My Sony PRS700 is bricked -- any ideas?

starrigger · 12-25-2010, 03:57 PM

Hi experts -- My 700 abruptly froze yesterday in the middle of reading, and I haven't been able to do a thing with it. Numerous soft resets, much exercising of the power switch, removing the SD card, full recharging...nothing. Now it's frozen on the bootup screen. I tried the hard-reset procedure, but it doesn't respond to that, either.

Does anyone know anything else I can try? I'd hate to lose this device.

Thanks.

Mark Nord · 12-26-2010, 04:08 AM

Sorry to hear from your troubles.

Even if you state: full recharging. Are you sure of this? Using a barrel-tip wall-charger?
(Sorry don't even know if a 700 has a plug socket)
But this sounds to me like a totaly drained battery. Having the screen show the last image before the power is gone.

SolRaven · 12-26-2010, 04:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Nord

Sorry to hear from your troubles.

Even if you state: full recharging. Are you sure of this? Using a barrel-tip wall-charger?
(Sorry don't even know if a 700 has a plug socket)
But this sounds to me like a totaly drained battery. Having the screen show the last image before the power is gone.

I think this has happened to my 700 before and I think I got it started by fully charging it, then resetting it. It could be that it was dead, and because of that the battery indicator was off.

edbro · 12-26-2010, 07:34 AM

Plug it into your computer via usb then reboot. If the computer sees the device then you can reformat the memory from the computer (FAT32). It should work after that.

jswinden · 12-26-2010, 12:42 PM

Hopefully it isn't the death of your battery. They only last so long.

It could be the reset is not taking/working. I've had a lot of trouble with RESET on various Sony readers. Sony made the reset function non-intuitive and often non-functional. I know it usually takes several tries to get it to work. I also found that you have to press and hold in the reset button using a paperclip while holding ON the ON/OFF switch. Hopefully you can get it to work.

If it is not the battery, then it might have been something within the eBook that was formatted incorrectly that caused it to freeze. I occasionally have that happen.

SolRaven · 12-26-2010, 05:58 PM

[QUOTE=jswinden;1294494If it is not the battery, then it might have been something within the eBook that was formatted incorrectly that caused it to freeze. I occasionally have that happen.[/QUOTE]

I've had that happen as well. The worst part is trying to get the thing booted long enough to delete the book. The only way I could get it off was to connect it to the computer and delete it via Calibre or to just open the file.

jswinden · 12-26-2010, 07:00 PM

Another way is to connect to the computer and manually delete the file. It should be located in:

READER X:\database\media\books

...

starrigger · 12-26-2010, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Nord

Sorry to hear from your troubles.

Even if you state: full recharging. Are you sure of this? Using a barrel-tip wall-charger?
(Sorry don't even know if a 700 has a plug socket)
But this sounds to me like a totaly drained battery. Having the screen show the last image before the power is gone.

I'm traveling for the holidays, and my wall charger is at home. But I left it charging for some hours on USB, and eventually it responded enough for the red charging light to come on, and then later to go off. Right now I was thinking I'd let it discharge completely, however long that takes, then try recharging. But I haven't left it on USB overnight, and I suppose I could try that.

I do remember a couple of incidents in which, after a full charge, it suddenly showed a dead battery after no use. They've been isolated incidents, but maybe it's a sign of battery or other hardware failure. Rrr.

If indeed it is a dead battery, then that in itself would be disheartening, as it was used for only a couple of hours (without light) on a full charge.

Hm.

starrigger · 12-27-2010, 10:51 PM

Intermittently I've been able to get it to show up on my PC when connected via USB. Calibre reported an error in communication (some problem with an xml file); Sony software spun for a while, then could see the list of books.

Unfortunately, I left it on the PC to charge overnight. I also plugged in my Dell PDA to top off overnight (it was working fine). Now neither of them will boot up! The Dell acts as if it has a completely dead battery, even after I left it on alone to charge all day. The Sony is just stuck on the startup screen. (Which is how far I get when I do a reset.)

Is it possible the Sony battery has a short or something, and that it pulled so hard from the USB that it drained the PDA battery to its demise?

This is very frustrating. I took two reading devices on my trip, and now I have none working.

What would happen if I deleted that xml file (it's under database/cache)? Would that simply get reconstructed by Calibre or the Reader Library software?

mbagsh55 · 12-28-2010, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starrigger

Is it possible the Sony battery has a short or something, and that it pulled so hard from the USB that it drained the PDA battery to its demise?

It should not be possible for one client-device to drain another client-device with both connected to the same host computer. A short would more likely cause the PC USB-port to short-out and likely damage that USB port.

An alternative explanation is that for some reason your PC is not charging the devices sufficently (hopefully not a damaged USB-port). There is some power drain on the reader or PDA just being connected and supporting communications with the PC, so if not charging properly the PDA would become drained after a while.

Sadly the only way to test this theory is to try and charge either/both devices on another PC. If you are using a USB hub you should also try charging without the hub connected, and make sure that the PC (assuming a laptop) is itself fully charged first.

Good luck
~marcus

starrigger · 12-28-2010, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbagsh55

It should not be possible for one client-device to drain another client-device with both connected to the same host computer. A short would more likely cause the PC USB-port to short-out and likely damage that USB port.

An alternative explanation is that for some reason your PC is not charging the devices sufficently (hopefully not a damaged USB-port). There is some power drain on the reader or PDA just being connected and supporting communications with the PC, so if not charging properly the PDA would become drained after a while.

Sadly the only way to test this theory is to try and charge either/both devices on another PC. If you are using a USB hub you should also try charging without the hub connected, and make sure that the PC (assuming a laptop) is itself fully charged first.

Good luck
~marcus

Well, there's no hub involved, and the last time I tried charging the PDA, it was the only device plugged into USB. But I suppose I could try charging it on my wife's laptop tomorrow. (I do have spare PDA batteries, but they're at home, and I'm here through the end of the week.)

starrigger · 12-28-2010, 01:48 PM

Yee-hah! It's come back to life!

The media.xml file was corrupted. Windows Explorer detected the problem and removed the file. I ran the Sony software while plugged into USB, and it recreated the file. Aside from placemarks and notes being gone (a very minor inconvenience), I'm back up and reading--and deeply relieved and grateful.

Still don't know what happened with the PDA, except maybe its battery coincidentally chose that moment to die.

This does point out a risk of having all of your reading eggs in electronic baskets, though!

12-25-2010, 03:57 PM	#1
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	My Sony PRS700 is bricked -- any ideas? Hi experts -- My 700 abruptly froze yesterday in the middle of reading, and I haven't been able to do a thing with it. Numerous soft resets, much exercising of the power switch, removing the SD card, full recharging...nothing. Now it's frozen on the bootup screen. I tried the hard-reset procedure, but it doesn't respond to that, either. Does anyone know anything else I can try? I'd hate to lose this device. Thanks.

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12-26-2010, 04:08 AM	#2
Mark Nord 2B \|\| !2B Posts: 852 Karma: 194010 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Austria Device: Sony PRS505/650/T1/tolino vision 5	Sorry to hear from your troubles. Even if you state: full recharging. Are you sure of this? Using a barrel-tip wall-charger? (Sorry don't even know if a 700 has a plug socket) But this sounds to me like a totaly drained battery. Having the screen show the last image before the power is gone.

12-26-2010, 07:34 AM	#4
edbro Banned Posts: 640 Karma: 4911 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Grapevine, TX Device: iPad4	Plug it into your computer via usb then reboot. If the computer sees the device then you can reformat the memory from the computer (FAT32). It should work after that.

12-26-2010, 12:42 PM	#5
jswinden Nameless Being	Hopefully it isn't the death of your battery. They only last so long. It could be the reset is not taking/working. I've had a lot of trouble with RESET on various Sony readers. Sony made the reset function non-intuitive and often non-functional. I know it usually takes several tries to get it to work. I also found that you have to press and hold in the reset button using a paperclip while holding ON the ON/OFF switch. Hopefully you can get it to work. If it is not the battery, then it might have been something within the eBook that was formatted incorrectly that caused it to freeze. I occasionally have that happen.

12-26-2010, 05:58 PM	#6
SolRaven Wizard Posts: 2,214 Karma: 12796976 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: The Sunshine State Device: Clara, Voyage, Oasis, Paperwhite & PRS-650	[QUOTE=jswinden;1294494If it is not the battery, then it might have been something within the eBook that was formatted incorrectly that caused it to freeze. I occasionally have that happen.[/QUOTE] I've had that happen as well. The worst part is trying to get the thing booted long enough to delete the book. The only way I could get it off was to connect it to the computer and delete it via Calibre or to just open the file.

12-26-2010, 07:00 PM	#7
jswinden Nameless Being	Another way is to connect to the computer and manually delete the file. It should be located in: READER X:\database\media\books ...

12-27-2010, 10:51 PM	#9
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Intermittently I've been able to get it to show up on my PC when connected via USB. Calibre reported an error in communication (some problem with an xml file); Sony software spun for a while, then could see the list of books. Unfortunately, I left it on the PC to charge overnight. I also plugged in my Dell PDA to top off overnight (it was working fine). Now neither of them will boot up! The Dell acts as if it has a completely dead battery, even after I left it on alone to charge all day. The Sony is just stuck on the startup screen. (Which is how far I get when I do a reset.) Is it possible the Sony battery has a short or something, and that it pulled so hard from the USB that it drained the PDA battery to its demise? This is very frustrating. I took two reading devices on my trip, and now I have none working. What would happen if I deleted that xml file (it's under database/cache)? Would that simply get reconstructed by Calibre or the Reader Library software?

12-28-2010, 01:48 PM	#12
starrigger Jeffrey A. Carver Posts: 1,355 Karma: 1107383 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Massachusetts, USA Device: Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, Droid phone, Nook HD+	Yee-hah! It's come back to life! The media.xml file was corrupted. Windows Explorer detected the problem and removed the file. I ran the Sony software while plugged into USB, and it recreated the file. Aside from placemarks and notes being gone (a very minor inconvenience), I'm back up and reading--and deeply relieved and grateful. Still don't know what happened with the PDA, except maybe its battery coincidentally chose that moment to die. This does point out a risk of having all of your reading eggs in electronic baskets, though!