Big problem after jetBook update (with pdf files)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/09/2010 15:01:34

Hi Guys,

I've this jetBook since about a year, it was working fine with the reading of standard pdf wich was my usual work with it.

But I tried to read pdf files from a subtitle riper dvd movie software and then some problems happened, these pdf didn't open sometimes.
So, after contacting the jetBook service I was been in touch with Paul telling me to upgrade my jetBook from V0.33 to V0.34 and then to V0.35 to resolve these problems,
he seemed very sure of the cause of my problems and the result of upgrading should do end my problems, so I did these updgrades.

But after the V0.35 upgrade I noticed first that the Books directory disappeared (with all the files in it), so I created a new one and placed into my pdf files, no big deal.
BUT with this improvement all the pdf I tried to read don't have the zoom feature enabled[b]

, so it's like my JB has a broken screen now, mean useless.

So, I thought that install back the V0.34 (that was working) should be the solution but no, in my dream, you can not downgrade the JB !!!

I received this email from Paul as an answer of this curious behavior and he's saying :
" We are working now on "reflow" feature.
As soon as it's fixed, we will publish it at our websites. "
Very useful, I'm waiting forward to your website to maybe (I say maybe) obtain a solution of this ridiculous upgrade before Christmas,
thank you Paul, very kind of your nice advices.

So, the word to keep in mind is : stay with your version if it is bearable because an upgrade could be worst than you think and with no way back.

Chris

p.-s. I read the forum before, the reflow option is set OFF (it doesn't work on ON either).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/09/2010 20:02:46

I'm a Jetbook Lite user, so I'm not sure about the details of the regular Jetbook firmware.
I believe it was the 0.35m version of the firmware that put the same Adobe Reader Mobile
version that the Jetbook Lite (JBL) uses.

You might try the free Calibre program on the .pdf files that your DVD Ripper program
has made, it may be able to bring those files more in line with what your Jetbook can
handle. Another option is to use a PDF editor or MS Word or the free OpenOffice.org
to create PDF documents that have the same page dimensions as your Jetbook.

With the JBL, you can turn off the reflow ( it is off when there is an option to turn it on
showing in the Menu ) and have it much like it was with the older firmware.

Luck;
Ken

Hi Ken,

Thank you for your message and good advices.
I'll try to find out a software making the transformation of an A4 page to a jetBook page, I'm sure I don't buy any editor coming from Adobe since the original problem
happened with the Adobe mobile in V0.35, the previous version were with Foxy or something like that.
My riper software can only change the size of the characters between 75% and 150%, it is also a way to deal with it, unfortunately the pdf seems casted in a A4 format so no solution
over here.

I also have to say that Ectaco removed the 60% zoom option at this occasion, it begins at 100% now when it works, thanks to the Adobe improvement.

The fact that I'm out of myself is that they didn't mention anything at all, they saying about to improve (maybe something) with a new upgrade but
they removed previous abilities of the jetBook to approaching their goal.
What is more weird is their will to make impossible any downgrade, meaning their upgrades are just a way to deal accordingly with business
policy and licences from Adobe, DRM and so on and as a customer we're far behind.

So upgrading means erase (forever) a version you know for a version you don't know, remember that even with a PC-DOS machine from the 80 you were
able to reinstall an older version of the MS-DOS(with disks of course...) on your PC and 30 years after that it became impossible with flash programming ?

V0.33 worked fine for my use compared with what I have to do now with their V0.35 upgrade and they knew that before they put this version on the web.

Thank you again for your time Ken.

Regards,
Chris

Assuming that the JB works the same way the JBL does in this regard, (which it
should as these functions are related to the way the ARM 9 CPU works) you can
use the diagnostic screen and reflash the NOR memory and return to the Factory
Default settings. Then you should have no problem flashing the older firmware.

[Substitute JB for where I have JBL in the following instructions:]

First if you only have one SD card then you will want to back it up to a folder on your
PC's hard drive.

Format an SD card for use during the update of the firmware. (I still use FAT16 for this
although I understand that FAT32 works as well.) The formatting will insure a clean card
and root directory into which the three update folders go.

Be sure to use a firmware update with all three folders to make the SD card. Insert the
SD card into the JBL.

Make sure the USB cable is not connected at this point.

Then you go to the Diagnostics Menu built into the JBL, it is here that you can do the
#13 - Reflash NOR and the #7 - restore factory defaults

To enter the diagnostics screen:
Reset the device. Then hold down three buttons. They are: "on/off" "zoom" and "menu".
When you see the jetBook screen let go of "on.off". Keep holding the "zoom" and "menu"
keys until you see a 16 item screen. It's tricky, so it may take a couple of tries.

Then you can reflash the NOR Memory and reset the JBL to factory defaults.

After that is done reset the JBL.

Now you can update the firmware as you normally would.

Luck;
Ken

Very nice trick indeed !

Thank you Ken !

I'll do it asap.

In fact I looked to try to download this V0.33g version before my update to V0.34, I was thinking the flash procedure permitted the downgrade aswell in case of problem.

To do so now I need the V0.33g patch v13 firmware if I understand well, but they also removed this original firmware from the JB download site... and
I wasn't able to save the current version from the JB either.

Maybe that you know somebody or a remote server having this JB 0.33g version ? It would be very kind of you.

Thank you for let me know there's a way back.

In case of, my contact is lothierc (hotmail)

Regards,
Chris

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/10/2010 10:59:22

diskjoncter wrote:Very nice trick indeed ! Thank you Ken !
I'll do it asap.

In fact I looked to try to download this V0.33g version before my update to V0.34, I was thinking the flash procedure permitted the downgrade aswell in case of problem.

To do so now I need the V0.33g patch v13 firmware if I understand well, but they also removed this original firmware from the JB download site... and
I wasn't able to save the current version from the JB either.

Maybe that you know somebody or a remote server having this JB 0.33g version ? It would be very kind of you.

Thank you for let me know there's a way back.

In case of, my contact is lothierc (hotmail)

Regards,
Chris

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70171

MobileRead forums include an "Ectaco jetBook" forum that is a good complement
to this more official Ectaco Forum.

Luck;
Ken

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/10/2010 11:48:10

I've been told that the 0.35m JB firmware works in the same way as the 0.16e JBL firmware,
with regard to Epubs and PDFs. If so, the following tips might help:

The "Zoom" button will cycle through the zoom rate options, without bringing up
a menu. If you want to see the settings and select from a listing of them, you
need to use the "Menu" button and select the "Zoom Rate" option.

When you are reading a .pdf file and press the "Menu" button you get a popup menu
named "Function". If the reflow is on you will have a selection "Reflow OFF" as well
as "Full Screen" and "Fit Width" selections. The "Full Screen" and "Fit Width" selections
will not function and you will get a message box with "Feature Disabled" if you try to
use them with the reflow on.

(This is similar to the older Firmware display of PDFs.):

If the reflow is off you will have a selection "Reflow ON". The "Full screen" and
"Fit Width" options now work.

Luck;
Ken

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/10/2010 12:29:54

Indeed Ken, I noticed this way to use the zoom but it starts at 100%, the previous version had a 60% or 80% rate, don't remember now but it was what I needed with my files.
Even with all the informations you gave me it is not possible to downgrade, the OS says during the procedure NOR that some files are missing.
So, I'm stuck now.

Don't know what to do

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 11/10/2010 12:39:35

diskjoncter wrote:Indeed Ken, I noticed this way to use the zoom but it starts at 100%, the previous version had a 60% or 80% rate, don't remember now but it was what I needed with my files.
More than that, the way the pdf is partitionned when you read it is now in a strict contiguous form, the previous version had some crossing of the text (vertical and horizontal moves).
Even with all the info you gave me it is not possible to downgrade, the os says during the procedure NOR that some files are missing.
So, I'm stuck now.
Don't know what to do

Hmm... did your update SD card have all three folders; "Data", "firmware", and "reflash_nor"?
Was it in your JB when you accessed the Diagnostic Screen?
Did you Reset your JB before accessing the Diagnostic Screen?

Also, it sounds like you are still in the reflow on mode, you want to be in the reflow off mode.

You should try again with another set of folders in a freshly formatted SD card.
Being able to reflash the NOR memory is a very basic function and should not
be failing if done properly. If it is there is something really wrong with your JB.

Luck:
Ken

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 11/10/2010 22:02:41

I tried 3 different SD cards, I used a Win2K and a 7 machine to format and write, this card was inserted before the reset and the JB was resetted before entering in the 16 menu.

Btw, restoring the Factory default setting worked.

I'm making some basic test with the sytem check :
*RAM Test is OK
*NOR test is OK
*But there's something wrong with the NAND Flash md5sum check: mtd3 is ok but mtd4 is not.

Any idea, that's maybe my problem over here ?
Do you think these NAND memories on board ?

Thank you for any help

Reflash the device again. You don't need to downgrade the device to do it.

mtd3 and mtd4 are files. mtd4 may be corrupt even if the ereader's memory is ok. You can have corrupt files with flash memories and memory cards just the same as in hard disks.

Hi jorlando !

First thing I have to mention: It wasn't a need to downgrade, I wanted to do so because pdf files aren't very well supported on the last version so I would use my previous version 0.33g with my pdf.

Then, after downloaded, dezipped, formatted, writted, and reflashed again the JB I still have the problem of checksum with the mtd4 file and the inability to make the NOR Flashing, that's maybe related.

Is the V0.35m downloaded yesterday from Ectaco site is the same than yours ?

Well, I'm starting to see what could happen with my JB thanks to your help.

I really hope to discover what is bugging my JB now.

Thanks for your advices

diskjoncter wrote:Hi jorlando !

First thing I have to mention: It wasn't a need to downgrade, I wanted to do so because pdf files aren't very well supported on the last version so I would use my previous version 0.33g with my pdf.

Then, after downloaded, dezipped, formatted, writted, and reflashed again the JB I still have the problem of checksum with the mtd4 file and the inability to make the NOR Flashing, that's maybe related.

Is the V0.35m downloaded yesterday from Ectaco site is the same than yours ?

Well, I'm starting to see what could happen with my JB thanks to your help.

I really hope to discover what is bugging my JB now.

Thanks for your advices

Hi,

I will ask the technicians about the MTD4 file as mine also has an "X" next to it also. Maybe it is a file that is no longer existent. We will find out soon hopefully.

Thank you Jerry,

That's maybe related with the NOR flashing error saying that some files are missing aswell, a missing file or a corrupted one should have the same MO
with a working checksum control.

So, I'm looking forward for their answer.

Regards,
Chris

diskjoncter wrote:Thank you Jerry,

That's maybe related with the NOR flashing error saying that some files are missing aswell, a missing file or a corrupted one should have the same MO
with a working checksum control.

So, I'm looking forward for their answer.

Regards,
Chris

Hey Chris,

I just got a response this morning, the technician said the following.

"Check-sum mtd4 has changed with the development of the jetBook firmware and therefore may not match with the original diagnostics tests for the device resulting in an X. This does not mean it is malfunctioning."

I hope this helps to some extent. Maybe it changed when we released ADE compatibility?