Bebook can't see my ebooks.

[rube]

I've bought a second hand Bebook. It's the original Bebook afaik, it's from 2008. It worked at first but then:

Turn on the Bebook and it cycles through the brand name screen and to the next screen which only has "Recent files" folder on it. Pressing the number for Recent files brings up an empty screen.

Plug the ereader back into the computer while it's switched on and it brings up the message to press ok to connect, pressed ok, open windows explorer and the ereader is visible.

Click on the USB Drive (in this case the F in windows explorer and it shows nothing on the right side of windows explorer.

Right click and look at properties and find 122 MB used space.

I have used the reset button (a couple of times) but no change.

I have tried to copy an ebook onto the ereader and it wanted a folder created for it, didn't want me to save it to root.

Tried to create a folder and it brought up this error:

"An unexpected error is keeping your from creating this folder. If you continue to receive this error you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.

Error 0x8000FFF: Catastrophic failure"

Tried to research this error but there's so much, it's so broad and so general. It seems it can happen under sooo many circumstances. I did try unplugging the device, disabling the anti virus program, turning the Bebook back on, plugging it in to the computer again. the same empty drive in windows explorer and the same message when I tried to create the folder, and the same used space on the Bebook.

I've searched through these forums and thought downloading the firmware might be a solution, that it would rebuilt the system, but all the links I could find are broken and I haven't had any luck finding a working link on the net.

Any ideas? It's not going to break my heart if it's dead, I only pain $20 for it, but I like playing with gadgets and seeing if I can resucitate this one would please me a lot.

Do you need any more information?

Thanks in advance.

[BobC]

First of all the BeBook is not dead; if it were you wouldn't get the (empty) Recent Files screen nor be able to connect via USB.

Fortunately the Bebook is device which had a lot of tinkerers when it was current and there are quite a few different firmwares which were brewed for it, including the manufacturer's own, Lbook (Ukraine), Astek, Paparye and others.

I'd be inclined to dig into these and retrieve an image that you could load onto the BeBook, your biggest problem would be finding a SD card that is compatible with the firmware update - ideally an old 512Mb is what you want, bigger cards can present problems.

I have two of these devices, one is running Hanlin's firmware, the other Openinkpot. Stay away from Openinkpot as you can't easily connect to it via USB.

If you get really stuck finding a firmware image online PM me and I'll dig into my archives and see if I have anything suitable.

There is a host of info in this forum about firmware but you need to trawl through some quite old posts to find it.

BobC

[JSWolf]

Have you tried the BeBook with Calibre?

[rube]

Calibre can't see them either but thanks JSWolf, I hadn't thought of trying Calibre. BobC I'll start searching for suggested firmware and get back to you

[BobC]

Rube,

It's worth checking out the Hanlin forum as well , BeBook was a re-badged Hanlin device.

BobC

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rube

Calibre can't see them either but thanks JSWolf, I hadn't thought of trying Calibre. BobC I'll start searching for suggested firmware and get back to you

Remove all the eBooks from your BeBook and add them again with Calibre and see how it goes. Try eBooks without DRM.

The eBooks you are having trouble with, do they have DRM?

[BobC]

Are you sure that the "F" drive on the PC refers to the main BeBook memory and not the SD slot ?

Have you tried checking on the BeBook that your display refers to the Internal Storage rather than the SD Card ? (Menu, then does item 5 show "Built-in Storage" or "SD Card" ?

Have you tried putting a SD card in the BeBook slot and sticking some books on it (say in a folder called "Books") You could put the books on the card directly with your PC before inserting the card.

Once you have a SD card mounted your PC should show another drive that refers to the card.

To me it sounds like the internal user storage memory has become corrupted. This memory is exposed to USB via a bit of Linux software called "Mass Storage Gadget". Installing fresh firmware should sort this out unless the actual memory chip is damaged.

Another thought - have you set the time/date on the BeBook ? I don't think it should matter but always worth a check.

BobC

[BobC]

Rube,

I have PMd you a couple of links to firmware that will work on the BeBook, most of the original stuff has disappeared from the web.

BobC

[BobC]

**** Duplicate Message******

[rube]

After a couple of delays I'm back on this now.

JSWolf Calibre can't see the books at all let alone remove them. And it was all the books and none had DRM.

BobC there isn't an SD card in the reader but I think I've tracked down a suitable card so I'm going to test putting some books on it and see if they can ben seen. I'll also try out the files you sent me links to and let you know how I go

[rube]

Well that was interesting.

I put a .mobi no DRM book on the SD card. The reader could see it when I switched to the card and I could read the book.

I put the card in a reader on the puter, deleted the book, put the Hanlin firmware on it, and then ran the firmware on the reader. It seemed to run without a problem. I plugged the reader into the computer to transfer books onto it but it said I'd have to format it first (which I didn't do of course) and then got:

F:\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required files system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted."

I am fast coming to the conclusion that it's Windows 10 fault. I have hear that sometimes it blocked older devices. I wonder if I have room for a dual boot with Linux (walks away muttering....)

[BobC]

Originally Posted by rube

Well that was interesting.

I put a .mobi no DRM book on the SD card. The reader could see it when I switched to the card and I could read the book.

I put the card in a reader on the puter, deleted the book, put the Hanlin firmware on it, and then ran the firmware on the reader. It seemed to run without a problem. I plugged the reader into the computer to transfer books onto it but it said I'd have to format it first (which I didn't do of course) and then got:

F:\ is not accessible. The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required files system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted."

I am fast coming to the conclusion that it's Windows 10 fault. I have hear that sometimes it blocked older devices. I wonder if I have room for a dual boot with Linux (walks away muttering....)

First of all asking Windows to format the "F" drive might sort out your problem of compatibility with Win 10 - it's only that portion of the Bebook that is reserved for storage which would be formatted, not the O.S. part; I've done this on occasions though I'm using Win 8.1 now.

It's clear that the Reader will function and you could probably use it as it is with books stored on a plug-in SD Card (one of my BeBooks I use that way even though there is no problem with the on-board memory, it just makes it easier when swapping firmware as I don't need to reload all my books).

At the end of the day you can't totally brick the device if you have a firmware image that you can re-load.

BobC

[rube]

It worked! I did the format and ran the firmware again and the Bebook works! Thank you for all help! Off to read a book now on a device that won't need recharging every day! Cheers

[BobC]

Originally Posted by rube

It worked! I did the format and ran the firmware again and the Bebook works! Thank you for all help! Off to read a book now on a device that won't need recharging every day! Cheers

Rube,

Great, I'm pleased my arcane knowledge of the BeBook is still of use to someone. I can't recall what DRM the Hanlin version you have loaded supports but that may not be of concern to you.

Ask if there is anything more I could help with.

BobC

[rube]

Originally Posted by BobC

Rube,

Great, I'm pleased my arcane knowledge of the BeBook is still of use to someone. I can't recall what DRM the Hanlin version you have loaded supports but that may not be of concern to you.

Ask if there is anything more I could help with.

BobC

I've now tested the Bebook with .mobis, .epubs and I'm pretty sure one with DRM (I don't have many with DRM) and it all works very nicely. Epubs do display a bit better as the text size changes whereas the mobis don't. That could be the formatting of the mobis so I might, one day, get around to looking at the formatting and seeing if there's something I can change that will allow the size to change. Thank you for all your help!