Calibre or Calibre Companion problem...?

[NSILMike]

Calibre version: 1.17, 64-bit on Windows 7
Calibre Companion version: 3.2.6
Device: Nexus 7
Android version: KitKat 4.4.2

All worked fine (I use calibre companion daily) thru yesterday. Nothing that I know of changed or updated, but now companion cannot connect to caliber wirelessly at all. I've double checked the IP address and port. It does connect to the content server, so I tried that and sent files (daily news downloads) to main memory as has worked flawlessly before. Companion cannot see those files at all. I can see and open them manually with FB reader as before. Files are loaded in the normal folder, as before. I am stumped... Any suggestions you can make are welcome. I have rebooted the tablet.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by NSILMike

Calibre version: 1.17, 64-bit on Windows 7
Calibre Companion version: 3.2.6
Device: Nexus 7
Android version: KitKat 4.4.2

All worked fine (I use calibre companion daily) thru yesterday. Nothing that I know of changed or updated, but now companion cannot connect to caliber wirelessly at all. I've double checked the IP address and port. It does connect to the content server, so I tried that and sent files (daily news downloads) to main memory as has worked flawlessly before. Companion cannot see those files at all. I can see and open them manually with FB reader as before. Files are loaded in the normal folder, as before. I am stumped... Any suggestions you can make are welcome. I have rebooted the tablet.

Check your firewall software, an update may have blocked the wireless device connection port (9090 is default fixed port. you may need to use one now)

[NSILMike]

Originally Posted by theducks

Check your firewall software, an update may have blocked the wireless device connection port (9090 is default fixed port. you may need to use one now)

I should have mentioned I checked that. I'm equally concerned about the fact that CC (calibre companion) seems to have forgotten how to see books transferred to the tablet by Calibre. The folder destination has not changed, and when I connect by USB all looks fine, location wise, i.e., nothing has changed. I'm updating calibre to 1.18 as we speak, so let's see what if anything happens... I actually suspect calibre companion is at the root cause, but that's pure speculation on my part.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by NSILMike

Calibre version: 1.17, 64-bit on Windows 7
Calibre Companion version: 3.2.6
Device: Nexus 7
Android version: KitKat 4.4.2

All worked fine (I use calibre companion daily) thru yesterday. Nothing that I know of changed or updated, but now companion cannot connect to caliber wirelessly at all. I've double checked the IP address and port. It does connect to the content server, so I tried that and sent files (daily news downloads) to main memory as has worked flawlessly before. Companion cannot see those files at all. I can see and open them manually with FB reader as before. Files are loaded in the normal folder, as before. I am stumped... Any suggestions you can make are welcome. I have rebooted the tablet.

To be sure I understand what is happening:

1) You can start CC. You see books. You can sort, group, etc.
2) You have a running instance of calibre running both the content server and the wireless device driver.
3) CC connecting as a wireless device fails. How does it fail?
4) CC connecting to the content server works.
5) CC can download books from the content server. The check mark appears next to the downloaded when you do this. However after disconnecting the books are not shown in CC even though the files are visible in CC's folder.

Assuming that all the above are true, then the only explanation I can come up with consistent with the symptoms is that CC's database has been made read-only. How this would happen is beyond me; it is certainly not something that CC would do. Also, how this would prevent CC from connecting is a mystery. It would cause problems with downloading metadata, but not the initial connection.

The best way I can see to get any handle at all on what is going is to see the debug logs. Please get a calibre debug log as described in the FAQ answer https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...37#post2396437 and email it to me at cc-probs at charles dot haleys dot org (making the obvious substitutions). At the same time send me a CC debug log by going to CC's settings, scrolling to the bottom, selecting "Email a debug log to MultiPie", and entering the above email address as the destination.

EDIT: CC has never been able to see books transferred to a device over a cable. Are you saying that you can connect CC as a wireless device, send books, and then not be able to see them in CC after disconnecting?

[NSILMike]

Thanks. See my answers embedded below.

Originally Posted by chaley

To be sure I understand what is happening:

1) You can start CC. Mike: yes
You see books. Mike: No. If I manually sync using the content server, I can see they've moved over in Calibre, but CC does not pick them up. When this began, pre-existing books were there until deleted. And now I can only sync via the content server, as the wireless connection fails. I've tried resetting the location manually, to default, etc. Nothing works. If I go to the \Calibre_Companion\News folder, all the (content server sync'd) books are there, and I can open and read them. But they are invisible to CC.
You can sort, group, etc. Mike: Nope... nothing is visible to sort, group, etc.
2) You have a running instance of calibre running both the content server and the wireless device driver. Mike: yes.
3) CC connecting as a wireless device fails. How does it fail? Mike: It gives me the default msg asking if I've started Calibre. I've tried repeatedly to set the IP address and port manually and to the 'default.'
4) CC connecting to the content server works. Mike: it moves the books (I keep saying books... it is all news and magazine content. I use Kindle for actual books, and that still works fine.) But, once moved, CC cannot see them. format is epub, and as far as I can recall, that is something I never changed or tweaked.
5) CC can download books from the content server. The check mark appears next to the downloaded when you do this. However after disconnecting the books are not shown in CC even though the files are visible in CC's folder. Mike: yes

Assuming that all the above are true, then the only explanation I can come up with consistent with the symptoms is that CC's database has been made read-only. How this would happen is beyond me; it is certainly not something that CC would do. Also, how this would prevent CC from connecting is a mystery. It would cause problems with downloading metadata, but not the initial connection.

The best way I can see to get any handle at all on what is going is to see the debug logs. Please get a calibre debug log as described in the FAQ answer https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...37#post2396437 and email it to me at cc-probs at charles dot haleys dot org (making the obvious substitutions). At the same time send me a CC debug log by going to CC's settings, scrolling to the bottom, selecting "Email a debug log to MultiPie", and entering the above email address as the destination.
Mike: will do.

EDIT: CC has never been able to see books transferred to a device over a cable. Are you saying that you can connect CC as a wireless device, send books, and then not be able to see them in CC after disconnecting?

Mike: dunno. I think I have always used the wireless connection, and always for news, not books. Not sure what the distinction would be there, though...

[chaley]

We might have a vocabulary problem.

By "content server" I mean connecting from CC to calibre via "content server". I do not mean connecting via a cable. CC has never supported directly seeing books (or anything else) that were transferred by cable. Instead they are added only if the "scan for new books" setting is enabled and if CC successfully connects as a wireless device.

According to the debug logs you sent me, calibre did not receive a request to connect as a wireless device. CC claims to have sent one, which implies that there is a firewall or antivirus problem. The "content server" log you sent me is a connection via cable, which as I noted above doesn't involve CC at all.

Please try the following:

1) Start calibre in debug mode.
2) Start CC
3) In CC's Wireless Device Settings, press "Use Default". This should show as "automatic" in settings.
4) In CC, attempt to connect as a wireless device.
5) Send me the calibre debug log.

You should see something like the following in the debug log:

SMART_DEV (   1.90:  1.006) run All IP addresses {'{846EE342-7039-11DE-9D20-806E6F6E6963}': [{'broadcast': '127.255.255.255', 'netmask': '255.0.0.0', 'addr': '127.0.0.1'}], '{079F0E0A-8581-485F-BE57-EE3E77DEA19E}': [{'addr': '169.254.227.25
3'}], '{850AA568-3020-4789-B1B0-2058B85B1B38}': [{'broadcast': '192.168.120.255', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'addr': '192.168.120.38'}], '{C157F596-819B-4E9C-9EA1-EAE7E678AB83}': [{'broadcast': '192.168.56.255', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'addr': '192.168.56.1'}]}
SMART_DEV (  39.43: 37.517) run received broadcast ('localhost', ('192.168.120.6', 54982)) calibre wireless device client (on WALLABY);8080,9090
SMART_DEV (  43.51:  4.056) run attempt to open device socket
SMART_DEV (  45.16:  1.638) reset
SMART_DEV (  45.17:  0.000) set_progress_reporter
SMART_DEV (  45.21:  0.000) open
SMART_DEV (  45.22:  0.000) _call_client GET_INITIALIZATION_INFO wfr True

Specifically, you should see the line "run received broadcast" followed by GET_INITIALIZATION_INFO. If you do not, then something (a firewall or A/V) is preventing CC from talking to calibre.

If you do not see the "run received broadcast" etc lines then you can test if a third-party firewall of A/V package is preventing CC from talking to calibre by booting windows in Safe Mode with Networking. In safe mode, start calibre and attempt to connect CC. If this works then it is certain that something on your computer is blocking CC.

[theducks]

Could this be a connected to different wireless network issue?
both devices need to be on the same (192.168.120.xxx) subnet

[NSILMike]

We quite possibly do have a vocab problem... sorry.
Here is a copy of the wireless debug log I sent to you privately. I definitely do not see the "run received broadcast" line you mention. It was set to default. I will try bypassing the firewall (although windows firewall should have told me it blocked something.) My antivirus (Avast) would also have told me it blocked something.

calibre Debug log
calibre 1.18 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True
Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601')
Python 2.7.5
Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Starting up...
Started up in 44.35 seconds with 104 books
SMART_DEV ( 0.00: 0.004) _attach_to_port try ip address "" on port 9090
SMART_DEV ( 0.94: 0.804) startup_on_demand listening on port 9090
SMART_DEV ( 1.01: 0.002) _attach_to_port try ip address "" on port 54982
SMART_DEV ( 1.07: 0.000) startup_on_demand broadcast socket listening on port 54982
SMART_DEV ( 2.14: 1.010) run All IP addresses {'{5868ED74-6880-4DA6-A73A-18D2E12DD51E}': [{'broadcast': '192.168.1.255', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'addr': '192.168.1.36'}], '{565C2226-9ACB-4A83-BE8E-FB963A7754B1}': [{'broadcast': '192.168.1.255', 'netmask': '255.255.255.0', 'addr': '192.168.1.141'}], '{4258F1B7-6D9C-449B-B8E9-A0CA4E551BC4}': [{'addr': '169.254.151.6'}], '{846EE342-7039-11DE-9D20-806E6F6E6963}': [{'broadcast': '127.255.255.255', 'netmask': '255.0.0.0', 'addr': '127.0.0.1'}], '{05D4E5F6-6342-4D5B-AC99-A82680C650AF}': [{'addr': '169.254.58.91'}]}

Update: content server works just fine now that I understand it. Downloads to CC, files are visible to me via CC, etc. I do note one difference- they download on the tablet to \sdcard\Calibre_Companion. When the wireless sync worked, they downloaded to \sdcard\Calibre_Companion\News.
Will report back in a bit when I try your wireless suggestion.

Update 2:
All solved. It seems unrelated to any potential bug in Calibre, or in CC. Before I booted into safe mode, I rebooted and ran windows startup repair...which found -and fixed- disk errors. It now connects wirelessly as it always did. Thanks for your help- at least now I know how to use the content server as well!

And to 'theducks' thanks for kicking in to help as well.

Cheers to all

[chaley]

Originally Posted by NSILMike

Update 2:
All solved. It seems unrelated to any potential bug in Calibre, or in CC. Before I booted into safe mode, I rebooted and ran windows startup repair...which found -and fixed- disk errors. It now connects wirelessly as it always did. Thanks for your help- at least now I know how to use the content server as well!

And to 'theducks' thanks for kicking in to help as well.

Cheers to all

Excellent. This is the first time I have seen disk errors cause connection problems. Nice to learn something.