My jetBook-Lite died today

[noclaim]

I purchased a jetBook-Lite from Newegg as one of their daily Shell Shocker Deals for $99.00 on March, 28, 2010 and it has been great. It has been used almost daily by my wife or myself.

This morning it will not boot past the jetBook-Lite screen. There was a momentary flicker and black vertical line at the left of the screen and now it just sits there at the jetBook-Lite screen. The only way to turn it off is a hard reset (small hole in back) and removing the SD card has no effect nor does installing new batteries.

I have emailed Ectaco customer service for Return Authorization and am waiting for their reply. Anyone have any suggestions or past experience with the problem I am experienceing?

[jblitereader]

<edit>

[noclaim]

livingenzyme, Thanks for the input.

[jblitereader]

<edit>

[noclaim]

I'll feel better if I hear from Ectaco this coming week with a Return Authorization number and an address to send my inoperative unit for exchange.

[dixieknits]

I had excellent service from Ectaco when my 7 month old Jetbook from Newegg died last month After trying a firmware upgrade, they told me to return it with Newegg invoice and promptly replaced it with a new unit.

[jblitereader]

<edit>

[Baltic Fox]

Hi, noclaim

I got the same problem as you described it. My jetBook Lite was bough from Ectaco in New York and was sent by airmail to me. (Living in Denmark as you can see).

I sent a email to Phil (technical support) at Ectaco and he suggested that I should try to update the firmware. This I did just a couple of hours ago, and now it seems to be fully functional again.

Maybe the same will work for you?

Find the update here: www.jetbook.net/update.php

Regards,
Torbem

[noclaim]

I also received an email from Phil who suggested that I update the firmware. Since the jetBook-Lite will not boot past the opening screen, I cannot perform the update. Phil suggested I email or telephone their New York office for help.

Over three days I sent two emails and have never received a response. Yesterday I spent 45 minutes on hold listening to their recorded advertisements before Paceo told me to send it in with my Newegg invoice. He said the address is on their web site. No RMA number, just mark it "Warranty". Today it goes off by UPS. We will see what happens.

So far I am nor overly impressed with their customer service.

[Baltic Fox]

Hi, noclaim

As I told you I had exactly that same problem, where the jetBook Lite were stock on the opening screen. However I were able to make the update. I don't know how you have tried, but this worked for me:

What I did was that I got the update file, unzipped it to my harddisk on the PC and copied the three folders to a SDHC card. (Remember: you are not allowed to have anything else but the three folders on the memory card, to be sure, format the card first. I had the card formatted as FAT32, which worked though FAT maybe would be better). Insert fresh batteries just to be sure there are enough power to do the update. Next I placed the card into the jetBook, and pressed the reset button. Now I pressed the on/off button AND the right arrow button. Both buttons MUST be held down untill you see the logo screen (which must be the same screen where the freezing happened).

Now just wait. It is said that the jetBook should come up with a message telling you that the update is complete -- it doesn't! I just had the jetBook stay turned on untill it shuts down of its own.

Press the on/off button for some three seconds. It should hopefully turn on as usual.

If this is what you have tried, and it didn't work, I belive the fault must be a hardware- and not a software fault.

Sorry if this message is found annoying for you, but I don't know how you tried to do the update. As I said, it worked for me.

--
Torben

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Baltic Fox

Hi, noclaim

As I told you I had exactly that same problem, where the jetBook Lite were stock on the opening screen. However I were able to make the update. I don't know how you have tried, but this worked for me:

What I did was that I got the update file, unzipped it to my harddisk on the PC and copied the three folders to a SDHC card. (Remember: you are not allowed to have anything else but the three folders on the memory card, to be sure, format the card first. I had the card formatted as FAT32, which worked though FAT maybe would be better). Insert fresh batteries just to be sure there are enough power to do the update. Next I placed the card into the jetBook, and pressed the reset button. Now I pressed the on/off button AND the right arrow button. Both buttons MUST be held down untill you see the logo screen (which must be the same screen where the freezing happened).

Now just wait. It is said that the jetBook should come up with a message telling you that the update is complete -- it doesn't! I just had the jetBook stay turned on untill it shuts down of its own.

Press the on/off button for some three seconds. It should hopefully turn on as usual.

If this is what you have tried, and it didn't work, I belive the fault must be a hardware- and not a software fault.

Sorry if this message is found annoying for you, but I don't know how you tried to do the update. As I said, it worked for me.

--
Torben

Since you don't want or need anything else on the SD card, anyway,
just reformat the SD card to FAT (FAT16) before placing the update
folders into the Root of the SD card.

If you hold the "on/off button" and the "right arrow button" after the
logo screen has appeared you will get a conformation screen asking if
you are sure you want to update the firmware, release the buttons
at that time.

Luck;
Ken

[jblitereader]

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[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by livingenzyme

Haha, may be having a stunning username/email adress like mine and being famous helps...

Dare I ask famous for what, other than being a science experiment gone awry (as stated in another post)?

[jblitereader]

<edit>

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by livingenzyme

Well, famous as in letting them know I exist, not famous like Krusty the Klown or Homer Simpson. Check out post 28 of the following thread.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...t=81360&page=2

Also check out the following thread.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78719

They also mentioned me in one of their press releases and used my pictures.

http://www.ectaco.com/news/8418/

Added by edit.

Also, flirting with Phil the tech guy helped a lot. You'll never guess what went on in our email exchanges LOL

Gasp! What happened to your hands? They're white! Ack!