Setting up new Kindle Touch; changeover from Kindle Keyboard

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by knc1

But that is strange, the "new" indexer (somewhere around 5.5 - 5.6 IIRC) is much better than the one that gave so much trouble.

It is indeed. I can't remember that last time I had a book get stuck indexing.

[mand]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Indexing shouldn't take that long - it sounds as if one or more of the items has got stuck. Delete them and re-add them.

There are 22 of them!

Originally Posted by knc1

Use:
;dm
in the main searchbar -
see if the log mentions which book the indexer is working on, but not completing.

Why ;dm?
... In nice basic layperson terms.

I did this and it has gone up to 35 items waiting to be indexed. "The log" is about a dozen log files, most dated today. If I downloaded them all (which won't be tonight) what term(s) should I search for?

Originally Posted by knc1

- - - -

But that is strange, the "new" indexer (somewhere around 5.5 - 5.6 IIRC) is much better than the one that gave so much trouble.

I think I mentioned how I jinx these things!

[mand]

Originally Posted by mand

If I downloaded them all (which won't be tonight) what term(s) should I search for?

Oh, ;dm maybe?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by mand

Oh, ;dm maybe?

'index' I suppose.
I don't recall what the task name is tmd maybe?
Well, find on 'index' (or 'INDEX') and then search for all messages output by the task name that output the message you did find.

[mand]

I haven't got to it yet - a sleepy day spent trying to reconcile my bank statements. But I did think - how many log files would you expect the device to create? Does it make one every time I turn wifi on? or for each item downloaded? I'm surprised how many there are and most with the same date.

Also, does it do any harm deleting log files before they're indexed - or ever?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by mand

I haven't got to it yet - a sleepy day spent trying to reconcile my bank statements. But I did think - how many log files would you expect the device to create? Does it make one every time I turn wifi on? or for each item downloaded? I'm surprised how many there are and most with the same date.

Also, does it do any harm deleting log files before they're indexed - or ever?

Throw them all away, that is just fine.

Somewhere around here you will find a script posted that will clean-up the left-over sidecar files for documents that have been deleted.

For some reason, creating new ones never deletes the prior information - they just keep getting larger.

[mand]

Originally Posted by knc1

Throw them all away, that is just fine.

Good to know.

Originally Posted by knc1

Somewhere around here you will find a script posted that will clean-up the left-over sidecar files for documents that have been deleted.

Very good to know.

Originally Posted by knc1

For some reason, creating new ones never deletes the prior information - they just keep getting larger.

Sounds worthy of Microsoft!


The update is that last night, the device "rebooted" itself spontaneously after running relatively slowly for days. I know I jinx things but I'm astonished at seeing this so soon. It's how I found Mobileread in the first place, googling when my old Keyboard did that - but it was much older and I'd over-stuffed it with books and samples and converted PDFs and webpages via Instareader (or whatever that's called) and SENDtoREADER for years before that problem began.

Anyway, I'm not prepared to debrick such a new kindle so I have initiated a return with Amazon and requested a brand new one.

Doesn't solve my curiosity about all these questions but it does get them out of my hair, at least if similar doesn't happen with the replacement.

Can a corrupt file cause this kind of thing? I mean one of the documents having some sort of corruption, which somehow confuses the kindle?

[knc1]

If the same happens to a third device, I would definitely suspect one of the documents the three had in common.

On this new one, just feed it a few documents at a time, so you know which ones might be the problem.

[HarryT]

A corrupt file is by far the most likely cause of such problems.

[mand]

Originally Posted by knc1

If the same happens to a third device, I would definitely suspect one of the documents the three had in common.

On this new one, just feed it a few documents at a time, so you know which ones might be the problem.

Originally Posted by HarryT

A corrupt file is by far the most likely cause of such problems.

Aaaagh. I can't feed it a few docs at a time, as they all arrive when wifi's on. By "all" I mean every personal document I've ever sent going back years. The first time I connected with this new device, everything arrived (not downloaded, but there in the list).

No, tell a lie - for some reason, in my library there are "8197 items in Docs". Whereas there are 1,204 items on the kindle when All is selected (rather than Downloaded) and obviously that includes books and things sent by SendtoReader as well... but for example, one of the Docs showing on the kindle (not downloaded) is something my son emailed me in Dec 2011 which was when I first had the old Kindle Keyboard. If that's still there, I don't know why the rest of my library docs aren't. Things from StR are also in docs.

In theory I could delete the old docs. But you can't select a whole page, you have to click each checkbox individually - and even then you can only delete 72 at a time. 8197 items = 114 pages of docs. Again, in theory I can delete from the StR website but... as I say, aaaagh.

(I got into the habit of zapping lots of things to the kindle to read without backlight, because my eyesight goes funny if i look at the pc or laptop screen too long, and a few years ago that was much more of a problem.)

[mand]

Oh, and I haven't quite initiated that return yet. Thought I had, when I'd contacted directly because the automated returns form kept dropping out at the last step. But today i woke up to an email saying kindles can't be returned without using phone or chat. I haven't had a chance to do chat yet and I'm not going to do it by phone.

Apparently they need to "identify the exact problem with the device to fix and can create a replacement based on the warranty of your Kindle device by providing the necessary information to return your Kindle." I have a suspicious mind but that could be believable for some legal reason...

... but, "Please note that replacement for Kindles can only be done over the phone or chat as we need to verify your delivery address and payment card for the replacement order." Transparently forcing the customer to interact in order to be persuaded not to return, methinx.

I'd rather send it back. I debricked the other one twice and then left it more than a year needing to be debricked, but I lived with it randomly rebooting and being very slow all the time, because debricking is time-consuming.

I didn't think the need to debrick was caused by file corruption? Or am I wrong about that?

[Cinisajoy]

Let's start over. How are you getting the documents on your device?
What did you click and where?
Whether you have 1 or 10,000 documents, Amazon does not automatically send them to your device.
You have to actually either send to that device or click the document to download it.


What exactly is on your homescreen. You have two choices. Please, which one is highlighted.
It sounds like your archive/cloud/whatever it is labeled now isn't showing everything.
Especially since nothing showed indexing.



They are showing up in the cloud not on the device. Yes, you can download a few documents at a time.
Do not use select all.

[Cinisajoy]

Yes, they need to verify your identity. They will send a new device and then you return the old one.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mand

Aaaagh. I can't feed it a few docs at a time, as they all arrive when wifi's on. By "all" I mean every personal document I've ever sent going back years. The first time I connected with this new device, everything arrived (not downloaded, but there in the list).

No, nothing will be downloaded to a new Kindle unless you tell it to be. You'll see them in the listing of your Cloud library, of course, but they aren't on the Kindle, and can't cause any problems.

[mand]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Let's start over. How are you getting the documents on your device?
What did you click and where?
Whether you have 1 or 10,000 documents, Amazon does not automatically send them to your device.
You have to actually either send to that device or click the document to download it.

I'm not talking about documents I didn't ever send. These "extra" documents are ones that were on my old kindle, sent over the past 5 years.

ETA: D'oh! See next bit - the penny's dropped.

I send them in three ways:
1. buying from Amazon (or sending samples);
2. Instapaper https://www.instapaper.com/ , which I don't use any more;
3. SENDtoREADER https://www.instapaper.com/ , which I use all the time - either sending direct from a webpage, using the browser add-on, or pasting URLs into the Compose page in my account.
4. Emailing PDFs from my laptop.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

What exactly is on your homescreen. You have two choices. Please, which one is highlighted.
It sounds like your archive/cloud/whatever it is labeled now isn't showing everything.
Especially since nothing showed indexing.



They are showing up in the cloud not on the device. Yes, you can download a few documents at a time.
Do not use select all.

I was being brainless. When viewing ALL, I have the 1,000+ items... when viewing DOWNOADED, I have only the ones downloaded onto this specific device. When I said "They all arrive as soon as wifi's on", that was what I first thought when this kindle was new a couple of weeks ago - the All/Downloaded concept isn't mentioned in the quick start guide - and somehow my brain reverted to that old version if you see what I mean! Sorry for the confusion!

The problem I do have is that I'm used to things "vanishing" into Archived Items when I "delete" them. I know they're still there in my library but the way I use my kindle, it's easier not to see the whole library from the device itself. (So it is a problem, but I asked the question all wrong.)

Here's why. Once something is in a collection, it's still in that collection after being removed from device. I must remember to remove from collection before removing from device... but then it joins the new documents waiting for me to read them before adding to collections. This is a problem when many titles aren't self-explanatory (eg web pages called "About us") and others are easily mixed up ("How to prune weigela" vs "When and how to prune weigela") but one is an article I sent to kindle yesteday and the other is one I "deleted" three years ago because the content didn't send successfully. I end up constantly re-opening things I've already decided to get rid of.

I started a collection called '0' (to keep it at the top alphabetically) for everything I was going to remove from my library - but even on day one that's an extra task on my To Do list and was never going to happen. I haven't got a smartphone so I'd only go into my library on the laptop which is less convenient, and VERY slow (rural broadband <1Mps plus cheap, struggling machine). Also, while the kindle was on its go-slow, doing Add to Collection (after finding the document again, when sorted by Recent) took ages. Not how I want to spend the last minutes before falling asleep in bed.

The only things that can be removed from everywhere including the library are book samples and PDFs etc that I emailed. I'd like an option to delete from library at the same time as remove from device.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Yes, they need to verify your identity. They will send a new device and then you return the old one.

I know - but I'm logged in to my Amazon account when going through the returns wizard. I have returned other purchases exactly this way, so why not a kindle?

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, nothing will be downloaded to a new Kindle unless you tell it to be. You'll see them in the listing of your Cloud library, of course, but they aren't on the Kindle, and can't cause any problems.

See my explanation above to Cinisajoy. Idiot temp brain stepped in when I posted that.question! It's the library listing that's the trouble for me. Just the same with my StoR "library" of items sent - not sortable, and viewable only 18 per screen. I'm having to modify my whole way of using the kindle.