My 505's screen seems to have developed a sudden problem Tuesday morning. I couldn't get Picasaweb and the forum to cooperate so I had to link to
the picture of the problem in instead. Centered a bit up from the bottom is the volume indicator at about twice its normal size and an even more malformed version mirrored behind it. When I try to turn it on part of the volume indicator will flicker a few times but I haven't seen any other activity. I have no idea what the other lines are.
I had used it several times Monday but after went to bed Tuesday morning (my wife works third shift and I keep my sleep schedule close to hers since I'm crippled and can't work at all) I saw the above when I flipped open the case. It simply sat either on my nightstand or on the couch between readings and was never dropped nor was anything dropped on it.
When I plug it into the computer, Windows, Calibre, and Sony's Reader software (whatever it's called; I've only used it a couple of times) can all see and manipulate it normally so I was able to back up its internal memory.
Other than making the volume indicator flicker, the power button is completely unresponsive but I still tried soft and hard resetting it more times than I remember with no results whatsoever.
Then I left it plugged in to fully recharge in case it was a battery issue but it only took a few minutes since it was fully charged when I went to bed Monday morning.
Then I spent several hours digging through this forum and the Internet at large for answers and only found one: hold the power switch for at least a minute. That didn't work either.
So at this point I'm wondering whether my screen randomly broke or if some component that drives the display wore out.
It was purchased new in Nov/Dec 2009 so wearing out seems unlikely but I really can't think of any other possibilities – which is why I'm asking the good people of Mobileread.