632 / Touch HD 3: Stuck on EULA/privacy notice

[foobar911]

Hi,

I’ve got a 632/Touch HD 3 with a slightly defective screen. It doesn’t accepted touch input in the bottom 2 – 3 lines of text / roughly 1 cm from the bottom edge. This was sometimes annoying, but not a huge issue until I updated the firmware. Now the device is stuck at the EULA/privacy notice screen as I can’t hit the continue button to accept them. Sadly the next page button doesn’t moonlight as continue …

I’d love to just mount the drive in mass storage mode to at least figure out whether this issue would be solvable by manipulating contents of a config file, but alas there’s just a split second between device detection and USB disconnect and no chance for me to mount it. dmesg output:

[228767.012453] usb 1-9.2: new high-speed USB device number 117 using xhci_hcd
[228767.120142] usb 1-9.2: New USB device found, idVendor=18d1, idProduct=0001, bcdDevice= 1.01
[228767.120149] usb 1-9.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
[228767.120153] usb 1-9.2: Product: PB632

[228767.120155] usb 1-9.2: Manufacturer: Obreey

[228767.120158] usb 1-9.2: SerialNumber: 20080777
[228767.141190] usb-storage 1-9.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[228767.141370] scsi host6: usb-storage 1-9.2:1.0
[228767.590111] usb 1-9.2: USB disconnect, device number 117

During these ~450 ms it also turns up in lsusb’s output as:

Bus 001 Device 125: ID 18d1:0001 Google Inc. Onda V972 (storage access)

fastboot devices

though doesn’t list anything.

There’s no pc link/charge selection dialog.

The PB successfully connects to my WLAN so I even tried telnet and ssh – to no avail. Is there anything I could additionally try to get shell access to the device in this state?
Or is there maybe an option to add an external input via USB OTG adapter to click/enter the button? Or some way to bypass the EULA-screen altogether?

I tried the key-combos given in e.g. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=364693 to force resets, but none did lead anywhere.

I read about UART, but did not explore this option (yet). I’m pretty sure menu + power lead to FEL mode, but the device does not turn up in lsusb’s output.

I’m at my wit’s end. Any help, ideas, pointers etc. would definitely be appreciated.

[rkomar]

Is there any chance of rotating the display before or after it boots into update mode? At least the Accept button would not be under the damaged part of the touch sensors.

[datyoma]

Regarding the USB disconnect: "usb 1-9.2" suggests you are using a hub - have you tried connecting it directly? (to rule out potential power issues)

[foobar911]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Is there any chance of rotating the display before or after it boots into update mode?

That was actually the first thing I tried, but it seems rotation either only works once it’s booted to OS or my config prevents it. [It is set to off, because it annoyed me.]

Originally Posted by datyoma

Regarding the USB disconnect: "usb 1-9.2" suggests you are using a hub - have you tried connecting it directly? (to rule out potential power issues)

Yep, tried different ports and different hosts.

Thanks for your ideas anyway, I just forgot to mention the low-level stuff. … and might have missed more. So stay skeptical. ;-)

[foobar911]

USB OTG adapter with external mouse or keyboard didn’t work – or at least the screen didn’t show a cursor or any indication of the tab/space/esc/enter keys having any effect.

[rkomar]

Does that device use an SD card internally for storage? I don't think so, but it is hard to remember with so many different models. If it does, you can pull it out and access configuration files that way. Those would be in the large partition at the end of the storage.

[rkomar]

I don't think that USB keyboards ever worked for general purpose use on PocketBook linux devices. However, they did allow you to use the same keys for generating events as the old Windows simulator library. I seem to remember that 'n' and 'p' were used for generating 'Next' and 'Previous' button events, respectively. 'return' may have been used for the old 'OK' button. I can't remember what the other valid keys were (there were only about six or eight in total) but maybe searching will turn up something useful. I kind of doubt it, though, since you have access to the physical buttons on your device and they don't help in this case.

Edit: I should have said 'emulator' rather than 'simulator'. That should help with the search.

[foobar911]

Thanks for your ideas, again. :-)

Originally Posted by rkomar

Does that device use an SD card internally for storage?

No. Touch Lux 5 and Touch HD 2 did (from what I gathered), but not HD 3.

External keyboard seems not to work at all, even the NumLock-LED doesn’t light up.

Next up: pocketbook-hotline. I expect nothing but a "you’d get 20% off a new e-reader if you send in your old one", but we’ll see …

[rkomar]

I did a google search on the pocketbook emulator and it suggested that the keys Ctrl-F11 and Ctrl-F12 rotate the screen. I don't remember those combinations from the past, but it wouldn't hurt to try with your USB keyboard. I guess it would depend on whether the application that pops up the buttons has handlers for those rotation events.

[foobar911]

Thanks again, but using external input via OTG just does not work. I even verified the keyboard actually works with the adapter on another device and for good measure tried a battery powered one as well.

I called the pocketbook hotline, but all their lines were busy. This at least triggered a memory. I remembered that I had almost the same problem 2 years ago. Back then it was the pocketbook shop account page needing a continue/next click. The e-mail exchange with their support lead to them suggesting manually installing a new firmware (impossible back then as well and they could’ve known this from my inquiry, too) and then asking me to send the device to their repair center. A used one would’ve been (and still is) cheaper than replacing the screen so I didn’t care for that option.
I quite obviously found a solution back then, but neither documented it nor can remember what I did back then.

I noticed trying to trigger a manual firmware update (hold previous page + next page buttons, then hit power on and release it) leads to a shortly visible "no update image found" message in the top left corner after the PocketBook screen. So at least the firmware update must’ve run successfully considering the update file isn’t present anymore.

If it weren’t for the glue (silicone?) all over all internal connectors (damn IPX8) I’d just take it apart and temporarily switch boards with another 632 in my household. But doing this on 2 devices with the risk of breaking the finicky flat cable connectors or killing a perfectly working device isn’t really up my alley.

Bottom line: I’ll keep tinkering, but it seems likely I’ll just have to wait for a used Touch Lux 5 (no IPX8, internal SD, easier to repair) to pop up on classifieds …

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by foobar911

I quite obviously found a solution back then, but neither documented it nor can remember what I did back then.

Heh! I have the same problem these days. I document things more often because I know I will forget, but then later I'm stuck trying to remember if I did any documentation, and if so, where did I leave it? I need to create a central document containing info and paths to all the other documents. Sigh.