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0.33-0.35m Stuck ? Find REAL help here.  XML
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fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
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Ectaco's JB site has incomplete instructions.

If your JB (NOT LITE) has firmware 0.33 you have a problem.

You CANNOT go from 0.33 directly to 0.35 and worse still the JB site does not provide everything needed so people are failing to get this important upgrade and getting really, really stuck and really, REALLY MAD !

Getting usable PDF reading is definitely worth the trouble of this.
BUT:
The process took me HOURS of research - trial and error and I hope having this info here saves others from having to waste most of an afternoon like I did in getting this upgrade.

Important:
I strongly suggest you have/use a USB 2.0 card reader for file operations as the upgrade files are around 50 megs and the JB's USB is slow, slow, slow.

For working instructions - see here - it's different than the JB site:

1. Make a backup copy of books, audio files, and pictures that you store on your jetBook.
2. Fully charge the jetBook battery.
3. Download and unpack the firmware package and then transfer the Data, firmware, and reflash_nor folders to the root directory of an SD card. Make sure your SD card does not contain any files other than those found in the firmware package.
4. Place the SD card into your jetBook SD slot.
5. Press the Reset button. The device will turn off. Do not turn it on.

*********difference is between here************
6. Press and hold the On/Off button and right arrow key simultaneously until the jetBook logo appears on the screen. When you keep the buttons held down for several seconds past the Jetbook logo, you'll see a warning message asking to confirm that you wanted to do a firmware upgrade. Select OK.
***************and here*********************

7. The update process will take about 10 – 15 minutes.
WARNING! Do not press any keys on your jetBook while updating is in progress!
8. When the update process is complete, press the Reset button. The device will turn off.
9. Press and hold the On/Off button for 3 seconds. Release the button. jetBook will start within 1 minute.
10. Firmware update process is completed at this point.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Want to go forward and avoid the aggravations ? OK.
Get the 0.34b upgrade, on multiple download servers - I uploaded it here:



It is a zip file - if you DON'T know how to unzip it then you should NOT be upgrading your firmware either !

Once unzipped onto your SD card do the 1st upgrade per the instructions above.
(Mine had 0.33g and this step worked perfectly.)

After the restart go to the system settings menu and confirm 0.34b is really there - OK ? OK.

At this point you can try the 0.35m upgrade, but...
Mine failed 0.35m from 0.34b even though it said it completed and I had to do this another, extra time using 0.34c, which you can get here:



The above is not my upload, I got the link from mobileread.com .
(By now it likely needs a battery re-charge - nasty, right ?)

Finally...:
Now, for the third exciting upgrade, go to the JB site and get the 0.35m file and upgrade AGAIN. (This one takes MUCH longer to complete updating than the other ones did.)

It is an exe file and you can decompress it directly onto your SD card as long as you use a USB 2.0 card reader - if you use the JB's USB cable it will take f-o-r-e-v-e-r and look hung (I tried it...).

After successful upgrading go to the system setting menu AGAIN and check the firmware version again - and if it worked it'll say 0.35m...and if it doesn't work then I suggest a WHOLE lotta folks NEED to yell at Mr. Jerry to GET IT RIGHT ON THE SITE !

A final, related note:
I mostly use TXT files and after this upgrade the JB did great opening PDF files - but hung badly on TXT files for some unknown reason.
After resetting it a bunch of times it finally started acting normal.
This firmware may have a bug I'd have to guess...

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 09/28/2010 06:52:55

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Jerry



Joined: 06/28/2010 05:09:51
Messages: 908
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Hey,

Great writeup! I don't know how you were able to add it is an announcement i thought that was only reserved for mods, in any case i had to remove the "announcement" status.

And calling me Mr. Jerry makes me sound old!

Thanks again for the input I'm sure it will help a whole lot of people out! I will add your name to the list of contributors in the firmware update thread.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 07/29/2010 14:41:54


Jerry C,
Ectaco Inc
www.ectaco.com


Please make sure you review each threads unique RULES before posting.
fwjunkie



Joined: 07/05/2010 20:51:02
Messages: 14
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Excellent post. I'm sure it will go a long way to help users who are upgrading from .33 firmware.

fish wrote:
A final, related note:
I mostly use TXT files and after this upgrade the JB did great opening PDF files - but hung badly on TXT files for some unknown reason.


There is an old bug with text files. The file names for .txt shouldn't contain characters such as "(" or ")", or only in numbers. Jetbook will hang if you open them. I'm not sure if that's the case for your txt files. See if renaming them will solve your problems.
rob419



Joined: 04/08/2010 11:51:10
Messages: 1
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Ok...

I have an older JB (not lite), had previously up'd to .34b, and got way too excited when I saw .34m. So I up'd without researching it first. (I have a number of DRM and pdf books from B&N et al. that I could not read on my JB and was pretty fired up to see them on my reader)

And now to the point... my unlock 'codes' are not working, but I think it's more from something else than from the fw; however, I now seem unable to open over half of my books ['Failed to open file!']

I use Calibre to convert pdf to epub. Is that wrong now that the fw is newer? I really don't want to sift through my pile of books and reconvert (or de-convert, as the case may be)

Please help?
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Jerry



Joined: 06/28/2010 05:09:51
Messages: 908
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rob419 wrote:Ok...

I have an older JB (not lite), had previously up'd to .34b, and got way too excited when I saw .34m. So I up'd without researching it first. (I have a number of DRM and pdf books from B&N et al. that I could not read on my JB and was pretty fired up to see them on my reader)

And now to the point... my unlock 'codes' are not working, but I think it's more from something else than from the fw; however, I now seem unable to open over half of my books ['Failed to open file!']

I use Calibre to convert pdf to epub. Is that wrong now that the fw is newer? I really don't want to sift through my pile of books and reconvert (or de-convert, as the case may be)

Please help?


Hey,

Thanks for the question!

As far as i was aware B&N books only came in DRM ePub and pdb never in pdf so i'm not sure the origin of the pdf files you have.

Please let me know the following about the books that cannot be read.
1) What format are they currently in?
2) Whe

Jerry C,
Ectaco Inc
www.ectaco.com


Please make sure you review each threads unique RULES before posting.
bgosse



Joined: 07/17/2010 12:59:32
Messages: 7
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I actually had to get 0.34a, 0.34b would not load for me. I found 0.34a on the Mobi JB forum. It, the forum, stated that 0.34b was bad and to use 0.34a instead.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 08/01/2010 10:17:34

fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
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Be warned-> this upgrade may make your JB useless - use care in deciding to do it.

Here's my story:
This 'upgrade' has ultimately been the downfall of my year+ old JB.
Even when new it was never 100% reliable - maybe 85% considering the hangs/reboots/other goofiness - but now it is exactly 0% reliable or even usable anymore.

It opened a couple of PDFs just fine afterwards - and when I tried to resume the TXT file I'd been reading it was the living END.

With this 'improved' firmware it has scrambled 100+ books on my SD card and will not open .TXT files any longer.
(They are named using the old DOS naming conventions so it isn't the naming bug someone mentioned...)

I will try to correct this by downgrading to the 0.34a firmware but thus far haven't been able to locate a copy of it so I may just try the 0.34b instead and see if it has become totally beyond hope.

PDF support for the JB is a wash and I am very irritated that not only did I get my hopes up, but have wasted
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fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
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Tonhou wrote:


I grabbed it - stuck it on an SD card and it is downgrading as I write.
(This will be a log of actual experience because I will keep this open until it either concludes with success or failure...written about here.)
Frankly, had I found the info about Foxit vs. Adobe before I'd have NEVER bothered with the 'm' thing because I'll take Foxit's great work over Adobe's bloated garbage ANY day.

In light of the above I can easily imagine why the 'm' upgrade would be crawling with bugs and would have trashed my books and/or card and/or JB.

The 'm' to 'a' move has completed, and after a slow restart it confirms that 'a' is in.

I loaded a bunch of eb
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Jerry



Joined: 06/28/2010 05:09:51
Messages: 908
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Hey,

I have put the new jetBook v0.35M "through the ringer" and have found very few difficulties with it so i'm surprised.

If you fear that maybe the jetBook modified some of the files you had on the SD card then you can restore them from those backed up on your PC. (that is if you have all of the books backed up on the PC).

If certain books aren't working and you fear it is a difficulty with the jetBook you can always send me these files. My email is in my profile. I can test them out with mine and see how it works. If you do this i would need to know
-Your forum name in the email subject.
-The book format
-WHere it was downloaded or purchased from.
-If it was ever converted via Calibre or any other file converter.

I would be glad to help with the incompatibility issues but this result is surprising while simultaneously noting the success of the k version sen here https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page


If ever the jetBook is running slow

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/01/2010 21:01:07


Jerry C,
Ectaco Inc
www.ectaco.com


Please make sure you review each threads unique RULES before posting.
fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
Offline

My post appeared twice somehow, so I have removed the body of this one.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 08/04/2010 15:29:44

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fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
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Hi Jerry and thanks for the reply.
Many, many companies have I dealt with when they were very busy saying how great they have done about this and that-> rather than helping their customers in times of need...and 0.35m may be 100% perfect for all I know too and it could just be that in daily use my 53 week old, daily use JB has just used the 'update' as an excuse to brick out on me...no way to know and it is out of your warranty period now.

Jerry wrote:
I have put the new jetBook v0.35M "through the ringer" and have found very few difficulties with it so i'm surprised.
I would be glad to help with the incompatibility issues but this result is surprising while simultaneously noting the success of the k version sen here https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page

If ever the jetBook is running slow reset it to default (in the diagnostics menu). Connect to your PC and defrag it and the SD card. Then check the volume for errors. If you would like to try this and need instructions please let me know!


The JB has been reset in ALL ways many times by now and no improvement resulted AT ALL.

It is NOT running slowly - it is locking up altogether and hourglassing ad infinitum.

The card I used post-update is a different one with about a dozen files on it, max.

As to defragging - I believe the JB is a Linux device, yes ?

Fragmentation is a non-issue in Linux devices, so how this applies when an SD card is using FAT16 I cannot know - but a trusted, veteran PC tech I have used for almost 2 decades has assured me that with any modern PC equipment defragging is a 'feel good' or placebo activity - what his kind of guys do to waste some time and round out the bill a bit - nothing more.

And the error checking ?
Yes - the JB trashed the card I used for 53 weeks - I error checked it, found 118 files trashed, segregated them, and put it in the PC - all fine but the trashed ones; put it in another reader - which reads all the files perfectly (Also Linux-based, BTW...).

I cannot recommend this update in honesty to anyone with a JB like mine because I cannot tell if it bricked the unit, or if the unit just died on it's own after a mere 53 weeks of use.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/28/2010 06:53:24

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Jerry



Joined: 06/28/2010 05:09:51
Messages: 908
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fish wrote:Hi Jerry and thanks for the reply.
Many, many companies have I dealt with when they were very busy saying how great they have done about this and that-> rather than helping their customers in times of need...and 0.35m may be 100% perfect for all I know too and it could just be that in daily use my 53 week old, daily use JB has just used the 'update' as an excuse to brick out on me...no way to know and it is out of your warranty period now.

Jerry wrote:
I have put the new jetBook v0.35M "through the ringer" and have found very few difficulties with it so i'm surprised.
I would be glad to help with the incompatibility issues but this result is surprising while simultaneously noting the success of the k version sen here https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page" target="_new" rel="nofollow"> https://www.ectaco.com/ectaco-posts/list/15/20084.page

If ever the jetBook is running slow reset it to default (in the diagnostics menu). Connect to your PC and defrag it and the SD card. Then check the volume for errors. If you would like to try this and need instructions please let me know!


The JB has been reset in ALL ways many times by now and no improvement resulted AT ALL.

It is NOT running slowly - it is locking up altogether and hourglassing ad infinitum.

The card I used post-update is a different one with about a dozen files on it, max.

As to defragging - I believe the JB is a Linux device, yes ?

Fragmentation is a non-issue in Linux devices, so how this applies when an SD card is using FAT16 I cannot know - but a trusted, veteran PC tech I have used for almost 2 decades has assured me that with any modern PC equipment defragging is a 'feel good' or placebo activity - what his kind of guys do to waste some time and round out the bill a bit - nothing more.

And the error checking ?
Yes - the JB trashed the card I used for 53 weeks - I error checked it, found 118 files trashed, segregated them, and put it in the PC - all fine but the trashed ones; put it in another reader - which reads all the files perfectly (Also Linux-based, BTW...).

I cannot recommend this update in honesty to anyone with a JB like mine because I cannot tell if it bricked the unit, or if the unit just died on it's own after a mere 53 weeks of use.


Hey,

Thanks for your patience with everything. The more i read about it the more it seems like a hardware issue. As i mentioned the frequency of something like this happening upon a firmware update is very low so that's what i am thinking. I just sent you the older firmware version via eMail, let me know if that does anything!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 09/28/2010 06:53:56

fish



Joined: 06/07/2010 13:35:59
Messages: 18
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Thanks Jerry,
Jerry wrote:Thanks for your patience with everything. The more i read about it the more it seems like a hardware issue. As i mentioned the frequency of something like this happening upon a firmware update is very low so that's what i am thinking. I just sent you the older firmware version via eMail, let me know if that does anything!


For the email - the firmware - and your attention.
As mentioned - it is out of your company's warranty now and I did all the things you suggested - but it is just insane-acting and I cannot get the older FW to successfully install either - I've given up.
Chasing my tail anymore with this would just be plain stupid.

The good news is that I have a 3rd party extended warranty bought with it that is in effect and I have made a claim.
Hopefully this will have my (working) replacement in my hands soon.
[Email]
Jerry



Joined: 06/28/2010 05:09:51
Messages: 908
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fish wrote:Thanks Jerry,
Jerry wrote:Thanks for your patience with everything. The more i read about it the more it seems like a hardware issue. As i mentioned the frequency of something like this happening upon a firmware update is very low so that's what i am thinking. I just sent you the older firmware version via eMail, let me know if that does anything!


For the email - the firmware - and your attention.
As mentioned - it is out of your company's warranty now and I did all the things you suggested - but it is just insane-acting and I cannot get the older FW to successfully install either - I've given up.
Chasing my tail anymore with this would just be plain stupid.

The good news is that I have a 3rd party extended warranty bought with it that is in effect and I have made a claim.
Hopefully this will have my (working) replacement in my hands soon.


Hey,

Ok glad to hear a replacement unit should be on its way to you soon. If you have any questions ple
Hotwaterplug



Joined: 07/25/2010 17:18:27
Messages: 1
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The upgrade does not work with Barnes and Noble and Adobe DRE. On Adobe's website, a cat named Jim said at this moment Adobe DRE does not work with B&N. It sounds like a fracas between Adobe and B&N.
Tom
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