PRS-505 Loads and Loads and Loads

[profdreamer]

Hi! I've been lurking on mobileread for close to 8 months now. Did all the research here on which reader to buy -- a Sony PRS-505 which I got last December. Found the solution to every problem I encountered right here on this forum -- didn't even need to register till today!

I have a pretty unique problem. My Reader -- after 4 months of great service -- has stopped working. It hasn't frozen like the many cases I've read about here -- it's sort of stuck on the "Loading" page. The arrows keep going round and round, while the Options behind is all gray and fuzzy, but there's no progress. It's not frozen, but just (literally) going round in circles.

OK, now for the details. I've got 100+ books loaded on it. My PC runs Ubuntu (Linux), the Reader shows up as a flash drive and I transfer files directly to the database/media/books directory. I load about a book a day and delete those I finish or hate. No additional memory cards. There was about 30 MB of the internal memory free. The problem started right after I transferred a 7 MB PDF this evening. I didn't even get to open it -- the "Loading" page (right after turning on the reader) stayed put. When I now connect it to my PC (running Ubuntu) I see the usual Sony icon, but the directories inside (database, cache, temp) are all empty. I can't transfer anything to the device -- I get a "input/output" error.

(The first time after the "Loading" problem, I was able to connect to my database/media/books directory and erase the last PDF transferred. When I tried to return to the directory, it was gone. Empty).

This is what I've done so far to try and fix it:-

1. Charged it fully via the USB chord.

2 Erased the media.xml file

3. Soft Reset. It started up and then got stuck on the "Loading" page.

4. Tried a Hard Reset (pushing the Reset Button, then turning it off, then holding down the Mark and Volume+ buttons) -- when I press option 5 to erase all content etc, the screen just sits there and does nothing (I left it like that for more than an hour).


I'm out of options now. The only things I can think of trying now are re-flashing the firmware, formatting the internal memory through my computer or buying an SD card -- if the internal memory's corrupted, is there any chance that an SD card will work in its place?

I'm scared of the formatting and re-flashing stuff. I live in Delhi, India, so if I break/brick my Reader am stuck with it. No warranty outside the US/Europe.

Nearly all the stuff I've done has been taken from advice to previous cries for help right here on mobileread, so I'm hoping some of the resident geniuses can help me out. Please! I don't have a life and the Reader was the only thing that helped me to forget that! :-)

Oh, and I can't turn it off. The "Loading " arrows are still relentlessly circling, the battery's running down, think it'll soon die.. Sorry for the huge post, but I really don't think I've read about this problem before.

[profdreamer]

OK, problem solved!

All I had to do was plug the Reader into my computer, and erase everything on it. All the files, all the directories, everything. Then unplug it and let it "Load". Rebuild its database, basically.

Solved the problem. The "database" directory was automatically created -- I created a "books" one within it, transferred LRFs and PDFs to it, they're working just fine.

I've lost about 100 of the ebooks I had on the device, but have copies of those my hard disk, so can declare this thread closed -- with a happy ending!

[dreams]

Welcome (officially) to MobileRead and glad you were able to solve your problem.

Now we have one more problem area and solution to check if something happens to our reader.

I have learned that I should only load 1 pdf at a time to keep the problems minimal and make it easy to back out when a loading problem occurs. Also, I found that larger pdfs always cause my reader to load forever and sometimes freeze halfway through the book. So, now I try to avaoid pdfs as much as possible

[profdreamer]

Originally Posted by dreams

Welcome (officially) to MobileRead and glad you were able to solve your problem.

Now we have one more problem area and solution to check if something happens to our reader.

Thanks for the welcome, dreams and sorry for the delay in replying.

For those interested in going into this further, found out that the infinite-Loading-loop was caused when the Reader tried to rebuild the index after being disconnected from my PC -- the media.xml file. Entries which normally look like "/media/books/xyz.lrf" were coming out as "/tmp/tmp/tmp/tmp/tmp.." -- the number of "tmp"s growing the longer I led the "Loading" continue.


My ending's not as happy as I'd thought. My Reader seemed to be working perfectly till I started transferring more books -- only to discover that, as per it, the total internal memory is now only 37MB. Approximately 190MB has simply disappeared.

Therefore a warning to anyone who tries my "erase everything in the root directory" solution -- you'll lose a lot of your memory!

Strangely enough, 37 MB is roughly the amount of memory I had free when my Reader started going into the infinite-Loading-loop. All the previously used memory now off-limits, apparently.

I'm not complaining, honestly. It's better than having a bricked-up Reader. But thought that anyone who has this problem and tries this solution should be forewarned -- you will probably lose access to all the memory which had been in use!

I'm hoping that adding an SD card will give me more space -- will post here if that works!

Any of the resident geniuses have any idea how I could try to get back my lost memory, by the way??

[gwynevans]

Isn't there a "Format Internal Memory" or similar on the Settings page? Maybe try that?

[roger64]

I use Ubuntu too -sorry for euphony-.

I use grsync to synchro my main memory and my SD card on my computer. I do that every time I upload a book on the reader.

This could possibly later avoid you some trouble because I guess your main memory does not like too much to be close to fill up limit?

A 2 GB SD card seems to be a recommended buy for you.

Also you could try to reinstall the Sony firmware first?

I do not have any problem with "heavy" pdf and I use lots of them. But I take care before uploading to enter their meta-data carefully with PDF info (using Wine) or another software of this kind (A-PDF Info, BeCyPDFMeta edit or other...)

[Riocaz]

Yup there is a "format Internal Memory" option under "Advanced Settings".

[profdreamer]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Nice to know it's not just me and my Reader versus a hostile, uncaring world.

Originally Posted by gwynevans

Isn't there a "Format Internal Memory" or similar on the Settings page? Maybe try that?

It worked! Such a simple solution that I never thought of it! Settings -- Advanced Settings -- Format Internal Memory did the job in seconds. I now have about 180 MB internal memory free!

Thank you, thank you, gwynevans and Roger64!

I use grsync to synchro my main memory and my SD card on my computer. I do that every time I upload a book on the reader.

Not sure what grsync does, but am willing to give it a try. You're right -- it's the syncronisation that caused the whole problem.

[roger64]

Originally Posted by profdreamer

Not sure what grsync does, but am willing to give it a try. You're right -- it's the syncronisation that caused the whole problem.

here is a screenshot of my grsync settings for the SD card (I do the same for the main memory). Basically you have a perfect backup instantly ready.



and the "advanced options" of the same