PRS-600 "Internal content invalid. Formatting" 600 crash (is it dead ?)

zelda_pinwheel · 12-23-2009, 08:50 PM

i think this 600 of mine may be a lost cause but just in case one of you geniuses can think of some miraculous way of fixing it, here's what happened.

tonight i was trying to transfer a book using calibre (i've never used the sony ebook library software) and i got a strange error that the file could not be read, or something (sorry, i didn't think to note down the exact message at the time). i clicked to check the internal memory (in calibre interface) and it appeared empty. no doubt communication between pc and device had stopped partway through the transfer, because it had mounted ok and displayed the books on the internal memory when i first plugged it in.

i unmounted it as usual but when i unplugged the usb cable i got an error message : "Internal content invalid. Formatting in progress" ("contenu à l'intérieur invalide. Formatage en cours.") with an ok button. when i touched the ok button, the bar at the bottom of the screen displayed "Formatting internal memory in progress" ("Format. mém. interne en cours") for a while, then it went to the home screen displaying zero content in all categories.

it happens i had a backup of all content which i made saturday before the latest paris meetup (straight copy of all files in user memory via windows file explorer), in case somebody deleted accidentally a book containing notes, so i decided to restore it. i had some trouble getting it detected. when it finally mounted i began the transfer of my backup via the windows file explorer. it seemed to have some trouble ("estimated time to finish : 170 minutes" although it decreased after a while) and partway through there was an error ("damaged content" or something like that) and when i tried to look at what had been transferred so far i discovered that it was no longer connected to the pc (i couldn't explore the disk, it appeared empty). when i unplugged it, it formatted the internal memory again.

i thought perhaps i could fix it if i reinstalled the firmware update, but (once i finally got it to be detected...) it told me the firmware was already up to date, and didn't install anything.

background : the usb connection has been unreliable almost since the beginning, meaning that often when i plugged it in it wasn't detected at all, or incompletely (meaning sometimes the computer would see a disk but not go so far as to read it, and if i tried to open it in file explorer it would appear empty). it got worse about 2 months ago and wasn't detected at all or even gave me usb malfunction errors. i updated the firmware to version 1.0.01.08040 and since then it has been more reliable. i have no idea whether this is related or not.

it has spontaneously reset itself once that i remember, while it was in sleep mode. i don't know why.

it has never been dropped or taken any kind of hit since i've had it, and i have never unplugged it without unmounting it first ("remove usb device safely") with the exception of the times when it refused to be detected (no device appeared in the device manager, so i could not unmount it).

it's only 3 months old (i got it in late september), and given the erratic usb problems and now this, i'm getting the impression that i got a defective unit. i never had any similar problem with my 700, it only choked once that i remember and that was my own fault (20mo .rtf file. oops). i think i am going to try to take it to the sony shop and exchange it, although i anticipate some trouble since it was purchased in the US (i guess it's always a gamble to buy something overseas and sometimes you lose.

). any suggestions before i go and try to convince sony to give me a new one ?

Kolenka · 12-23-2009, 09:03 PM

It'd be worth getting that replaced or repaired.

Best guess I have is that some of the flash is defective. Bad blocks could be causing the symptoms you see, and it isn't exactly something that can be fixed by an end-user.

zelda_pinwheel · 12-23-2009, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolenka

It'd be worth getting that replaced or repaired.

Best guess I have is that some of the flash is defective. Bad blocks could be causing the symptoms you see, and it isn't exactly something that can be fixed by an end-user.

thanks for the reply. that's what i thought too. arg.

wish me luck negotiating.

igorsk · 12-23-2009, 09:29 PM

You can force the firmware update by changing PRSVersion.dat.

Kolenka · 12-23-2009, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsk

You can force the firmware update by changing PRSVersion.dat.

Interesting... even if the flash is defective, it isn't like you can do any more damage at this point. Might be worth giving it a shot. I personally doubt it at this point, but what the hey.

emonti8384 · 12-24-2009, 08:19 AM

Good luck querida, I hope you get this figured out! Be sure to let us know what happens!!

aceflor · 12-25-2009, 07:49 AM

oh noooooooooooooo!!!! Sweetie, I hope you manage to fix it somehow !!!!! I send you my strongest positive vibes !!!!!

zelda_pinwheel · 01-05-2010, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorsk

You can force the firmware update by changing PRSVersion.dat.

thanks for that info, igorsk. i'm sure i could figure out how to do that, but i've decided not to try it, since the usb connexion is so unreliable ; i'm afraid it would disconnect partway through the update, and i'm pretty sure that would be bad.

just an update, i decided to let the holidays pass before trying to do anything, and last night i noticed some really weird behaviour. i was reading on size M, and when i turned a page, it would jump a few paragraphs or a full page too far, and i would miss large chunks of text. if i changed the display in any way (switch to size S text, or display / hide (depending on the current state) the notes bar), the missing text would miraculously appear. even a *very* odd thing happened when, in size S, i missed some text, so i tried to highlight the last line of the previous page to easily find my place after changing to a different size, hoping that the missing text would be there. the highlight wouldn't "stick" ; as soon as i released my finger from the screen, instead of flashing and staying, the highlight disappeared. when i closed the notes bar, the page changed as well to display the missing text (a full screen which had been missing), and on *that* page, the bottom line was highlighted.

anyway, yep, i'm pretty sure this 600 is not going to do it for me. thanks everybody for the help and good wishes ; if you could do me a huge favour, please cross your fingers i manage to get a replacement without too much trouble.

Kolenka · 01-05-2010, 11:40 AM

Yeah, sounds like something is pretty corrupted and needs some looking at by Sony techs. The time I had with a 600 showed none of those problems, and I'm pretty hopeful your replacement will be in good shape.

zelda_pinwheel · 01-05-2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kolenka

Yeah, sounds like something is pretty corrupted and needs some looking at by Sony techs. The time I had with a 600 showed none of those problems, and I'm pretty hopeful your replacement will be in good shape.

oh, i'm really confident it's an exception too ; my 700 has never made even a hiccup, i don't think i even ever had to reset it (okay, except for the very first day, because of my brilliant idea of trying a 20mo rtf file, but that was my own fault), and i've no doubt that in general the 600 is just as stable (it looks like nearly the identical interface, so why would it be less stable, right ?). i just got a bad one.

unlucky.

emonti8384 · 01-06-2010, 11:48 PM

So have you tried talking to Sony? What is ur next step? Regardless of where you purchased it it's till covered under warranty, and assuming you haven't abused the poor little guy there should be no reason they would give you a hassle. Let us know what you decide to do, or what Sony says if you decide to go that route.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

zelda_pinwheel · 01-07-2010, 09:52 AM

well, i thought i would let the holidays pass before trying to contact sony but i've just telephoned the sony service number, and i'm feeling a bit reassured. the woman i spoke with, after hearing my description of the problems agrees there is clearly a fault, and it should not be a problem that the 600 was not purchased in france. ouf ! now i'm going to take it to the service counter in the sony store in paris ; apparently they won't exchange it for me since it wasn't bought in their shop (alas, since that is what i was hoping for) but they will be able to take it for repair. i'll report back to let you know how it went. thanks again for the support and encouragement !

dreams · 01-07-2010, 04:43 PM

I just saw this thread, Zelda...

I have my

that it will be fixed and home soon.

zelda_pinwheel · 01-08-2010, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreams

I just saw this thread, Zelda...

I have my

that it will be fixed and home soon.

thank you dreams, my fingers are crossed too.

latest news : i took my 600 yesterday to the sony store. as they had said to me on the telephone, they would not exchange it for me, but apparently that is because they will only exchange a product within 7 days ; past that time they send it for repairs. i explained what was wrong and the guy said he thought it might be a problem with the "ressources management card" (carte de gestion des ressources). he will send it to their technicians and get a diagnostic, and when he knows more he will call me (he said probably tuesday or wednesday), and depending on the problem either they will repair it (that can take up to 15 days !) or, if it *is* a bad ressources management card, they *might* just replace it, because apparently that's a very expensive repair. i am hoping for this solution because i wouldn't have to wait so long.

there was a moment of hesitation when i gave my receipt and told them it was purchased in new york, but they accepted to repair it for me anyway, which is very nice. i'm very happy so far with sony service. now we just have to see what the technician will say...

zelda_pinwheel · 01-08-2010, 11:27 AM

update : just had a telephone call from sony : the guy who helped me yesterday called to let me know how things were going. he said that apparently the service center didn't want to take the repair under warranty, so he spoke with the the head of Consumer Service, who proposed that they ask the technical center for a quote and depending on the cost of the repair, either they will pay for the cost themselves or they will propose an exchange (for "a french model". they guy didn't believe me when i said i was pretty sure they were all the same, but i guess i might find out...). i'm really pleased with the sony repair service here !

12-23-2009, 08:50 PM	#1
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	"Internal content invalid. Formatting" 600 crash (is it dead ?) i think this 600 of mine may be a lost cause but just in case one of you geniuses can think of some miraculous way of fixing it, here's what happened. tonight i was trying to transfer a book using calibre (i've never used the sony ebook library software) and i got a strange error that the file could not be read, or something (sorry, i didn't think to note down the exact message at the time). i clicked to check the internal memory (in calibre interface) and it appeared empty. no doubt communication between pc and device had stopped partway through the transfer, because it had mounted ok and displayed the books on the internal memory when i first plugged it in. i unmounted it as usual but when i unplugged the usb cable i got an error message : "Internal content invalid. Formatting in progress" ("contenu à l'intérieur invalide. Formatage en cours.") with an ok button. when i touched the ok button, the bar at the bottom of the screen displayed "Formatting internal memory in progress" ("Format. mém. interne en cours") for a while, then it went to the home screen displaying zero content in all categories. it happens i had a backup of all content which i made saturday before the latest paris meetup (straight copy of all files in user memory via windows file explorer), in case somebody deleted accidentally a book containing notes, so i decided to restore it. i had some trouble getting it detected. when it finally mounted i began the transfer of my backup via the windows file explorer. it seemed to have some trouble ("estimated time to finish : 170 minutes" although it decreased after a while) and partway through there was an error ("damaged content" or something like that) and when i tried to look at what had been transferred so far i discovered that it was no longer connected to the pc (i couldn't explore the disk, it appeared empty). when i unplugged it, it formatted the internal memory again. i thought perhaps i could fix it if i reinstalled the firmware update, but (once i finally got it to be detected...) it told me the firmware was already up to date, and didn't install anything. background : the usb connection has been unreliable almost since the beginning, meaning that often when i plugged it in it wasn't detected at all, or incompletely (meaning sometimes the computer would see a disk but not go so far as to read it, and if i tried to open it in file explorer it would appear empty). it got worse about 2 months ago and wasn't detected at all or even gave me usb malfunction errors. i updated the firmware to version 1.0.01.08040 and since then it has been more reliable. i have no idea whether this is related or not. it has spontaneously reset itself once that i remember, while it was in sleep mode. i don't know why. it has never been dropped or taken any kind of hit since i've had it, and i have never unplugged it without unmounting it first ("remove usb device safely") with the exception of the times when it refused to be detected (no device appeared in the device manager, so i could not unmount it). it's only 3 months old (i got it in late september), and given the erratic usb problems and now this, i'm getting the impression that i got a defective unit. i never had any similar problem with my 700, it only choked once that i remember and that was my own fault (20mo .rtf file. oops). i think i am going to try to take it to the sony shop and exchange it, although i anticipate some trouble since it was purchased in the US (i guess it's always a gamble to buy something overseas and sometimes you lose. ). any suggestions before i go and try to convince sony to give me a new one ?

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12-23-2009, 09:03 PM	#2
Kolenka <Insert Wit Here> Posts: 1,017 Karma: 1275899 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Puget Sound Device: Kindle Oasis, Kobo Forma	It'd be worth getting that replaced or repaired. Best guess I have is that some of the flash is defective. Bad blocks could be causing the symptoms you see, and it isn't exactly something that can be fixed by an end-user.

12-23-2009, 09:29 PM	#4
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	You can force the firmware update by changing PRSVersion.dat.

12-24-2009, 08:19 AM	#6
emonti8384 browneyedgurl Posts: 523 Karma: 356470 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Warren, OH Device: PRS-505/950x2, PRS-600 silver, Galaxy III purple, T2 black	Good luck querida, I hope you get this figured out! Be sure to let us know what happens!!

12-25-2009, 07:49 AM	#7
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,470 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	oh noooooooooooooo!!!! Sweetie, I hope you manage to fix it somehow !!!!! I send you my strongest positive vibes !!!!!

01-05-2010, 11:40 AM	#9
Kolenka <Insert Wit Here> Posts: 1,017 Karma: 1275899 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Puget Sound Device: Kindle Oasis, Kobo Forma	Yeah, sounds like something is pretty corrupted and needs some looking at by Sony techs. The time I had with a 600 showed none of those problems, and I'm pretty hopeful your replacement will be in good shape.

01-06-2010, 11:48 PM	#11
emonti8384 browneyedgurl Posts: 523 Karma: 356470 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Warren, OH Device: PRS-505/950x2, PRS-600 silver, Galaxy III purple, T2 black	So have you tried talking to Sony? What is ur next step? Regardless of where you purchased it it's till covered under warranty, and assuming you haven't abused the poor little guy there should be no reason they would give you a hassle. Let us know what you decide to do, or what Sony says if you decide to go that route. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

01-07-2010, 09:52 AM	#12
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	well, i thought i would let the holidays pass before trying to contact sony but i've just telephoned the sony service number, and i'm feeling a bit reassured. the woman i spoke with, after hearing my description of the problems agrees there is clearly a fault, and it should not be a problem that the 600 was not purchased in france. ouf ! now i'm going to take it to the service counter in the sony store in paris ; apparently they won't exchange it for me since it wasn't bought in their shop (alas, since that is what i was hoping for) but they will be able to take it for repair. i'll report back to let you know how it went. thanks again for the support and encouragement !

01-07-2010, 04:43 PM	#13
dreams It's about the umbrella Posts: 25,112 Karma: 56250158 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony 505\| K Fire \| KK 3G+Wi-Fi \| iPhone 3Gs \|Vista 32-bit Hm Prem w/FF	I just saw this thread, Zelda... I have my that it will be fixed and home soon.

01-08-2010, 11:27 AM	#15
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	update : just had a telephone call from sony : the guy who helped me yesterday called to let me know how things were going. he said that apparently the service center didn't want to take the repair under warranty, so he spoke with the the head of Consumer Service, who proposed that they ask the technical center for a quote and depending on the cost of the repair, either they will pay for the cost themselves or they will propose an exchange (for "a french model". they guy didn't believe me when i said i was pretty sure they were all the same, but i guess i might find out...). i'm really pleased with the sony repair service here !

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