Firmware Update Instructions and the latest Firmware Versions

[Kralik]

gilowyn, try this:

Hold down the power and right arrow key until the jetBook LED comes on. Then release the power key and CONTINUE to hold > until you see the upgrade confirmation page.

[gr8npwrfl]

Thundergirls.

the 34b firmware is not for the jetbook 'lite' it is for the original full version jetbook with rechargable lithium ion batteries built in.

you want the lite_015.exe version

[gilowyn]

Thanks Kralik - didn't work either, unfortunately. It is going back tomorrow, the Kindle was shipped today. It is one month old, already freezes and has only one way to update/ flash the firmware... and if that doesn't work, you are basically stuck. Annoyed as hell.

Hopefully, the Kindle will be a tad better.... and I at least have Amazon in case of problems, who usually are good with those.

[mitchwah]

Originally Posted by gr8npwrfl

Change the link for the new firmware to JL04-v0.34b.exe

thanks gr8npwrfl. I updated the link.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by gilowyn

Thanks Kralik - didn't work either, unfortunately. It is going back tomorrow, the Kindle was shipped today. It is one month old, already freezes and has only one way to update/ flash the firmware... and if that doesn't work, you are basically stuck. Annoyed as hell.

Hopefully, the Kindle will be a tad better.... and I at least have Amazon in case of problems, who usually are good with those.

Best of luck with your new Reader.

I have two Kindle 2s, and one jetBook.

You might want to update your Profile to indicate what Reader you own.


Don

[sherryk_us]

Hi,
I thought I had the latest firmware but now I'm not sure. Under system settings I find firmware version: software v0.14n Patch: v15.

(When I go to the menu item Upgrade Patch under system settings it says "Patch file not found!" I'm not sure what this means so I'm quoting it exactly.)

Does this mean I have v 0.14n or v15? Do I need to upgrade or am I already current with the firmware?

Thanks--sorry if I'm being obtuse on this point!

Sherry

[Ken Maltby]

Check out the sticky at the top of page one.

The "Upgrade Patch" feature is interesting, and I would love to find where it is
explained in detail, but is not how the firmware gets updated. The patch version
seems to be unrelated to the firmware versions, (mine has been patch version 15
for firmware 0.14m, 0.14n and is still that with firmware v0.15.)

If it says you have v 0.14n, then that is what you have - not v 0.15, the patch
version may also be v 0.15 but that has nothing to do with the firmware version.

Luck;
Ken

[infi]

Is 0.34b "newer" than 0.34c?

Sure wish they'd provide a Change Log, and generally be more forthcoming. I have the hourglass-of-death problem that some others are having, and have never gotten a response from Ectaco on the issue, and I'd love to know if my firmware upgrade would resolve it or cause other issues.

Thanks for posting this, and making it sticky.

ETA: Scratch that, I see from another forum that it's an intermediate step to 0.34c, which as I said above still has the freezing hourglass problem. :-( I love everything about the jetbook; but an e-book reader that can't read e-books is... sort of... je ne sais qoui.

[gr8npwrfl]

I think several of us have narrowed down the hourglass of death problem on the jetbook.

It appears to be when you have too many levels of directories on your jetbook

You can test this by making the following test:

note: book.txt is the name of any ebook you want to test with

put a copy of book.txt in the root directory of your SD card

put the same book in the /calibre/book.txt

put the same book in the /calibre/author/book.txt

put the same book in the /calibre/author/test1/book.txt

put the same book in the /calibre/author/test1/test2/book.txt

What you will find is the deeper in the directory structure your book is the longer it takes to open it. It will appear that your jetbook will lock up with an hourglass.

Jetbook has a bug in their parsing routine for directories.

Solutions until they fix the problem.

1. keep your directories no more than 3 levels deep.

Jetbook also has a problem flushing the cache memory

1. Always have the jetbook powered up when installing and removing the SD card and do not continue until the message about the card appears and goes away.

Note: doing a hardware reset does not flush the cache correctly.

Any time the jetbook gives you the hourglass of death:

Remove the SD card, wait till the card message goes away, then reinsert the card. This will break you out of the hourglass loop and flush the directory cache so you can read your ebook.

If you follow these recommendations you will have a lot fewer problems.

I hope this helps you

[LS650]

I agree that it would be a good idea for Ectaco to post change logs for their updates. It makes me a bit nervous to be asked to install firmware when I don't know what has changed.

[sherryk_us]

Dear Ken,

Thanks, that clarifies. I guess I need to upgrade.

Sherry

[Kralik]

Originally Posted by LS650

I agree that it would be a good idea for Ectaco to post change logs for their updates. It makes me a bit nervous to be asked to install firmware when I don't know what has changed.

Or perhaps at least wait until they post it on their website as official?

[JenniP]

I also battled a bit, but once I turned the JBL on, made sure the reset turned it off, the rest worked fine

[infi]

Originally Posted by gr8npwrfl

I think several of us have narrowed down the hourglass of death problem on the jetbook.

Well, mine has a different set of steps to recover from the hourglass-o-death, as it seems from reading other posts that from our perspective not having the source, it almost behaves... non-deterministically.

But I've already inadvertently derailed this thread. Perhaps we could split these off into a new specific thread where everyone can share their steps, and then maybe even Ectaco can take a look at a single location :-)

[greenapple]

Does anyone know where I could find 0.34b firmware? It's no longer available on the FTP.