Pocketbook Touch HD froze/stuck on book page

[Readingbookworm]

Hi guys!

I hope anyone can help me out. I've got a Pocketbook Touch HD.
Never used it a lot so finally was using it a bit more lately. While I was reading an ebook, I wanted to go back a few pages so I clicked the button to go a page back a few times. Then it got STUCK. It's now on one book page, still showing as if it just went back.

The ereader doesn't react to anything anymore. The LED light still works, just as the green light from the power button. It seems to still turn off and on as the LED background light goes on when the power button is on, however, the page stays the same when turned on or off. When I click any button, the green light flashes shortly.

So far I've tried:
- Connecting to a computer or charger and holding the power button for 15 seconds (probably held it much longer too). Tried it without being connected to the charger as well.
- Holding the backwards and forwards button at the same time.
- Holding the home button and power button at the same time.
- Holding the backwards and forwards button and the power button. I probably held every button combination possible.
- Using a paperclip to press what I found was the reset button (the small hole next to the power button)
- Charging it a full day and night. Didn't help.

The computer doesn't see the device anymore either when I plug it in.

I'm very desperate by now. Is there anything I could still possibly do? Would maybe inserting a SD card with anything on it help? I also read about letting it run out of battery completely, however since I used it not that much the battery is still really strong and could take a loooong time to drain.

Hope anyone could possibly help me!

[wold]

It could be a hardware failure, see the reply here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=339133

Is it a recent Touch HD?

When connecting to a PC, did you need to manually confirm connecting, or did you configure it to auto connect?

[Readingbookworm]

Originally Posted by wold

It could be a hardware failure, see the reply here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=339133

Is it a recent Touch HD?

When connecting to a PC, did you need to manually confirm connecting, or did you configure it to auto connect?

Unfortunately not, it's from 2017 so out of warranty.
However, got a good development I think: I was thinking about when you said if I had it on auto connect or not. I think I didn't, however, I tried pressing on the screen where I thought I'd usually click to 'connect PC' and it has connected!!

Would there maybe be something I could still do now that it's actually recognized by the computer? I hope so!

[wold]

Great. You mean setting it to auto-connect? Find the 'global.cfg' file. It's located somewhere in /system/config/ or the /system/profiles/... directories.

EDIT: see later post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...07&postcount=7

In global.cfg change 'usbmode=2' to 'usbmode=0'

0 = auto connect to PC
1 = only charge
2 = ask on connect

Another option is popping the cover and pulling the mSD card out. It might be EXT2/3 formatted though.

[Readingbookworm]

I've found the global.cfg file and changed it to usbmode=0
There's also some files with a quite similar name: global.cfg.back, global.cfg.bak, global.cfg.orig
Should I change those to usbmode=0 as well?

And I was more wondering now that I have access to all the system files again, if there's anything I could still do there. Or does a hardware failure really mean it's something you can't fix yourself?
I saw someone with a similar problem to mine here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...3+Touch+frozen
But unfortunately from all the files I can find, I can't seem to locate wall.cache

[wold]

Originally Posted by Readingbookworm

I've found the global.cfg file and changed it to usbmode=0
There's also some files with a quite similar name: global.cfg.back, global.cfg.bak, global.cfg.orig
Should I change those to usbmode=0 as well?

Those are backup files that you can ignore.

But unfortunately from all the files I can find, I can't seem to locate wall.cache

wall.cache may be from an older firmware.
Most cache stuff lives in /system/cache/, but removal might break things.

Originally Posted by Readingbookworm

And I was more wondering now that I have access to all the system files again, if there's anything I could still do there. Or does a hardware failure really mean it's something you can't fix yourself?
I saw someone with a similar problem to mine here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...3+Touch+frozen

The linked issue suggests having been a software issue. Your screen not updating however reeks of a hardware failure. Could be a loose screen cable (touch works?), or a fried component (see first link). There is a thread here were someone replaced his/her screen, but if the issue is on the mainboard your out of luck.

As a last ditch effort, there's the manual firmware update, BUT, if it requires interaction at any point, the device can end up bricked. Not sure about that bit, but keep it in mind

ps. to cover all options: on linux devices, the startup could fail preventing the screen/gui related parts from starting -- here that would depend on the GUI being implemented like mainstream linux in running some window compositor (gnome, i3, etc) on top op X11/Wayland, or the apps being rendered, say, directly to some screen buffer. Rooting the device could allow access to the logs, if they exist.

Another breaking point could be the cover images, but these tend to be (converted to) BMPs, a simple file format.

[wold]

Editing the global.cfg has no effect sadly, my fault.

Config files have some magic number (or checksum) at the end of the file. If that doesn't match with *something*, the backup is restored. Not sure what it uses, or whether it can be bypassed.

[Readingbookworm]

No problem at all! I did actually manage to change the USB mode so that it connects to the computer automatically.

Thank you for explaining more to me! I’m totally new into these technical things as I never got any further than just ‘reading a book’ so I have definitely learned more from you than ever. The touch does work, as by pressing the screen where usually ‘connect to PC’ used to be was how I got it connected to the computer when it wasn’t set to automatically connecting yet.
So I’m afraid that it must be a fried component like you said and is a lost cause.

I haven’t done the manual firmware update as I think you’re right and it will get bricked. For now I’m waiting till the battery drains as sometimes that helped things for people in some weird random way, but I don’t think it will for this problem though. I did annoyingly when the ereader still worked turn off my WiFi and set the settings to having it turn off after 5 minutes or so to safe battery, so it will probably take forever for the battery to die.

I think it’s time to look at a new ereader, but you’ve definitely been amazing