Can’t view azw3 files side-loaded onto Kindle Voyager (jailbroken)

[HBH_AU]

Hi all,

I have a jail-broken Kindle Voyage and am unable to view azw3 files that have been side-loaded on it.

Side-loaded Mobi files work fine.

Is there some setting I’ve messed up? Or is this because of the jailbreak?
I did a search on the forums, but couldn’t find any info.

The problem in greater detail:

Spoiler:

Calibre (2.79.1 for mac) was used to:
1. side-load an azw3 file on to the Kindle, &
2. then eject the Kindle.
The azw3 file was NOT visible on the Kindle (although according to both Calibre and Mac Finder, the book was definitely there).

Calibre was then used to:
1. delete this azw3 from the Kindle
2. convert the azw3 to mobi,
3. side-load the mobi file on to the Kindle.
4. eject the Kindle.
This mobi file shows up on the Kindle no problems.

The issue is repeatable - a different azw3 side loaded onto the Kindle (via Calibre) was not visible on the Kindle.
When I delete it, convert it to mobi and side-load the mobi, the mobi is visible.

I also side-loaded an azw3 onto the Kindle via Mac Finder (not Calibre) & encountered the same problem, so it appears it’s not a Calibre issue.

The details of jail-breaking the Kindle Voyage (7th generation, B013 xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx), just in case I did something weird (entirely possible, I wouldn't know a piece of code if it fell on me):

Spoiler:

1. Downgraded Kindle Voyage firmware from 5.8.1 to 5.5.0 [factory_KV_5.5.0_initial]
2. Install jailbreak main-htmlviewer.tar.gz
3. Install hot fix: Update_jailbreak_hotfix_1.14.N_install.bin
4. Add blocker directory called update.bin.tmp.partial
5. Connected to wifi and registered Kindle. Amazon asked to install font updates & restart. Said yes to this. WiFi turned off & remains off.
6. Updated to firmware 5.8.7

Then I installed the following so that I could use Kindle Collection plugin for Calibre + LibrarianSync to generate collections on my Kindle.
7. Installed MrPI [kual-mrinstaller-1.6.N.zip]
8. Installed KUAL [KUAL-KDK-2.0.azw2 from KUAL-v2.7-20160721.tar.xz]
9. Installed python [Update_python_0.14.N_install_pw2_kt2_kv_pw3_koa_kt 3.bin
10. Installed librarian sync [librariansync-1.10.tar.gz]

Any advice on how to see azw3 files?
Thanks brains trust.

Edited to add:
Wi-Fi was off on the Kindle Voyage the entire time.

I know some people have issues with indexing, but why would this only affect azw3 files?
Also, I did a search for a meaningless string (e.g. xxxhsutmekkwwla) which just came back as no matches found, so it appears the Kindle had finished indexing.

Also, DRM had been removed from the azw3 files.

[jhowell]

Are you still running the "factory" firmware? That was never meant for customer use and might possibly be a cause of your problem. (Just a guess.)

[HBH_AU]

Thanks so much for the reply.

After the jailbreak I installed firmware 5.8.7. Realised I forgot to put that detail in my original post, so just edited to add that info.

And just to be sure, I double checked the Kindle's "Device Info" & yup, it says it's version 5.8.7.

This is a bizarre problem. I had some azw3 files on the KV before I jail broke it & could see them no problems, but after the jailbreak I have this issue. Really weird.

[jhowell]

Doing a search for ;dm from the home screen on your kindle will dump the device's log files to your documents directory.

One thing to try would be to sideload a book that isn't working, disconnect USB, give it 10 seconds or so to try to find the book, use the ;dm command to dump the logs, and copy them to a PC/Mac for examination. Perhaps there will be an error message near the end of one of the log files that might point you in the right direction.

[Doitsu]

@HBH_AU: This might be a simple GUI settings problem. Go to the home screen and select:

List View ✓
All Items ✓

Then toggle between All and Downloaded. One of the two settings should enable the display of AZW3 files, provided they've been DeDRMed.

[badgoodDeb]

Yes - buried in the previous reply is the small phrase "providing they've been DeDRMed" -- which is what I was going to comment about. If you haven't played with Apprentice Alf stuff, then the files may not be DeDRMed. If they were originally on (or for) a different kindle, then they are DRM encoded for only that kindle. You can go back to Amazon and choose to download and load to kindle via USB ..... for THIS kindle. That will make sure the correct DRM is on there, and this kindle can read the book.

[HBH_AU]

Yep, Doitso & BadGoodDeb, I definitely looked the List View / All Items. And the books had their DRM removed with the plug-in to Calibre.
And the de-drm process worked as I was able to convert them to other formats, including mobi. And those mobis , once side-loaded on to the Kindle, could be seen.

This is what's weirding me out - the problem, although reproducible, just doesn't make any sense.

[HBH_AU]

Something I didn't think about - these side-loaded AZW3 files, which aren’t visible on the Kindle, were books I'd actually purchased from Amazon.

Because I like to use Calibre to manage my ebooks on my Kindle, I don’t download these books from the Amazon cloud directly onto my Kindle.

I download them to my computer, & then import them into Calibre (& so the plug-in would have automatically stripped the DRM).

I guess that might be an unusual / weird thing to do, but like I said, I like to use Calibre to manage my books, & this is a useful way to tag them & sort them in to collections.

So would the fact that there is also an azw3 file in the Amazon cloud, in addition to the azw3 I side load via Calibre onto the Kindle, potentially cause some sort of conflict?

Although I didn’t have wi-fi on when I side-loaded the books, I had synced to Amazon after jailbreaking the Kindle, so the books are visible on the Kindle as being downloadable from Amazon.

[Oibgzfka]

Use Calibre to (re)convert those books to azw3 (either back from a working mobi or from the azw3 you currently have) and see if they show up on your Voyage.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by HBH_AU

I guess that might be an unusual / weird thing to do, but like I said, I like to use Calibre to manage my books, & this is a useful way to tag them & sort them in to collections.

That's not unusual -- lots of people here do it. HOWEVER .... I've not seen any other reports of this, but I had books turn invisible on me, when I put them into Calibre, DeDRMed them, and changed the title (to include the series and a number).

I changed the title, and sideloaded about 15 to my Kindle. 3 or 4 times in a row, they all disappeared and the kindle wouldn't show them. The last 2 times I tried, I was fast enough to turn on the kindle AND SEE THE LAST FEW IN THE BATCH VISIBLE, AND THEN DISAPPEAR.

I never found out why. But since it was consistent, I just stored the DeDRMed book in Calibre, but downloaded the original book to the kindle, directly from Amazon's cloud. That meant I couldn't see the series & number in the title. But at least I could actually see the book!!

I've no idea why this occurred, or if anybody has seen anything similar. But here's my tale, for what it's worth.

edit: PS That kindle was NOT jailbroken, so it's not related to jailbreaking.

[HBH_AU]

Thanks badgoodDeb, that sounds like what's happening here (& it's reassuring to know that the jailbreak doesn't appear to be the cause - I was scared I'd somehow managed to mess up my beloved Kindle). At least I know I'm not going crazy lol!

Will try the suggestions here & see how it goes.

Cheers everyone.

[HBH_AU]

Okeydoke... So just as an experiment, before I tried anything else, I decided to once again try sideloading 3 of the azw's that hadn't shown up (as per problem outlined in original post).

My reason for doing so was to see if it was simply taking a long time to index the books... When I tried it originally, I checked for the books after 15 min but they weren't there. And doing a search for a random string of characters never returned a message that the books were still being indexed.

So loaded the 3 azw's yesterday.
Checked every 30 min for 4 hours. Nothing visible.
Checked today - some 12 hrs later - and THEY ARE THERE.
Wifi was definitely off the entire time.

So riddle me this... could this be an indexing issue?
And how is it possible that 3 azw's could take MORE THAN 4 HOURS to index??

They aren't huge books (paperback versions are ~200 pages), no images, azw files are between 330 kb & 500 kb in size.

I know in the past when I've loaded on 100 books that the indexing can take hours. But three books?

And the weird thing is, I did do a garbled search several times during that 4 hours, and never got a message saying that indexing was still going.

[badgoodDeb]

And ... do books really not show up until their personal indexing is done??? I didn't know that. But maybe it's so....

[HBH_AU]

OK so I know this thread is old, but I finally got around to following this up, instead of just making do with converting books to mobi to read on my kindle. It's just a few different things I tried in an effort to understand what the problem was.

tl:dr - well after all that, still don't know exactly what is causing the problem, but there's an easy solution, see below.

Calibre Set-up:

Spoiler:

Have Aprentice Alf’s plugin installed - know it works on this book because can convert book
Have plugboard set up:
any format:any device = ([{series:|| }{series_index:0>2s|[|] - }{title}] -> title)
Use Calibre to sideload book on to Kindle Voyage (FW 5.8.7)

Device details:

Spoiler:

Jail broken Kindle Voyage (FW 5.8.7)
Wifi off entire time
Library menu always on Downloaded

TEST 1.

Spoiler:

downloaded azw3 file from Amazon to Kindle for Mac v1.17.1
use Calibre to side load book on to KV (so no DRM, plugboard named)
can’t see book on KV
check indexing - confirm that indexing is done
book still not visible on KV
however, Calibre sees book as on Device, Mac Finder sees book on Device

use Calibre to remove book from device
use Mac Finder to check book removed

TEST 2.

Spoiler:

convert the above azw3 file in Calibre to mobi
side load onto KV
book visible on Kindle

use Calibre to remove book from device
use Mac Finder to check book removed

TEST 3.

Spoiler:

delete all traces of book from computer
download fresh copy of azw3 book from Amazon
use Mac Finder to side load azw3 into Documents Folder on KV (i.e. Calibre NOT used at all during this process)
book visible on KV
BUT book cover not visible on KV, whereas it was with the side loaded mobi

Conclusion from test 3: something is happening in Calibre to the azw3 that KV doesn’t like
is it the Alf plug in? the plugboard?

use Mac Finder to removed book from device

TEST 4.

Spoiler:

once again, fresh azw3 into Calibre
this time, however, instead of using Calibre to side load, use Mac Finder
i.e. the DRM is gone, but the plug board hasn’t been invoked
book visible on Kindle
BUT book cover not visible on KV

Conclusion from test 4: could be plug board that causes problem?
Went & checked plugboard settings, & it’s configured for any format and any device.

Anyway, I have no idea what to make of this amateur detective work

SOLUTION
The fix is easy enough, and is as Oibgzfka suggested.
Convert the downloaded azw3 to another format e.g. epub, then convert it back to azw3, & the book now shows up quickly & exactly as it is supposed to on the KV, with its cover intact.

[June]

Resurrecting an old thread, I’m having the same problem. The books show up on my Oasis a second or so, and then the book count starts going down... 408 to 355...

I use Calibre for all my books so hate these disappearing, even though Calibre shows 410 books on the Kindle, the device itself only shows 355.

I have tried deleting the azw3 formats, reconverted from ePub etc. but no luck. Very annoying, since I don’t want to have books from several sources. And I still have over 2000 left to transfer.

Update: I have deleted all formats except the original ePub on all the books I have identified. Removed from Calibre and Kindle (via Calibre, which shows them even though Kindle doesn’t). Moved files to usb stick, restarted my Mac, imported the books, converted (azw3 and mobi), tried sending to device. Calibre shows them, and they briefly show up in list view on Kindle, but then disappear a few at a time, until all are gone in a few seconds. Weird.

Has anyone else had this problem and found anything else that helps? Tried the suggestions in this thread, without success

Solved: did yet another delete, download metadata, conversion to AZW3 and mobi. Transfer. And now I have two of each book on the Oasis, I dare not remove one... butt better doubles than none.