Error message "No SD card inside"

[James Bryant]

I have just bought a new Jetbook S/N JB-515344, software v0.29b, patch v12.

It does not recognise a 4GB SD card with books, or with the necessary data for upgrading the operating system. I have tried several cards, all of which work perfectly well in another Jetbook (software v0.35m, patch V18).

If I access the SD card manager, or attempt to check the card capacity, I get the message "No SD card inside".

Can anyone tell me if this is a problem with the very early software, or if it is likely I have a faulty device? (Or, of course, gently point me at a site or thread which already answers my question and which my inexpert searches have overlooked.)

Also does anyone know if the posted routine for upgrade works with a system as old as v0.29b?

James - who hopes he will not have to ship a faulty device back to the USA from England

[lorenzoens]

I hope those files are not docs from 1962

Mmh I hope the trouble is related to the older firmware. Did you try with a smaller card? How did you format the cards before using them?

[James Bryant]

I formatted the cards FAT32 immediately before loading and inserting them.

I do not have any smaller cards - but will try and get one.

I did not have an eBook in 1962 - I read about one in ASF (Analog Science Fiction) for June 1962 in the the first publication of James H Schmitz's first Telzey Amberdon story "Novice". Telzey had a portable law library with, evidently, many dozens or hundreds of books stored electronically in the size of a paperback book or less - and I said I want one of those. I have since discovered earlier references to similar devices but Telzey's was the first one I ever encountered.

But it's allowed to like paper books as well as ebooks, hence the tie you admire.

[Ken Maltby]

4GB cards should work fine, any card that works in your JBL should also work in your
regular jetBook.

When you remove the SD card do you get the warning message about not removing the
card because the device is updating the file list?

Do you get the same message when you insert the SD card?

If you are getting those messages, it is mostly working and I would look at the issue
likely being getting the update start-up working. The key pressing and holding sequence
can be a source of problems.

Luck;
Ken

[James Bryant]

I insert the SD card with it on or off and in either case when I try and check the card I'm told it's not there. I get no message at all if I insert or remove the card while it's on.

I very much fear that it's DOA and I'm going to have to return it.

Dammit! (The box, manual and charger are in New England - the Jetbook and I are in [old] England.)

[Ken Maltby]

With it on, you should see the message popup, whenever a readable SD card is inserted or
removed. You could try adding a "Books" folder and a "Pictures" folder to the newly formatted
SD card, and trying again.

Luck;
Ken

[James Bryant]

I did - and it didn't.

So I guess the card slot is faulty.

Ah well......

James - who has just bought a new Jetbook Mini for $30 on eBay
and hopes that it will work properly when it arrives from Bulgaria

[ProDigit]

The old firmwares may only support regular SD, not SDHC.
My suggestion is to upgrade to a newer fw, you can do this either via a USB cable and upload the newer firmware directly on the JB drive, or buy an older 1 or 2GB SD card and do it that way.

You may find that unless you put audio and pictures on cards like these, a 1GB card is more than enough for books, even if they include some pictures!

As far as the JB/JBL/JBmini, it's really a great device, but you may find it's only good for text based books, and the screen resolution is rather low (640x480 pix),still good enough for text!
If your eyes aren't what they used to, you may have to increase font size to such an extend that not many text lines are shown in the reader!

I also advise to get 4 AAA rechargable batteries for the mini!
The internal batteries last about 80 hours, and then suddenly die within an hour (meaning the bar indicating a 'full' charge will deplete to zero within the last 30minutes to an hour; kind of without warning leaving you stranded without battery).

I've had both devices, but still recommend the Astak EZ-Reader Pro over all these!
Not only because it's lighter in weight, but also because it can be gotten much cheaper (at $50 at geeks.com), and and has 800x600 e-ink resolution,which not only is capable of showing more text per screen (good if you have normal to better sight), and more detailed, but also it's e-ink, so it lasts longer per charge (about 1 month so far on my first charge,compared to 1 month on the batteries included in the JBL, which are about the best AAA batteries you'll find on the market, but are non rechargable).

And lastly, the mini is an awesome device, but loading fb2 books with pictures takes forever.
The way it works is not really efficient. Best thing is plug it into a wall socket (or USB port and make it use USB power), and open each book for the first time in your house, so that when you travel, you won't have to wait sometimes upto 2,5 minutes before a book opens up for the first time!

It seems to me that the JBmini converts FB2 to another format internally. I wish they had this conversion process on the computer, so you could already transfer the files needed for the mini to open ahead of time, as most pc's are hundreds of times faster than the JBmini.

[Ken Maltby]

You mean the JBM, not the JBL, ships with AAA batteries.

How does the Astak EzReader Pro format support lineup against the JBL?

Luck;
Ken

[James Bryant]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

The old firmwares may only support regular SD, not SDHC.

This is indeed true, Socrates. Even after upgrading to v0.34b (it is not possible to upgrade in one step - see my post in the Firmware Update Instructions and the latest Firmware Versions sticky thread. When you finally get v0.35 installed, SDHC cards do work (in my machine, anyway).

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I've had both devices, but still recommend the Astak EZ-Reader Pro over all these!
Not only because it's lighter in weight, but also because it can be gotten much cheaper (at $50 at geeks.com), and and has 800x600 e-ink....

But what about its ghastly pink colour?

James - who has just ordered one to try despite the colour

And to make it quite clear - the problem was the blasted SDHC cards that earlier firmware doesn't read. All is now well and I shall not have to return the thing from England to the USA. Thanks to everyone who offered advice.

[ProDigit]

File formats of the aztak is more than the JBL.

I'd not use it to read PDF files, but is excellent for Epub!

If you're lucky you get one with a firmware where basic TTS is enabled!
My one gripe with this FW is that I can never turn off the device,or it'll freeze and I'll have to reset it. But even in standby it lasts for many months!

Other firmwares enable in-document hyperlinks (more than what the Jetbook could do).

As far as the pink, you'll have to regularly check back. They have readers in and out of stock all the time, varying stock almost weekly.
I got a white one. The black one is sold a little more expensive (like $19 more or so), and was there a few weeks ago.
Just check regularly. A week ago they had a white one for sale!