Help! Mysterious Broken Screen!!

[leequick1]

Goodness, passion certainly runs high on the breakage question. I find that the mind forgets many little things that don't mean anything. For years, at least 40, I have been dotted with bruises, I know that I get them from bumping into things, in a hurry, sleep walking, awake walking, whatever. I rarely remember where I get them. My brain doesn't really consider them that important, IMHO. I would be willing to guess that many of the broken screens are right up there with my bruises. NOT REMEMBERED
I have a cybook, it never leaves the protective cover, but it is tossed into a soft sided purse, which in turn gets tossed into the passenger seat of my car. I often find it on the carpet since the big cat has decided that it and her cannot occupy a table together, or I find it under the 17lb plus sized pussy. It is either not as easy to break as these letters would have me believe, or I have the toughest screen in 6 countries.
I imagine that all with broken screens and did nothing to promote such a thing will vilify me, but honestly things don't break on their own without help, remembered or not. One of these days I am sure my screen will break, and I will know that even if I didn't do it, someone with beautiful pale green eyes will be on the top of the list of suspects. Either that or the screen fairy did it.
Going to the Sony, bad choice but a great machine. I would love one, but they would have to do either mobi or ereader software. Don't trust any reader that is tied to the company store, not even the kindle. When you have 700 ebooks in either the mobipocket or the ereader, going to a third party is much too expensive.
By the way French is not a race, but a culture. I like their cars, love listening to the language and have not a clue what they are talking about. They sell a mean ereader, but if you don't like it then go to another reader, and watch out for those screens, they break.
lee

[dki]

Originally Posted by zed01

Just to follow up my previous note.

I have sent a few photos to bookeen (see attached pictures) and they replied immediately:

That is a standard Bookeen reply. I don't even think they look at the pictures, they just look for more $$. I also don't believe that they have a clue about what they are seeing in the pictures we send to them, as the reply is ALWAYS the same, no matter what is shown in the sent photos. I think I will try to send them a photo of my dog to see if she's showing fracture lines and needs to be sipped to Paris. And six months is nowhere near enough for this device to be dying.

And inherent defect is also inherent DESIGN defect that prevents intended use. Cybook is too fragile for intended use, the case is not supporting the fragile screen in an adequate manner.

Dorota

[tompe]

Originally Posted by dki

That is a standard Bookeen reply. I don't even think they look at the pictures, they just look for more $$. I also don't believe that they have a clue about what they are seeing in the pictures we send to them, as the reply is ALWAYS the same, no matter what is shown in the sent photos. I think I will try to send them a photo of my dog to see if she's showing fracture lines and needs to be sipped to Paris. And six months is nowhere near enough for this device to be dying.

Well, they looked at my photo since they said they thought that one of the two display controller chip was broken (the photo showed black line in half the screen).

[dki]

Originally Posted by tompe

Well, they looked at my photo since they said they thought that one of the two display controller chip was broken (the photo showed black line in half the screen).

How interesting, I guess it looks much like mine... Maybe they had so many of the controller chips breaking that they decided broken screen reply serves their interest better. I have seen photos posted in this thread, and to be honest, broken substrate looks much different from the controller issue - controller gives you those black lines, I think, and no visible crack line when the Cybook is switched off (mine has absolutely no crack line, and straight lines even if device is switched off). However, most of the posters have had a standard broken screen and 120 euro plus costs of shipping reply. I could not find your photos posted in this thread, probably my fault, would like to see them to compare, maybe tomorrow I will look through it more carefully.

I would be extremely curious, if the pictures look alike, how would Bookeen explain the discrepancy in their replies. If they deign to explain that. Also, if that is covered under the warranty, did they offer to cover shipping and handling - shoddy manufacturing and substandard parts used have their price, and if you sell product like that you should reimburse all your customers for having to deal with problems caused by poorly manufactured item.

Dorota

[tompe]

My problem is intermittent and definitely not a broken screen. It looks like:

http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/cybook/IMG_7450.JPG

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by tompe

My problem is intermittent and definitely not a broken screen. It looks like:

http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/cybook/IMG_7450.JPG

Looks more like a failing screen controller chip/board. It'll keep flaking out until it fails totally.

Derek

[tompe]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

Looks more like a failing screen controller chip/board. It'll keep flaking out until it fails totally.

Derek

Yes, definitely and that was what Bookeen said before I sent my Cybook to them. They also said that there were two controller chips but I wonder if that is true.

I only took this as an example that confirms that they do look at the photos.

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, definitely and that was what Bookeen said before I sent my Cybook to them. They also said that there were two controller chips but I wonder if that is true.

I only took this as an example that confirms that they do look at the photos.

There's an LCD driver chip on the main board and a separate circuit board attached to the E-Ink display with it's own chipset. And yes, that means if a solder joint on one of the connection points between the display subsystem and the main board gets damaged, you could have inappropriate signals getting through between the two.

Derek

[dki]

Originally Posted by tompe

My problem is intermittent and definitely not a broken screen. It looks like:

http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/cybook/IMG_7450.JPG

Thanks, tompe, it looks different from mine. I still do not see the fracture line on mine, though Booken claimed it can be seen. As far as I can say you are the only person getting non-standard reply. Anyhow, I gave up on that, as it does not make sense to fix Cybook bought through Bookeen if you are in US. My next choice will be a device with US support (and hopefully more competent support).

Dorota

[roncri]

This may all be true but to my mind is irrelevant. I've had my eBookwise for years. It's tossed in my bag, has no case and has been around the world. I've dropped it, knocked it off a table and even accidently drop kicked it once. It still works as well as the first day I got it.

I babied my CyBook specifically because of all the horror stories I heard. I always kept it in its case and when it was in my bag I kept it in the padded laptop section. And it still broke.

These screens are just too fragile for day to day use if they can break this easily.

Originally Posted by leequick1

Goodness, passion certainly runs high on the breakage question. I find that the mind forgets many little things that don't mean anything. For years, at least 40, I have been dotted with bruises, I know that I get them from bumping into things, in a hurry, sleep walking, awake walking, whatever. I rarely remember where I get them. My brain doesn't really consider them that important, IMHO. I would be willing to guess that many of the broken screens are right up there with my bruises. NOT REMEMBERED
I have a cybook, it never leaves the protective cover, but it is tossed into a soft sided purse, which in turn gets tossed into the passenger seat of my car. I often find it on the carpet since the big cat has decided that it and her cannot occupy a table together, or I find it under the 17lb plus sized pussy. It is either not as easy to break as these letters would have me believe, or I have the toughest screen in 6 countries.
I imagine that all with broken screens and did nothing to promote such a thing will vilify me, but honestly things don't break on their own without help, remembered or not. One of these days I am sure my screen will break, and I will know that even if I didn't do it, someone with beautiful pale green eyes will be on the top of the list of suspects. Either that or the screen fairy did it.
Going to the Sony, bad choice but a great machine. I would love one, but they would have to do either mobi or ereader software. Don't trust any reader that is tied to the company store, not even the kindle. When you have 700 ebooks in either the mobipocket or the ereader, going to a third party is much too expensive.
By the way French is not a race, but a culture. I like their cars, love listening to the language and have not a clue what they are talking about. They sell a mean ereader, but if you don't like it then go to another reader, and watch out for those screens, they break.
lee

[Gerry]

Hi All,

I am very happy to report that my Cybook was replaced under warranty. The reader had lines across the top half and showed no signs of screen breakage that I could see. But when I sent them my photos (elsewhere in this thread) they said they thought they could see signs of a break. I still crossed my fingers that it was a controller issue and sent it in, and got a brand new build 802 last night!

So, if you have a screen with lines and no visible break I think it is worth sending in to have them check out. By the way, I used the US Post Office and it only cost $27 from Boston to Paris. Fed Ex and UPS were both crazy expensive.

-Gerry

[HarryT]

Thanks Gerry - nice to have a "good news" story for the "cynics" amongst us .

[dki]

Originally Posted by Gerry

Hi All,

I am very happy to report that my Cybook was replaced under warranty. The reader had lines across the top half and showed no signs of screen breakage that I could see. But when I sent them my photos (elsewhere in this thread) they said they thought they could see signs of a break. I still crossed my fingers that it was a controller issue and sent it in, and got a brand new build 802 last night!

So, if you have a screen with lines and no visible break I think it is worth sending in to have them check out. By the way, I used the US Post Office and it only cost $27 from Boston to Paris. Fed Ex and UPS were both crazy expensive.

-Gerry

Well, you might even get me to rethink my decision... I think your photos looked a bit like mine. How did you package this thing? My worry is that even if I don't have a broken screen now, by the time it gets to France it will be broken, and, obviously, I won't be able to prove that it happened in transit. I do have an original box, but it is way too flimsy. There was some stuffing, I think (don' remember now, I was way too excited to be getting my new Cybook to be paying attention to the packaging).
Anyhow, using USPS is a bit risky, but this thing is useless anyhow. BTW, who paid for shipment of the new device to you? And since it was a warranty, is Bookeen refunding shipment costs?

Dorota

[Pulp]

I would use 2 strong pieces of carton, put the cybook inbetween, wrap it with lots of bubble wrap and put it into a strong box.

Should keep it alive till paris

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by dki

Well, you might even get me to rethink my decision... I think your photos looked a bit like mine. How did you package this thing? My worry is that even if I don't have a broken screen now, by the time it gets to France it will be broken, and, obviously, I won't be able to prove that it happened in transit. I do have an original box, but it is way too flimsy. There was some stuffing, I think (don' remember now, I was way too excited to be getting my new Cybook to be paying attention to the packaging).
Anyhow, using USPS is a bit risky, but this thing is useless anyhow. BTW, who paid for shipment of the new device to you? And since it was a warranty, is Bookeen refunding shipment costs?

Dorota

I took the printed sleeve/box off the inner unprinted white box that everything came in and reused that. If you still have that box, tuck the cybook under the inner tray, and stuff the rest of it with bubble wrap (or something else) to make sure nothing will come loose in transit. I inserted my RMA info in the box, then put that box into a post office International Priority mail box, with a bit more stuffing. Cost was $27 plus I paid a few bucks more to insure. Don't use the "Flat Rate" version of the box, because it costs $38 instead of $27. Post Office says it will arrive in 6 to 10 business days. It got there fast because I actually had my new unit in 8 business days. If you don't have the inner box, just wrap it up carefully with bubble wrap. I think you'll be fine. And don't forget not to send any accessories...I forgot to take out my SD card, but since you can find them for about $10 these days I'm not going to sweat it. This thing has about 8 times the internal memory of my old one, so I don't really need it right now.

They paid for the unit to be shipped to me, and no, I didn't ask for them to pay my shipping costs. I was just too pleased to be getting it back under warranty to worry about that.

One more thing - I went online to USPS to fill out the customs forms so I would be all set once I got to the post office. Made things go faster.

Good Luck Dorota! Let us know how it turns out.

-gerry