PRS-600 Reader is not recognised as connected to computer

[Ellie Kennard]

I am suddenly having a problem with my PRS-600. When I plug in the USB connecting cable, the reader shows it is USB connected, however neither the computer nor the Reader software recognises the device as being connected. I have an SD card in it (have had for some months now) and usually when the book is plugged in I get a window opening for a folder (the SD card) as well as the device. Now, I get nothing.

However the book shows, as I said, USB connected. When I disconnect (no way to safely disconnect as it is not recognsied by the the computer) then it starts again as normal. I can read the books on it, but obviously cannot add new books nor do anything else with the software.

I have tried two different cables in case there was a problem with the cable but that didn't fix it.

Does anyone know how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

[Worldwalker]

It sounds like the 600 is getting only a partial connection. My first guess would have been the cable, but you're ahead of me there. Is the charging light on the 600 coming on?

I'd get some canned air and dust out the USB sockets on both the computer and the reader. I'd also try it on a different port, or if you're going through a hub, without the hub. Also, just for the sake of completeness, I'd test it on a different computer (don't need the software, just see if the OS recognizes it as something).

[Jan J]

I had this same event last week. Discovered that the 600 needed charging. It was still showing 2 bars in the battery level, but it wasn't connecting through the USB. (I have a Mac) Luckily I have a wall charger and charged it up again. Once it was fully charged, no problem. Connected just fine to the computer. I don't know how it would have charged through the USB if it wasn't being seen by the computer. So glad I have the wall charger!

[Ellie Kennard]

It is not the USB connector, as I tried it in different ports as well as a different computer and nothing recognizes it.
We used some contact cleaner on the reader connection. No change.
It is not charging when connected. It does charge fine using the power cable I bought (in a socket in the wall, not in the computer).
This is not looking good.
The shame is that I can't get hold of support today. The Live Chat (speak to someone "now" was waiting for an hour with no one answering.
Of course I have just finished my book I was reading and have no new one loaded. Was about to get one from the library...
Thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.

[Ellie Kennard]

Mine's showing three bars connected. I will connect to the wall charger to see if that helps.
Last week I had a weird thing where the reader told me that there was 'no battery'. I turned the reader right off (fully off) and then restarted it. That put it to rights, but I was told by a tech support person "If you charge the reader for several hours and dont
unplug it right after it gets full the battery then starts to drain and
then gets charged again and goes into this loop".
How do I know when it's fully charged? Do I have to sit and watch it?
Anyway, that apparently causes problems with the reader not responding, which is not the case here. It is responding fine, just the connection is not happening.
I will try to recharge via the wall.
I am also going to try removing the SD card, to see if that makes a difference.
Thanks.

[Ellie Kennard]

So, removing the SD card made no difference.

I plugged it into the wall charger and fully charged it. This has made no difference.

I guess I will have to call support tomorrow when they are open.

[Jan J]

Sorry nothing worked for you. I hope when you get to Sony support and hopefully find the answer, you will let us know here. Good luck!

[Worldwalker]

I don't think that Sony rep who told you it discharges knows what he or she was talking about. Yes, the Reader will discharge if you plug it into an unpowered USB hub or turned-off computer, but it doesn't charge first! And if you plug it into a wall charger, it'll charge until it's full, and then the little light will go out. It doesn't cycle in some strange fashion and start stuffing power back into the wall! Batteries don't work that way.

You might need to try a hard reset.

[Ellie Kennard]

The issue is now resolved.

The tech support person was not as competent as some I have spoken to, however.

Even though he knew that I had tried this on more than one computer, with more than one cable, he said at first that it MUST be a computer issue, probably with USB drivers in the computer needing to be updated.

I asked him if he thought a complete turn off of the reader might help. He said it would make no difference. (see later)

He also did not seem to realise that if the computer does not recognise the reader it will not show a USB mass storage device in the 'manage' panel. So no way to remove and reinstall it. He put me through the process of trying to find the driver to uninstall and reinstall for the reader. Of course it did not show.

He said finally that I would have no choice but to send the reader to a tech somewhere as he had to accept that it was the reader, not the computer. While he was trying to find the closest to me, I asked if a hard reset would be the best thing to try before sending it away. He said it might work, though not likely. Still, worth a try. I was in the process of turning off the reader for this process (while he looked up how to do a hard reset in this reader) when it asked if I really wanted to shut down. I asked him if it might be worth shutting it down (hard shut down, not put to sleep) and then restarting it, trying it again. He said he thought I told him I had already done that.

Yes, he said, it is worth a try.

In short it worked.

When it powered back on and was connected back to the computer everything behaved as expected. No data loss, no need to reload the reader and I can go on and download a library book! YAY!

Thanks gentlemen, for your various suggestions and support.

I appreciate it.

Ellie

[Wulf]

One of the most common misconceptions with the Sony readers is the difference between "Sleep Mode" and actually powering the reader off. So many people don't know the power slider works two ways. If you slide it to the right for less than 3 or 4 seconds it just puts the reader in a "Sleep Mode" where it is not turned off. IT REALLY IS A GOOD IDEA TO ACTUALLY POWER YOUR READER FULLY OFF EVERY NIGHT. That way your battery will last a lot longer, and the reader will behave better over all. To fully power the reader off slide the power switch to the right and hold it there for about 4 seconds, or until the screen changes and asks if you really want to power it off. Answer YES and the reader will be off. It takes a few extra seconds when you turn it on again the next time, but it really will stop problems from happening in the long run.

[elcreative]

My three year old 505 has only been powered off about half a dozen times... and not at all for the last year or so... I charge every week to ten days usually at two (and occasionally one) bars and it gets used every day for at least 150-200 pages. I found the best improvement in stability came from installing PRS+ and turning off card scanning... we all have our own perceptions of what is best for our reader... and many of them differ

Originally Posted by Wulf

One of the most common misconceptions with the Sony readers is the difference between "Sleep Mode" and actually powering the reader off. So many people don't know the power slider works two ways. If you slide it to the right for less than 3 or 4 seconds it just puts the reader in a "Sleep Mode" where it is not turned off. IT REALLY IS A GOOD IDEA TO ACTUALLY POWER YOUR READER FULLY OFF EVERY NIGHT. That way your battery will last a lot longer, and the reader will behave better over all. To fully power the reader off slide the power switch to the right and hold it there for about 4 seconds, or until the screen changes and asks if you really want to power it off. Answer YES and the reader will be off. It takes a few extra seconds when you turn it on again the next time, but it really will stop problems from happening in the long run.

[Ellie Kennard]

Card scanning? PRS+?

[elcreative]

Third party replacement firmware for PRS 505 (see Sony Dev section) that allows use of file/folder system for books and also stops scan of books to update database whenever new items added... not relevant for you I'm afraid as you have a 600 which isn't catered for... yet.

Originally Posted by Ellie Kennard

Card scanning? PRS+?

[mikij]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

You might need to try a hard reset.

This is what happened to me today. "USB Device not recognized". Well, not very funny message. I tried several things (looking for drivers - there's none, reinstalled Library, although I use Calibre, but hoped it would reinstall drivers) and then I decided to go to our Forum. And found this post.
So, this fixed my PRS-600 (no idea why it happened, but anyway - now I know what to do).

Karma follows

[kafka911]

@Ellie Kennard: i had the exact same problem with my sony prs 600. everytime i tried to connect my reader for charging(i had 2 bars left), the computer said that the usb devise was not recognized. i got real nervous cause my prs 600 was only 2 weeks old; so with no other solution in sight, i thought i would give the reset button a try. and then wooo no books were lost, and best of all, the next time i connected the reader with usb, the computer recognized it in an instant.