PDF problems with PRS-650

[DMI]

Hi, I just got my reader a few days back. While most of the device's features work perfectly fine, I noticed that there is a recurring problem with files with the pdf format. That is, the reader would show a blank page after reaching the tenth page of most pdf files. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the reader or with the files themselves. I just noticed that out of the 11 electronic textbooks I have, only one works perfectly fine. The same problem occurs with (pdf) comics. It just shows up to the tenth page and everything else is blank after that.

Does anyone have this same problem as I do? And most importantly, is there any way I can fix this?

Thank you in advance.

[boxcorner]

Welcome to MobileRead

The User Guide is a PDF file. If you can you see all 139 pages, then the problem most likely has something to do with the e-book files that you loaded onto your reader. How did you transfer the PDF files to your reader?

Does the problem persist when you:

Change the magnification level?

HOME -> open a book -> (X) magnification -> XS|S|M|L|XL|XXL

Change the screen orientation?

HOME -> OPTIONS -> Orientation
or to change the direction
HOME -> Settings -> General Settings -> Screen Orientation

Change the page mode?

HOME -> open a book -> (X) magnification -> Page Mode

Delete and reload one of the e-books? HOME -> open a book -> OPTIONS -> Delete Book

Whenever you make any of the changes listed above, is it consistently the same page that's missing?

[DMI]

Err, what do you mean by "Whenever you make any of the changes listed above, is it consistently the same page that's missing?"

Anyway, changing the magnification level of the page seems to cure the problem. I haven't tried it yet for all the other malfunctioning pdf files but so far so good.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by DMI

Err, what do you mean by "Whenever you make any of the changes listed above, is it consistently the same page that's missing?"...

What I meant is, does making any of the changes affect which page goes missing? Sorry, I should have worded this better.

If you open the User Guide and set the magnification level at XS or S, you should see the page number at the bottom of the screen increment, as you turn pages. However, when magnification is increased from S to M, or greater, you will probably find that you need to turn more pages, to get the page number to increment, if you see what I mean. I'm probably not explaining this very well!

So, whenever you come across a blank page in an e-book, try turning the page a few times, while keeping an eye on the page numbers at the bottom of the screen. Perhaps it was simply displaying a blank part of the document.

[DMI]

Oh I see. Well, in my case, all other pages after the page 10 are complete blanks. I tried resizing and for some documents, it worked. For others, it didn't. There are also cases wherein, after resizing, page 11 will show. Then there will be another couple of (unintentional) blank pages up to page 30 or so. Then another page with text. Then blanks again.

[boxcorner]

When you display these files on your PC, do you see blanks that correspond with ones that appear on your reader?

[DMI]

No, everything displays fine when viewed on my pc. This is so frustrating. Do you think it would be best if I just convert these malfunctioning pdfs to epub?

[boxcorner]

Calibre can be used convert PDF to ePub, but when I tried doing this with the User Guide the results were far from perfect! Nevertheless, it might be worth using it to convert one of your files to ePub, for test purposes. You might get better results with a text only file, rather than one containing images.

http://calibre-ebook.com/

You could try using the advance search option in this forum to search for other threads related to this topic.

Use the Search drop-down in the blue bar, instead of the Search box in the top right-hand corner.

For example, searching for 650 and PDF in the title, I found this:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...hlight=650+pdf

I can't think of anything else to suggest, but hopefully someone with expert knowledge will chime in soon enough.

[vxf]

I have read plenty of PDFs on a PRS900 and PRS950 and never had that problem... for what that info is worth.

[DMI]

I think I already know where the problem came from. A few days ago, I changed the metadata of some of the pdf files who have "missing authors." But as the change did not register on the Reader Library, I tried converting the pdf file to pdf file once again (I read somewhere in the net that this process works for completely changing a file's metadata). While the metadata was successfully updated, I guess the conversion corrupted most parts of the pdf file.

So I guess I'll have to make do with disorganized pdf files.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by DMI

... I guess the conversion corrupted most parts of the pdf file ...

It sounds like your hypothesis would be easy enough to confirm or disprove by repeating the process on a sample file.

[mrkapawutzis]

You know I have the same problem as the OP. I transferred a PDF to my reader and the first 38 pages are fine (out of 50 pages) but halfway through the 39th page it goes blank. The funny thing is that only the body of the text is blank, the footer is still there. Also, it shows up fine on the Reader Library app and furthermore if I do a search for a term that appears anywhere beyond page 38 it will take me to the proper page even though there's no text on the reader.

I tried the suggestions that boxcorner wrote (thanks for those) but no luck. I then tried deleting it and adding it again but still had the same results. Other PDF's work fine like the manual and another short 10 page PDF I transferred it only seems to be this particular one.

[boxcorner]

Originally Posted by mrkapawutzis

... I transferred a PDF to my reader and the first 38 pages are fine (out of 50 pages) but halfway through the 39th page it goes blank ... only the body of the text is blank, the footer is still there ...

Perhaps the file has become corrupted in some way. Was it downloaded to your PC in PDF format, or has it been converted to PDF since you downloaded it? Did you produce the file yourself, for example using scanner software? How was it transferred to your reader, for example via Copy & Paste, or by using Calibre?

I have a 604-page e-book that was downloaded to my PC in PDF format and then transferred to my reader using Calibre, and all the pages are fine.

If you are unsure where files are located, then you might find this helpful:

Sony PRS-650 Folder/file storage structure hierarchy