Some observations of freezing kindle

[pstoddard61]

I started having the freeze problem today, and here is what I found out after troubleshooting for awhile.

1. Whoever makes this thing has managed to put an extremely slow processor in the device. I have to be sure to give kindle time to do all the background things it needs to do -- sorting, indexing etc. I suspect some of the freezing has to do with my not giving the processor time to work.

2. The RAM must be very limited. I went wild downloading stuff from Gutenberg.org. I just had too much stuff on the kindle. I removed most of it, and the kindle started working again.

3. The USB plug on the kindle is loose. I finally got the USB working again by sticking the plug part way in, not all the way.

4. I have a 4 GB memory chip in it, and I don't think that was causing the freezes. I think I just downloaded too much text for the limited resources on the device.

[Ervserver]

I've heard other Kindle owners mentioning the slow down if they put a lot of books on it at the same time

[stevenmoy]

Hello pstoddard61,

Would you please cite some numbers of your usage scenario. For example, if I want to experience the same freezing, what steps should I take to recreate the scenario?

Thanks.

[TallMomof2]

I know adding a number of books definitely slows down my Kindle and quickly drains the battery. What I received my replacement Kindle and charged it I immediately added my SD card with around 600 books and left my Kindle on all night. It wasn't plugged in and was totally drained by the next morning.

Haven't seen any freezing but mine is still 1.0 and I'm most likely at the end of the queue since the update was announced right after my replacement Kindle arrived and the replacement is 1.0 (I checked).

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by stevenmoy

Hello pstoddard61,

Would you please cite some numbers of your usage scenario. For example, if I want to experience the same freezing, what steps should I take to recreate the scenario?

Thanks.

One member here bought the Silk pagoda DVD (the one with 10k ebooks). He loaded the contents of the entire DVD on to his Kindle. His Kindle tended to crash at around 6 thousand titles.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by pstoddard61

I started having the freeze problem today, and here is what I found out after troubleshooting for awhile.

1. Whoever makes this thing has managed to put an extremely slow processor in the device. I have to be sure to give kindle time to do all the background things it needs to do -- sorting, indexing etc. I suspect some of the freezing has to do with my not giving the processor time to work.

2. The RAM must be very limited. I went wild downloading stuff from Gutenberg.org. I just had too much stuff on the kindle. I removed most of it, and the kindle started working again.

3. The USB plug on the kindle is loose. I finally got the USB working again by sticking the plug part way in, not all the way.

4. I have a 4 GB memory chip in it, and I don't think that was causing the freezes. I think I just downloaded too much text for the limited resources on the device.

It's not a hardware problem. The Kindle has a 400Mhz CPU; that's more than my first 3 computers combined.

The problem is in the software. There is an upper limit on the number of files you can load on to the Kindle (around 6,000).

[KlondikeGeoff]

Originally Posted by pstoddard61

3. The USB plug on the kindle is loose. I finally got the USB working again by sticking the plug part way in, not all the way.

This alone is reason enough to contact amazon and get a replacement. Otherwise, the port may fail altogether. I'm sure they will gladly replace it.

[tsgreer]

I never had a freezing problem until I updated to the new version. Now I know not to be so silly and update right away.

I wish I could go back to the old version. But lesson learned I suppose.

[pstoddard61]

Originally Posted by stevenmoy

Hello pstoddard61,

Would you please cite some numbers of your usage scenario. For example, if I want to experience the same freezing, what steps should I take to recreate the scenario?

Thanks.

I received my Kindle on Feb 1, and started downloading books. During the week of Feb 11-15 I bought a Kingston SD2/4 GB memory chip for it. I accumulated 75 MB worth of books, and started seeing freezes. I removed most of the books, and as of 22 Feb I now have 23.4 MB for 42 files. The Kingston memory is still in the device but is empty.

[pstoddard61]

Originally Posted by pstoddard61

I received my Kindle on Feb 1, and started downloading books. During the week of Feb 11-15 I bought a Kingston SD2/4 GB memory chip for it. I accumulated 75 MB worth of books, and started seeing freezes. I removed most of the books, and as of 22 Feb I now have 23.4 MB for 42 files. The Kingston memory is still in the device but is empty.

Let me just add that I am going to start adding some of the books back, to see if I can reproduce the problem. It might be a capacity problem, or I might have gotten a bad file somewhere.

[dugbug]

I would think the slowdown and battery drain are related to the software indexing the books for the search feature. Once the books are all fully indexed it should settle back down.


-d

[reedg_01]

So, the Kindle slows and freezes beyond 6000 files, even when many of the files are on the SD card?

Would it be advisable to use the SD card as portable storage instead of keeping it fully loaded in the unit? I suppose that would negate the wonderful indexing and search features, though...<<This is me until the frappin' thing arrives! (Ordered 2/24)

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by reedg_01

Would it be advisable to use the SD card as portable storage instead of keeping it fully loaded in the unit?

The indexes get rather unwieldy with a lot of books. I've got less than 400 books, and I thought THAT was a lot!

Regarding storing on the SD card -- if you put files into a directory that is NOT named "documents" then the Kindle doesn't see them. But you can carry them around with you -- and move them to the "documents" folder (using a computer, or perhaps a pda) when you want to switch batches of books that show up in the index. For instance: "futureBooks" "BooksDone" etc.

[reedg_01]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

The indexes get rather unwieldy with a lot of books. I've got less than 400 books, and I thought THAT was a lot!

Regarding storing on the SD card -- if you put files into a directory that is NOT named "documents" then the Kindle doesn't see them. But you can carry them around with you -- and move them to the "documents" folder (using a computer, or perhaps a pda) when you want to switch batches of books that show up in the index. For instance: "futureBooks" "BooksDone" etc.

This is fantastic!

[JSWolf]

Is there any eink reading device that doesn't bog down at all with hundreds of eBook?