Ereader side not working correctly anymore.

[Brichelle78]

Hello,
I have been lurking about in here silently following the advice given in here for my pocket edge for about a month or so. All of it has been helpful and wonderful by the way. And now I need some advice myself, so I figured I'd go ahead and post my problem.

My problem being... My pocket edge's reader screen quit working correctly a few days ago. It no longer responds to the pen at all. I have it updated to ermine 2.2. It was working fantabulously until a few days ago. I have no idea what happened. I don't remember trying to install any new apps before it stopped. I did notice the wallpaper would sometimes not display after turning it on or taking it out of hibernation, but loading a book or journal would usually fix that. But then I noticed one day, I could no longer get the pen to pull down the corner bookmark thingy. I ignored that and shrugged it off, since I was still able to turn pages with the actual buttons. But then I noticed, I could no longer use the pen to get into the menu screen or page # jump thingy. So, being the curious person I am, I decided to check and see if the journal function still worked, and yup that doesn't either. The pen does nothing on the reader side anymore. Oh and the rotate screen button on the reader side seems not to do anything either. What, if anything, can I do to perhaps fix this? I have tried draining the battery, easy for me to do since I have been known to fall asleep reading. I have also tried just turning it off or letting it hibernate, no dice. I also tried resetting the device, still nada. I would prefer to avoid having to redo the downgrade and then update again, but will if necessary. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated in regards to this problem. Thank you in advance.

If it helps in any way, I also have a Sony PRS-300, a Kindle with a broken screen (thanks fat butted cat >.<) and a Motorola Droid X (which I do not use to read ebooks).

[Filark]

Welcome, Brichelle78! Nice to hear from you.

A couple of thoughts: Is it possible that something is wrong with your stylus? I don't know how you would check, unless you have a second eDGe.

The "rotate screen" button on the reader side is actually a switch-between-functions button. If you have a book open and open a journal and/or calendar that button switches between them. Is it working for this purpose?

For writing in the journal, make sure you have not accidentally chosen white for your ink color. Don't laugh -- it's been done!

[Brichelle78]

Thank you, Filark, for your warm welcome and response.

I'm not sure how I would check my stylus either. I only have one PE. Though now that I think about it...I wonder if testing it on a Nintendo DS screen would work. I wonder this because, I have to find my stylus, having lost it the other day, and have resorted to using one of my daughter's retractable pen type ds stylus. It seems to work well on the tablet side. I actually like it better than the stylus this came with since it is as fat as a lot of pens and makes gripping it easier. Still not sure how anything would be wrong with the original stylus though, isn't only a piece of plastic?

I never changed the ink color, though that was a good thought, even when I first received my PE and played with the journal part doodling just to see how well it worked. But even had I accidentally changed the color to white, would it make trying to select the on screen icons impossible? I only ask because, nothing works on the screen. I used to be able to touch (with the original stylus) all of the icons and they responded accordingly. Now nothing happens. I can't even close out previous books or journals I have opened.

And I have to thank you for your correcting me about that button. I assumed it was like the tablet side, and it rotated the screen as well. Now I know, and having said new acquired knowledge, I tested it. Yes, the button does do as you said it would, switching between an open book and journal.

Uuuug...I'm probably going to have to just start fresh huh? I have so much stuff on here, oh well I have everything basically saved in a backup folder on my comp anyway. It's just such a loooooong process redoing everything.

Thanks for trying to help me though.

[Filark]

Wait! Hold everything!

I assumed (silly me!) that you knew the stylus is special. It is far more than a piece of plastic. (See excellent posts by Gunner on this point.) Any old thing will work on the tablet side. Not so for the e-ink side. There is probably nothing wrong with your PE at all. If you can't find your stylus, search this forum for what and where to buy.

Good luck! Enjoy!

[Brichelle78]

Too late lol...

I went ahead and applied the golden update by pablob. Well that went fine. But ummmm...hehehehehe, this is where I'd like to face palm myself hard then cry. When trying to test if I got the full functionality back to the reader side, I find that I cannot get past the calibration screen. Boy howdy, I'm going to have to rip my room apart to see where that stylus may have went. I should have just left well enough alone until tomorrow and maybe more responses, but that's not in my nature. I have a problem, I will tinker and tinker with it until I fully break something or actually luck up and fix it. Until then, I guess I'll have to go back to my smaller (uuuug that screen is sooo small compared to my PE and it's predecessor fat butted cat broken Kindle) Sony to read my books. Pray the literary gods still like me somewhat and magically produce a neon arrow pointing to where the orignal stylus may have went.

[ivanjt]

As Filark says the stylus is a wacom pen enabled one - that means it has some electronics inside that interacts with the wacom digitiser built into the e-ink screen.

You can not interact with the reader screen without the correct stylus, therefore you have two options - find your original or buy the correct replacement - sorry, but that is the way it is.

[Brichelle78]

Thanks you two for your advice. I would just like to make something a little more clear though. I lost my original stylus about 1 1/2 days ago, and the reader side was not responding correctly before then either. I swear if my fat butted cat stepped on this screen when I wasn't looking again and broke this too...well hmmm I guess I'm SOL. (My daughters would disown me if I actually did anything to him )

[Brichelle78]

Woooohooo!!!! I found my stylus!!! Apparently, one of my kids knocked it out in my car when we went to my brother's house. And another big wooohoo, because the update did give full functionality back to the reader side. Must remember to see about buying replacements in case I ever lose it again. That or velcro it somewhere on my person. Now to reload all my apps and books, and Talouse you are safe for now!!!

And thank you thank you thank you thank you both for all your patience and advice.

[Gunnerp245]

Brichelle78
Occasionally they are available on eBay.

[obsessed2]

Replacement Stylus close to OEM:


http://www.amazon.com/Penabled-Table...5056043&sr=8-1


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823100026

[Brichelle78]

Aaaw thanks for all the help and suggestions, everyone. Thanks for the links and ebay suggestion for replacement styli as well. Trust me after this scare, I searched in the forums about them. After reading up on them a bit, I realized I may already have an emergency backup. Won't know for sure until I test it later, but the pen for my daughters' manga drawing tablet program may actually work. Yay me . So once again, I'd like to say a great big thanks for everyone's help, suggestions, and highly useful information made available to me by the members of this forum. I think you are all fantaberrific

[Brichelle78]

No yay me The pen to their drawing tablet failed. Oh well, I'll just make sure to buy a replacement ASAP. Until then, I wonder if duct taping the original stylus to my forehead would be a too painful, but probably highly effective option to consider.

[Filark]