PRS-950 Should 950 hang at odd moments while reading ebooks?

[gponym]

[Apologies for cross post in Sony Reader Dev Corner and regular Sony forum - I'm new to MobileRead, unsure where to put this question, and must make decision soon about returning the 950]

Bought a 950 last week on ebay, trying to decide if it's worth keeping. I like using it a lot but it has at least one annoying feature.

I want to know from you all: is the hanging behavior I describe in what follows normal for a 950 or most older ereaders?

Thanks for any ideas or leads to pursue. DETAILS BELOW:

While reading a couple of ebooks purchased from legitimate publishers (O'Reilly and Packt) and loaded via Calibre, I notice that the ereader will hang at odd moments and does not respond to anything I do, including sliding power switch to put it to sleep.

It is difficult to describe the exact circumstances of the moments preceding each hang. In fact, for all I know, they are random and unrelated to the books themselves.

After several minutes, the ereader again becomes responsive.

- Both books were imported into Calibre and copied using it onto the device.

- Both books are available in epub format and I assume the 950 is using that but I don't know how to be certain (both also have parallel PDF versions shown in Calibre)

- One book has an 8MB epub file; other, a 2.3MB epub file

____
FROM the SETTINGS/ABOUT page:

- it proclaims under a "Hack Information" header that this reader has been "Russified: porkupan (boroda) Version: 1.05m". I don't mind that, so long as my reading experience has not been harmed.

Available Space:
- Internal Memory: 1.314GB of 1.452GB

Device information:
- Version: 2.0.00.11300
- Device: 08004610018BA572

[petercreasey]

g, What you describe is neither normal nor acceptable.

I suspect the operating system has been modified.

[gponym]

Thanks, peter. It's good to know I can expect a smooth reading experience if I can find a 950 in good shape.

Because 950s are not so readily available, it's hard to give this one up despite its few warts! Not sure if I'm foolish to have faith that I'll stumble across a better one in my limited time to search.

Assuming that the OS has been modified, do you know what the usual path would be to restore a better OS? Is a better OS still available given that Sony has abandoned the market?

gordon

Originally Posted by petercreasey

g, What you describe is neither normal nor acceptable.

I suspect the operating system has been modified.

[petercreasey]

g, I would call Sony Support at 1 866 962 7669 and see what they say about your question.

[gponym]

Originally Posted by petercreasey

g, I would call Sony Support at 1 866 962 7669 and see what they say about your question.

Thank you for that number. I had no idea I could call Sony on this. Related to this post, they told me some stuff. Not sure how far to trust what the rep said.

- a 950 that displays hanging symptoms like mine probably has a battery on its last legs; replace the battery

- the battery might be user-serviceable but one must be careful

- do not charge the battery more than recommended time--that damages it (I've already charged it overnight once or twice)

- see http://esupport.sony.com/

[petercreasey]

Originally Posted by gponym

- a 950 that displays hanging symptoms like mine probably has a battery on its last legs; replace the battery

- the battery might be user-serviceable

g, Your first assertion sounds reasonable.

Your second one not so much so. Moreover, finding a replacement battery is not doable based on my (and others') experiences.