Actually it seems they do happen on their own w/ this reader
What it seems to have been is the power below 50% issue.
Once I saw there is nothing I can do to work I just left it charging, and after a couple of hours, it slowly came back to life !
I will test some more w/ it but it seems (based on the other complaints as well) the level of the battery matters somehow to the well functioning of the reader. Buggy behaviour of course.