Calibre can't read Kindle contents

AmandaReckonwith · 03-26-2011, 01:35 AM

After I installed vers. 7.5.1 (with some problems because some processes weren't shut down at the beginning), Calibre was unable to communicate with my Kindle 2. The problem continues with 7.5.2. I get the message "Device: Amazon Kindle detected," and "Jobs: 1," and there is a lot of disk activity, but with the Library icon is depressed, the "On Device" column remains blank. If I click on the Device icon, the display (table) of Kindle contents is blank below the column headings. Even after waiting more than 10 minutes, the contents aren't displayed.

There is no response to the "Eject connected device" command. The "Quit" command produces the "Active jobs" warning that Calibre is communicating with the device, but sometimes succeeds in shutting down Calibre. Other times even the Windows (Vista) task manager can't shut it down, and I need to physically unplug the Kindle. When disconnected, the Kindle operates normally.

I tried restarting the Kindle and also rebooting the computer. Any suggestions?

Manichean · 03-26-2011, 04:32 AM

I'd suggest letting the device communication job finish. You can't expect anything to show up in the "On Device" column unless Calibre has finished indexing what's on the Kindle.

That said, I don't own a Kindle, so I can't say how long it normally takes for that. One thing you can do, though: If you have PDFs loaded on your device, try to disable the pdf metadata reader plugin (see preferences->plugins)- some of the time, PDF metadata reading or writing gets hung up on a file.

AmandaReckonwith · 03-26-2011, 05:15 AM

Thanks much, Manichean--problem solved! I'm not sure which of your suggestions did the trick, however. I haven't put a new PDF on the Kindle for over a month, but I tried disabling the plugin, and the contents of the Kindle came up in maybe 5 minutes. I then ejected the Kindle, re-enabled the plugin, and reconnected the Kindle, and the contents came up in about 15 seconds. Probably a file got corrupted and Calibre needed to reread everything from scratch.

Manichean · 03-26-2011, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmandaReckonwith

Probably a file got corrupted and Calibre needed to reread everything from scratch.

That's possible. Calibre caches metadata information on the device (a file called metadata.calibre), if that gets corrupted, it has to rebuild that file first.
If you want to know, you could try reenabling the PDF metadata reader and see if that causes the connection job to take that long again.

03-26-2011, 01:35 AM	#1
AmandaReckonwith Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Japan Device: Kindle	Calibre can't read Kindle contents After I installed vers. 7.5.1 (with some problems because some processes weren't shut down at the beginning), Calibre was unable to communicate with my Kindle 2. The problem continues with 7.5.2. I get the message "Device: Amazon Kindle detected," and "Jobs: 1," and there is a lot of disk activity, but with the Library icon is depressed, the "On Device" column remains blank. If I click on the Device icon, the display (table) of Kindle contents is blank below the column headings. Even after waiting more than 10 minutes, the contents aren't displayed. There is no response to the "Eject connected device" command. The "Quit" command produces the "Active jobs" warning that Calibre is communicating with the device, but sometimes succeeds in shutting down Calibre. Other times even the Windows (Vista) task manager can't shut it down, and I need to physically unplug the Kindle. When disconnected, the Kindle operates normally. I tried restarting the Kindle and also rebooting the computer. Any suggestions?

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03-26-2011, 04:32 AM	#2
Manichean Wizard Posts: 3,130 Karma: 91256 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Germany Device: Cybook Gen3	I'd suggest letting the device communication job finish. You can't expect anything to show up in the "On Device" column unless Calibre has finished indexing what's on the Kindle. That said, I don't own a Kindle, so I can't say how long it normally takes for that. One thing you can do, though: If you have PDFs loaded on your device, try to disable the pdf metadata reader plugin (see preferences->plugins)- some of the time, PDF metadata reading or writing gets hung up on a file.

03-26-2011, 05:15 AM	#3
AmandaReckonwith Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Japan Device: Kindle	Thanks much, Manichean--problem solved! I'm not sure which of your suggestions did the trick, however. I haven't put a new PDF on the Kindle for over a month, but I tried disabling the plugin, and the contents of the Kindle came up in maybe 5 minutes. I then ejected the Kindle, re-enabled the plugin, and reconnected the Kindle, and the contents came up in about 15 seconds. Probably a file got corrupted and Calibre needed to reread everything from scratch.

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