PRS-650 reader frozen. have I killed it?

[mazmac]

My PRS-650 is frozen and I'm having no luck resetting it. Not completely sure how to hard reset it (and I don't want to loose my notes) so I thought I'd have a quiet panic here first.

Here's what happened:

1. I closed a large pdf and tried to open a small epub in a different collection folder

2. I couldn't open the epub - I got an invalid page! erroer message. I tried through a different path, still couldn't open it.

3. I tried to turn the reader off.

4. It froze, leaving a greyed out home scren with a [!] symbol and 'shutting down' at the bottom of the screen. There are two orange lights at the top edge of the reader.

5. Resetting (holding down the reset button for 5 secs and then flipping the power switch) does nothing.

Help!!!!

It's bed time here. I'll leave working out how to do a hard reset to the morning. If anyone has an alternative solution, I'd love to know about it.

[antistar]

Was your battery full? Maybe it just ran out during reboot.

[kartu]

5. Resetting (holding down the reset button for 5 secs and then flipping the power switch) does nothing.

It's most likely discharged. You can't kill it by using broken books.

[mazmac]

Originally Posted by antistar

Was your battery full? Maybe it just ran out during reboot.

Well, I thought it was full - but I did use my HTC phone charger. Perhaps it wasn't properly charged?

I've connected the reader to my computer hoping it will charge properly. The computer isn't recognising it. The diode near the power switch was initially red when I plugged it in. Now the two diodes are orange again.

All advice still very, very welcome.

[Gadget_girl]

Mine froze the other day as well. I fixed it by pressing (with an unbent paper clip) the reset button on the bottom, waiting 5 seconds and then sliding the power switch. It works fine now. Mine froze in the middle of a chapter. Pages wouldn't turn, wouldn't go into standby or turn off.

[tahunasky]

Mine was frozen, wouldnt charge, then when it did kind of start working, sceen was not fully displayed - lines on screen as if only every second line was showing, then it started showing weird paterns on the screen. When i connected USB wouldnt charge, but i could access the flash memory to copy books etc. I had done a soft reset several times, and tried to do a hard reset, nothing helped..

I contacted sony, who said to send in for exchange, but it was a week before i finally got around to packaging it up, and i decided to copy off all the books/notes etc i had on the ereader. Plugged in the USB cable, flash drives showed up like usual, but still no "CHARGING BATTERY" message like there should be. Then after a couple of minutes the "CHARGING BATTERY" messages came on the screen.
I did a soft reset, booted again, got to the home screen, still not all pixels showing, and the application screen was stuffed up.
After a couple of more on/offs its been working pretty much ok for the last few days.. Only problem i have had is if i turn the ereader off properly (not standby mode) and then turn on again, leave for a few hours or overnight, the "LOADING BOOK" screen is still not 100% ok.

Have now updated firmware so hopefully that will help.

I talked to sony in Australia when i first had problems, and was very interested to hear the girl tell me that they "have had lots of problems with the PRS-650".
From my experience with sony support in the Sates, they are useless, i was passed around different people, they would ask for info on the problem, receipt, screen shots etc, and then email me back saying, you have to connect this person/dept - and so i would have to the next person/dept the problem, send copy of receipt etc, and then they would say you have to contact this person/dept....... instead of doing the more normal/logical thing or forwarding on my email to the correct person/dept.

I very much doubt if i will purchase another sony product after my latest experience.

Will also teach me for buying a JUST RELEASED product.

See pics of what my problems are like.

[JSWolf]

I have a 650 bought not long after it was released and I've had no trouble with it at all. I did do the firmware update.

[mazmac]

Just got off the phone from the Sony support line. I've been told to take it to a service centre and that it will most probably be replaced (I do hope there are some in stock somewhere...).

The last two posts are interesting - I was one of the first PRS-650 purchasers in Australia, and have had my reader since September last year. I haven't had a problem with it until last night's catastrophe. I only found out about the firmware update last night, while I was searching for a solution to my problem.

[Boston]

This recently happened with my my mom's PRS-650. Froze, couldn't do a reset, PC did not recognize the reader when plugged in.

Sony had me do a reset with the reader plugged into the PC. This seemed to work and then I charged it fully on the PC.

I played around with it to make sure it was working...it seemed to work fine except for the book she was reading...so I removed it. (In addition to a possible problem book, she also used a phone charger instead of the computer cable for charging...maybe just another coincidence).

However a few days later, I turned the reader on one last time before sending it back to her and got "exceptional internal memory" error and automatically formatted itself.

Fortunately, this happened just within the 90 day window, so I got a refurbished replacement sent to me.

I've already had to reset my reader...and to be honest am worried these might not be as reliable as the other readers I have owned which lasted for years.

But I do love the device and so have my fingers crossed that this is just all coincidence.

[JSWolf]

It is a coincidence. My 650 fine. I've not read of problem of 650s locking up/freezing. Besides, I've read of problems with all readers and that does not mean an inherent flaw.

I did have to do a reset on a 505 tonight. But that was partly my fault. A defective eBook (missing a >) was causing a chapter not to display and I trying to jump to a page within the missing chapter and the 505 froze. Plugging it into the computer did not get it to respond. But I reset it and it was fine after that.

[Boston]

An occasional reset is fine and it's happened on my Kindle...the memory issue and automatic reformatting was a big problem so the unit was clearly defective. I figured it was just a fluke but the OPs situation sounded just like the original symptoms my mom's unit had, so it did strike a chord.

I'm just hoping its not the charger because if my mom needs to plug it into her computer to charge, I know that won't happen (I have to load the books on it for her and when the Sony rep told her to plug it into the computer, she freaked and sent it to me)

[tahunasky]

Well i heard it straight from sony australia that there were alot of problems with the model i have. But i have done the firmware update, and its been working fine since yesterday, so hopefully it will fix the problems i have been having..

I purchased my reader in beginning of october, and worked perfectly for 4 months, travelled heaps with it, eygpt, vietnam, argentina and europe, and loved it as saved heaps of room with 1 small reader to carry instead of all the books i usually carry, especially in south america where its hard to get english books, and any you do get are really expensive..

But when there was a problem, to sort it out, and to get any decent help from sony was a problem. Also the fact that there is no automatic international warranty cover is a problem for someone like me who travels for 10 months a year. If purchased in USA, the warranty is only valid for there, so if you are overseas you have to send back to USA for repair/replacement. In Aus you have to ask for a "TRAVELLER WARRANTY CARD" at time of purchase to get international coverage - and most sales people dont even know about it (this again i was told by sony support). Why they would make it such a hassle to get warranty repair overseas is beyond me, especially when it is a device designed to travel.

[mazmac]

Originally Posted by tahunasky

Well i heard it straight from sony australia that there were alot of problems with the model i have.

I'm back from the service centre. No comments there about there being lots of problems, but I don't suspect they see many Readers down in Wollongong! There was lots of iPad banter, however.

I'll be waiting until mid-next week to find out whether it can be/is fixed or whether I will be getting a replacement. I'm resigned to losing my notes (I should be better at backing them up, but I do so loathe the Sony Library software). And there aren't many PRS-650s around, so I'm worried about waiting for a replacement.

Feeling a bit sad. And wondering what I'll be reading. There is a hardcover of David Malouf's Ransom on my bedside table. But that starting giving me nightmares...

[tahunasky]

if you can access the readers flash drives (?:\READER), and just drag and drop into a folder on your pc.. then the notes will all be saved along with the books.. Then when you get the new reader, just drag it back to the ?:\READER drive.

In my reader the notes i write on books i am reading are stored in:
H:\Digital Editions\Annotations\database\media\books\[book name]

But just back up the whole drive...

[mazmac]

Originally Posted by tahunasky

if you can access the readers flash drives (?:\READER), and just drag and drop into a folder on your pc..

No, that's one of the problems. The computer and reader are not talking to eachother.

Poor reader. I thought we were getting on so well...