HELP!.... Missing Files Ready to throw KFire Out Window!

[Sasssysweeet]

Okay, I need serious help. Like step by step help. First none of my converted files would stay open. That got fixed in another thread and everything was going fine and then suddenly it wasn't. I changed two settings and then the files wouldn't show up so I changed it back to default and then converted again but they still won't show up anywhere in my KF. I have had so much problems with using mobi files in this device that I am near ready to pitch the thing through a window. I don't know why they couldn't have had it read files the same way K3G did. What a mess. Anyhoo, none of my files will show up anywhere in the device. Tell me what you need to help me and I will do my best to find it.

[kovidgoyal]

Make sure you are properly ejecting the device from your computer. In my experience, some newer Kindles fail to recognize new files if the device is not ejected before disconnecting it.

[Sasssysweeet]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Make sure you are properly ejecting the device from your computer. In my experience, some newer Kindles fail to recognize new files if the device is not ejected before disconnecting it.

Oh, it's definitely properly disconnected. On the fire it has a disconnect button and the carousel appears. When I go to books the files aren't there. They are also not in documents as some people have suggested in other threads.

[Cinderela]

Originally Posted by Sasssysweeet

Okay, I need serious help. Like step by step help. First none of my converted files would stay open. That got fixed in another thread and everything was going fine and then suddenly it wasn't. I have had so much problems with using mobi files in this device that I am near ready to pitch the thing through a window.

So happy to know I am not alone in CONTINUING to have the same problem! I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I *finally* got all my files sideloaded & synched on my KB & KF. All was working perfectly............for about two hours. Books I read in the morning were mysteriously back to not working in the evening. And the covers were all showing the way they should be, then, *POOF* they are gone. I've tried every suggestion for converting/reconverting/editing metadata/saving to disk/send to device/sideloading to docs/sideloading to books.....................I can't even guess how many hours I've logged with this frustrating problem. Even Amazon itself can't explain why files work flawlessly on the KB and the EXACT SAME FILE pulls the "open then immediately close" routine on the KF!

I'm starting to forget why I even wanted a KF in the first place.

Originally Posted by Sasssysweeet

I don't know why they couldn't have had it read files the same way K3G did. What a mess.

I wonder the exact same thing!

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Make sure you are properly ejecting the device from your computer. In my experience, some newer Kindles fail to recognize new files if the device is not ejected before disconnecting it.

Originally Posted by Sasssysweeet

Oh, it's definitely properly disconnected. On the fire it has a disconnect button and the carousel appears. When I go to books the files aren't there. They are also not in documents as some people have suggested in other threads.

Oh, yes, I'm sure. I use the "eject" in Calibre and then push the disconnect on the KF, disconnect the USB, then hard re-start my KF.

I won't like it, but if I have to just read certain books on my KB alone, I can live with it. I *HATE* the cover issue! If I can solve that, I can come to terms with the KF not reading certain files.

Sasssysweeet, I'm praying the geniuses here can help!

[kovidgoyal]

@Cinderela: Since you seem to be in contact with amazon, tell them that their issues are all caused by a bug in their software. Whenever a MOBI file has the 113 field in the EXTH header with a value that amazon's servers don't know about, the following misbehavior happens:

1) For *some* MOBI files, the Kindle Fire opens then immediately closes the file, presumably because last read position syncing failed. There is absolutely no reason why the Fire should not be able to handle this situation gracefully.

2) In K4PC and on *some* kindle devices the cover thumbnail from the book is not used, instead, the software tries (and fails) to download the thumbnail from amazon's servers, and so displays a generic cover. Instead, it should fallback to using the thumbnail from the file when one cannot be downloaded from the cloud.

[Cinderela]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

@Cinderela: Since you seem to be in contact with amazon, tell them that their issues are all caused by a bug in their software. Whenever a MOBI file has the 113 field in the EXTH header with a value that amazon's servers don't know about, the following misbehavior happens:

1) For *some* MOBI files, the Kindle Fire opens then immediately closes the file, presumably because last read position syncing failed. There is absolutely no reason why the Fire should not be able to handle this situation gracefully.

2) In K4PC and on *some* kindle devices the cover thumbnail from the book is not used, instead, the software tries (and fails) to download the thumbnail from amazon's servers, and so displays a generic cover. Instead, it should fallback to using the thumbnail from the file when one cannot be downloaded from the cloud.

Thank you so much for your speedy response, Kovid! When all else failed, I did contact KF support and they were *no* help! The experts here were all more knowledgeable about the KF than the support "experts" at Amazon itself, but there are tons of Amazon forum threads about these issues and I can certainly copy & paste your comments there - I, personally, do not write code, so I can't re-phrase your observation.

Perhaps it's not a "bug" at all - just another way to try to bully us into only reading files that have gone through their servers.

UPDATE: After the software update, I got TWO WHOLE HOURS with everything the way it SHOULD be! Covers restored and all files opening as they should. After a couple of hours, the files were right back to "maybe open, maybe not".

[Sasssysweeet]

I was supposed to be getting alerts when new posts were made here but I didn't. But I see from Cinderela's post that things were not fixed. I have a feeling that Amazon is the one creating this problem to prevent us from reading files that they did not create. Someone suggested having the file sent to me via the amazon conversion system but my files were rejected. I am so disappointed. I don't really want to return to my K3G but it is starting to look like I won't have a choice. I'm starting to wish I'd never bought this device.