2286989     4800271   934940732+  73  Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(2286988, 6, 38)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(4800270, 1, 4)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc3   ?           4           4           0   74  Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(3, 5, 32)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(3, 5, 31)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc4               1     4617088  1717556736    0  Empty
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
     phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(0, 0, 1)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
     phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(4617087, 11, 62)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.

Partition table entries are not in disk order

Command (m for help):

[theducks]

I just had Major file system corruption on both the Main and my 4G Sd card.
Scan disk fixed main, I lost 80% of the SD card contents. Reformatted in Windows and reloaded my books. lost all my recently Reading (multiple books in progress)

I have rolled back my Firmware to Dec , never before was it this bad.

I never (Knocking on wood) have had any corruption with USB sticks.

[Solicitous]

I wonder, if one was to accidently remove all partitions on the internal memory (including the hidden system partition), would a firmware reinstall re-create the partition table?

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Aptosreader

That's an interesting thought. Does that mean that formatting the internal memory on the PC does not remove the possible extra partition(s)? I'm not a normally a Windows user (not since my IMB PC with 2 floppy drives circa 1987) so maybe someone can direct me how to remove partitions in XP. Thanks for the info.

Ok, you owe me. I neglected my wife, my children, and worst of all I used my wifes work XP laptop to find this (I feel soooo dirty now using XP)

The tool that jusmee is talking about can be found in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Alternatively right click on My Computer and select Manage. You will see Disk Management under the Storage section on the left. This should allow you to delete and recreate partitions.

Additional, jusmee suggested that gparted may do what you need. There doesn't seem to be a Mac version, but if you run an Intel Mac (non-ppc processor) you can download the LiveCD of gparted and try that (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php).

Best of luck with it, keep us upto date.

[Aptosreader]

Ok, you owe me. I neglected my wife, my children, and worst of all I used my wifes work XP laptop to find this (I feel soooo dirty now using XP)

The tool that jusmee is talking about can be found in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. Alternatively right click on My Computer and select Manage. You will see Disk Management under the Storage section on the left. This should allow you to delete and recreate partitions.

Additional, jusmee suggested that gparted may do what you need. There doesn't seem to be a Mac version, but if you run an Intel Mac (non-ppc processor) you can download the LiveCD of gparted and try that (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php).

Best of luck with it, keep us upto date.

Please go back to your wife & children, this isn't worth it.

I found a script for the mac used in it's terminal program (works at the basic system level) to format a single FAT16 partition on the PP. Copied a file and the same result. I think JUSME may have a point in that there may be more than one partition necessary in the internal PP memory (perhaps one with system files, one with data? or something like that). I think that now that I have a clean FAT16 PP, I'll try to reapply the December firmware and see what happens.

Thanks to all of you for taking time with this, starting to feel like a family. I'll try to payback some day when I get my skill sets up to par with the PP.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by jusmee

I felt I must warn you to proceed with caution.

I just opened mine under linux using fdisk and tried to list the partition table. See what fdisk reported below. Now this is similar to what the preformatted usb drives had - only plainly even linux doesn't really understand it. While in may be possible to delete the partitions, it's obvious that the PP is meant to be set up like this. Maybe yours is now different due to something the Apple system has done and hence the problem.

Out of curiosity I looked at mine with fdisk, same output. I have now looked at it with GParted. It picks up a 368MB Fat16 FS but cannot mount /dev/sdc1 (so it isn't actually seeing the partition). Hmmm, I wonder if all those fdisk errors are to do with the hidden boot partition?

[Aptosreader]

Out of curiosity I looked at mine with fdisk, same output. I have now looked at it with GParted. It picks up a 368MB Fat16 FS but cannot mount /dev/sdc1 (so it isn't actually seeing the partition). Hmmm, I wonder if all those fdisk errors are to do with the hidden boot partition?

It's looking more and more like I erased something that should have stayed there when I originally formatted the PP. I re-applied the Dec firmware and no change. I have calls and emails to ASTAK, hopefully when they get back in on Monday, they'll have a solution.

Thanks again all.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Aptosreader

It's looking more and more like I erased something that should have stayed there when I originally formatted the PP. I re-applied the Dec firmware and no change. I have calls and emails to ASTAK, hopefully when they get back in on Monday, they'll have a solution.

Thanks again all.

Well this thread here with the bebook mini (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55086) seemed to have a similar issue to you, and a simple format worked. I know myself with my mp3 player I could not format it correctly as FAT16 under Linux, but under WinXP it fixed it.

The last post of this Apple discussion board (http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1302331). That might help, or even trying one of those free partition programs for Mac. Seems by default the Mac will format a Windows/Dos partition at Fat32.