Error communicating with device

[janvanmaar]

boxcorner: I have never done it myself but I know that (as itimpi mentioned) there should be an option to format the internal memory directly in the Sony reader. Since it is directly on the device, thus from Sony developers, I assume it should be safe to use. Nobody on this forum can provide any warranty though - you may want to contact Sony support if you want to be 100% sure.

You are saying that Calibre and the reader do not work well together but from what you mentioned so far it is actually not a problem between Calibre and reader but either a problem of the reader or between the reader and the OS. Does standard copying via USB (outside of Calibre) from your PC to your reader work? If not, then you can be sure that the problem is not in Calibre.

EDIT: I just found a closely related thread - you may find it useful:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=100767

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by itimpi

On all Sony systems there is (as far as I know) an option to format the internal memory and/or any Plugin card. However this loses any books already downloaded onto the media o be formatted.

Yes, there is an option to format the internal memory:

Settings > Initialization > Format Memory > (1) Internal Memory (2) Memory Stick (3) SD Card

However, there are four drives.

(1) Sony PRS-650
Device: /dev/sdd
Capacity: 1.6GB
Type: FAT (32-bit version)
Label: READER
Mount point: Mounted at /media/READER

(2) Sony PRS-650 MS
Device: /dev/sde
No medium detected

(3) Sony PRS-650 SD
Device: /dev/sdf
No medium detected

(4) Sony PRS-650 Launcher
Device: /dev/sdg
Capacity: 10MB
Type: FAT (16-bit version)
Label: SETTING
Mount point: Mounted at /media/SETTING

The reader seems to work perfectly.
I believe that the books are stored on the drive labelled READER.

The read-only filesystem is on the drive labelled SETTING.
The problem is that Calibre is unable to access SETTING.

I don't know whether the option Format Memory > Internal Memory formats READER, SETTING, or both.

In any case, would formatting the internal memory change the attribute from read-only to read/write?

[kovidgoyal]

what version of calibre are you running?

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

boxcorner: I have never done it myself but I know that (as itimpi mentioned) there should be an option to format the internal memory directly in the Sony reader. Since it is directly on the device, thus from Sony developers, I assume it should be safe to use. Nobody on this forum can provide any warranty though ...

Understood. Thanks.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... you may want to contact Sony support if you want to be 100% sure ...

The error message is generated by Calibre, hence I posted my question in this forum. However, clearly it isn't a problem with Calibre. Calibre is reporting that the filesystem on the drive labelled SETTING is read-only.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... You are saying that Calibre and the reader do not work well together but from what you mentioned so far it is actually not a problem between Calibre and reader but either a problem of the reader or between the reader and the OS ...

Yes, the problem occurs when Calibre tries to access the reader. As I started initially,"... it gets device information, but fails to get list of books on device". So, Calibre is communicating with reader, albeit in a limited manner. The reader works perfectly otherwise, except when I try to use Calibre. Had I not been using using Calibre then I would have been oblivious of the problem. However, I don't understand why you think the problem would be "... between the reader and the OS ...", unless you mean that the drive has somehow been configured read only. Calibre worked perfectly, until recently.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... Does standard copying via USB (outside of Calibre) from your PC to your reader work? If not, then you can be sure that the problem is nofilesystem[/B] is on the drive labelled SETTINGt in Calibre ...

Good question! Not sure. I'll check it.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... EDIT: I just found a closely related thread - you may find it useful:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=100767

Thanks for the link.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

what version of calibre are you running?

0.7.31

As I said in my initial post, "Have upgraded from 0.7.29 to 0.7.31 but it still fails to get list of books."

Calibre was working perfectly until recently and while I was using 0.7.29
So, the problem first appeared while I was using 0.7.29
I upgraded to 0.7.32 hoping that would solve the problem.

[kovidgoyal]

this isn't a calibre issue, your device is being mounted readonly, I suspected it was because of filesystem errors, but, apparently not. I don't know why else it might be being mounted readonly.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... Does standard copying via USB (outside of Calibre) from your PC to your reader work? If not, then you can be sure that the problem is not in Calibre ...

Prior to when the problem first occurred, I was able to create folders and use Copy & Paste to transfer files into folders, without any difficulty.

Now, when the reader is connected via USB, with Calibre running, I am unable to create folders, or use Copy & Paste to transfer files.

When the USB is disconnected and Calibre is not running, I am able to create folders.

However, I am unable to Copy & Paste files into folders.

When I try to Copy & Paste, I get an error message:

Error while copying "Shakespeare's Will - Meredith Whitford.epub".
There was an error copying the file into /media/READER/database/media/books/Meredith Whitford.
Error opening file '/media/READER/database/media/books/Meredith Whitford/Shakespeare's Will - Meredith Whitford.epub': Input/output error

[janvanmaar]

Which confirms it is not a Calibre issue. Although fsck.vfat does not seem to report errors, it is still possible that formatting would help. However, first I would try other possibilities - it may be your automounter (HAL or whatever is in your version of Ubuntu) causing the problem.
You seem to be at least a bit familiar with command line, so you could try mounting manually in rw mode:

sudo mkdir /media/sony
sudo mount -t vfat -o rw,remount /dev/sdd /media/sony 
sudo mount

The first command creates a manual mount point, the second command mounts the drive in rw mode to the created mount point and the third command just tells you whether it is really mounted in rw mode - it would contain 'rw' in the line with /media/sony mountpoint. You can try and see.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

Which confirms it is not a Calibre issue. Although fsck.vfat does not seem to report errors, it is still possible that formatting would help. However, first I would try other possibilities - it may be your automounter (HAL or whatever is in your version of Ubuntu) causing the problem.
You seem to be at least a bit familiar with command line, so you could try mounting manually in rw mode:

sudo mkdir /media/sony
sudo mount -t vfat -o rw,remount /dev/sdd /media/sony 
sudo mount

The first command creates a manual mount point, the second command mounts the drive in rw mode to the created mount point and the third command just tells you whether it is really mounted in rw mode - it would contain 'rw' in the line with /media/sony mountpoint. You can try and see.

My version of Ubuntu is 10.04 LTS

When I first connect the reader via USB, Ubuntu's Disk Utility automatically mounts READER, but not SETTING.
However, Disk Utility does allow me to mount SETTING manually.

rdh@rdh-desktop:~$ sudo mkdir /media/sony
mkdir: cannot create directory `/media/sony': File exists

rdh@rdh-desktop:~$ sudo mount -t vfat -o rw,remount /dev/sdd /media/sony
mount: /media/sony not mounted already, or bad option

rdh@rdh-desktop:~$ sudo mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
/dev/sda2 on /home type ext4 (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/rdh/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=rdh)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sdc on /media/READER type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000, shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush)

Whereas, if I mount SETTING manually using Disk Utility, then

rdh@rdh-desktop:~$ sudo mount
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
/dev/sda2 on /home type ext4 (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/rdh/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=rdh)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sdc on /media/READER type vfat (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000, shortname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1,flush)
/dev/sdf on /media/SETTING type vfat (ro,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,sho rtname=mixed,dmask=0077,utf8=1)

Clearly, SETTING is read-only.
I need to go off-line, now.
Will return to this problem some other time.

[janvanmaar]

Wait a minute. This does not make sense. In your first post, you posted the following Calibre error message:

IOError: [Errno 30] Read-only file system: '/media/READER/database/cache/media.xml'

So it was /media/READER that was read-only. But now it seems that /media/READER is mounted in read/write mode and as long as you can read, you should be able to write to it also.

Can you actually try to write something to the disk, eg

touch /media/READER/empty

And then have a look whether there is file 'empty' under /media/READER

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

Wait a minute. This does not make sense. In your first post, you posted the following Calibre error message:

So it was /media/READER that was read-only. But now it seems that /media/READER is mounted in read/write mode and as long as you can read, you should be able to write to it also.

Can you actually try to write something to the disk, eg

touch /media/READER/empty

And then have a look whether there is file 'empty' under /media/READER

I can confirm that the Calibre error message refers to READER (see attached image).

rdh@rdh-desktop:~$ touch /media/READER/empty
touch: cannot touch `/media/READER/empty': Read-only file system

So, naturally, there isn't a file 'empty' under /media/READER

Plugging the cable into different USB ports on my PC doesn't make any difference.
As soon as the cable is connected, READER is mounted automatically, but SETTING remains unmounted.
Mounting the SETTING manually, makes no difference apart from anything previously stated.

When I mount SETTING manually, I see two folders and one file: (1) /media/SETTING/Setup Reader Library for Mac.app (2) /media/SETTING/Windows (3) /media/SETTING/Setup Reader Library for Windows.exe

The Windows folders mostly seems to contain dynamic link files, so I imagine they're used by the .exe. Consequently, I imagine the Mac folder provides similar functionality (ie sets up the Sony reader library)

There don't appear to be any hidden files on SETTING, so I could try formatting it using Ubuntu's Disk Utility, after first backing up the two folders and file .

Similarly, I could try formatting READER, using the option provide by Sony. All the books on the reader are already backed up on my PC.

I propose to format one volume at a time, so I can establish which action, if any, resolves the problem.

Addendum
When I tried to format SETTING using Disk Utility, I found a format type FAT, but it didn't state whether it's 16-bit or 32-bit. SETTING is currently FAT (16-bit version), whereas READER is 32-bit. Consequently, I've decided to postpone formatting SETTING and to try formatting READER instead, using Sony's built-in option.

Success!
I disconnected the USB cable and then formatted the internal memory:
OPTIONS > Settings > Initialization > Format Memory > Internal Memory
Reconnected the USB cable, started Calibre, which reported "Connected SONY Reader".
Selected a book and clicked on Send to device.
The usual green check/tick mark alongside "Main" appeared in the On Device column.
Disconnected the USB cable and located the book on the reader, all right.

Now, here's the interesting part ...
I reconnected the USB cable and then looked at the four volumes, using Disk Utility.
READER, of course, was mounted, however SETTING (Launcher) wasn't.
So, presumably SETTING is only used when connecting to Sony's bookstore, under either Windows or OS X.

Well, that was quite a saga.
Naturally, I'm delighted to be able to use Calibre again.
Many thanks to everyone who helped.

[janvanmaar]

OK. Now we know that it is /media/READER that is causing the problem and that system is mounting it correctly in rw mode and with correct permissions.
So it looks like a lower level problem which should be corrected by formatting the drive - the /media/READER partition can be formatted directly by the reader itself.
I would suggest reading the manual for your device that I posted in this thread, there is a section about formatting. Sony also provides software to back your content up which you should use for backup before the formatting.
Alternatively, you can ask Sony support for help.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

OK. Now we know that it is /media/READER that is causing the problem and that system is mounting it correctly in rw mode and with correct permissions.
So it looks like a lower level problem which should be corrected by formatting the drive - the /media/READER partition can be formatted directly by the reader itself ...

Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

...I would suggest reading the manual for your device that I posted in this thread, there is a section about formatting. ...

Would you really? Have you read it? In case you haven't, here's what it says:

"[Format Memory]
Formats the internal memory of the Reader or an
inserted memory card. Formatting will erase all the
contents in the selected storage."

"Note
Before formatting, make sure to backup data you wish to
keep to your computer via Reader Library. Note that
protected content will also be deleted by formatting."

The error message, generated by Calibre, referred to a read-only filesystem. There doesn't appear to to be any recommendation the User Guide concerning when, or under what circumstances, the internal memory should be formatted.

BTW - As regards "... the manual for your device that I posted in this thread ...", I had already read the User Guide, thank you. In case you're not already aware, it is supplied pre-loaded on the reader.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... Sony also provides software to back your content up which you should use for backup before the formatting...

Really? I use Linux. To the best of my knowledge, all Sony software is designed solely for use with Windows, or OS X.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... Alternatively, you can ask Sony support for help.

Well yes, I can and I could have. However, I chose to ask for help in the Calibre forum, because at the time, the problem seemed to be related to Calibre. Are you suggesting that I shouldn't have asked for help here?

Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping.

[janvanmaar]

Would you really? Have you read it? In case you haven't, here's what it says:

Yes I would and yes I have. If I had the problem myself I would do it. But the responsibility is yours and the decision is yours. It is perfectly ok to be careful and ask Sony support first.

Really? I use Linux. To the best of my knowledge, all Sony software is designed solely for use with Windows, or OS X.

I thought you might have access to a Windows computer too? All my devices are Linux based too but I still also have Windows installed on one 'just for case'.

Are you suggesting that I shouldn't have asked for help here?

No, I certainly do not suggest that. It is perfectly ok that you asked here and we tried to give you our best suggestions - it is up to you now to decide what to do.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

Yes I would and yes I have. If I had the problem myself I would do it. But the responsibility is yours and the decision is yours. It is perfectly ok to be careful and ask Sony support first ...

With the greatest of respect, you seem to have missed my point. Perhaps because of cultural or language differences, your previous post seemed to me to be rather sarcastic and supercilious. I assume that's not how you intended it.

Naturally, I read the User Guide, which is supplied pre-loaded on the device and I was unable to find anything in it that related to this problem. Remember, the error message was generated by Calibre and the Sony reader was apparently working normally. So, asking Sony for help in using Calibre did not at the time seem to be very logical.

However, once it became clear that the problem was nothing to do with Calibre and could apparently be resolved by reformatting the internal memory, there didn't really seem to be any need to ask Sony for support.

Yes of course, the responsibility and decision to read the User Guide, and/or reformat the memory was mine. You seem to have a knack for pointing out what appears to me to be bleeping obvious.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... I thought you might have access to a Windows computer too? All my devices are Linux based too but I still also have Windows installed on one 'just for case' ...

You surmise correctly. I have retained Windows XP Pro in a dual-boot partition, since I migrated to Ubuntu in January, however I haven't used it.

Even if, as you seem to believe, Sony provides software for backing up the reader, then booting Windows in order to download and use software to backup the reader's data certainly wouldn't be my first choice. I think paint dries faster. I think it would be much quicker to use Copy & Paste, in Linux.

Originally Posted by janvanmaar

... No, I certainly do not suggest that. It is perfectly ok that you asked here and we tried to give you our best suggestions - it is up to you now to decide what to do.

Thanks for that and some of your suggestions were indeed very helpful. If you read my previous posts, you'll see that I reformatted the memory yesterday and that resolved the problem. So, there really isn't anything for me to decide to do, other than perhaps decide which additional periodicals and books to transfer to my reader.