Problem with Jetbook Lite

Hi,

lately my jetbook lite can't be turned off. I'm reading a book then I want to turn off the jetbook but it just jumps to the main menue. pressing the on/off button the screen turns black for a moment then the jetbook starts again goin to the main menue. pressing the on/off button longer just results in a black screen but power is still used until the batteries are empty. Only taking out the batteries or pressing the reset button turns the jetbook really off.
reinstalled the latest firmware but the error still remains.

bought the jetbook in march last year.

Woodie wrote:Hi,

lately my jetbook lite can't be turned off. I'm reading a book then I want to turn off the jetbook but it just jumps to the main menue. pressing the on/off button the screen turns black for a moment then the jetbook starts again goin to the main menue. pressing the on/off button longer just results in a black screen but power is still used until the batteries are empty. Only taking out the batteries or pressing the reset button turns the jetbook really off.
reinstalled the latest firmware but the error still remains.

bought the jetbook in march last year.

Hi,

Thanks for the question. So when you tap the on/off button the jetBook Lite just resets up again and goes to the main menu?

Try the diagnostics:

NOTE: Please make sure to back up ALL books on another SD card or on your PC. This process could delete your SD card books and all info on your jetBook.

1) Enter Diagnostics Screen: We will try to enter the diagnostics screen. First reset the device. Next hold down three buttons, they are On/OFF, Menu and Font zoom. Your screen will turn on. Once it does release on/off button. (Continue to hold down font zoom and menu). It may take up to 30 seconds to enter the screen. Please try this more than once to assure it works.
2). Once you are thee select and run #7 which says “restore factory defaults”
3). (NOTE: SD card will be ERASED in this step!) Now insert the SD card. Select and run #13 which is Reflash NOR.
4). When you are done with both of these note the results.
5). Lastly reset the unit with the hole on the back of the device.

Please let me know if this works.

Hi,

thank you for your quick reply.
yes, i press the on/off button, the reader works then it shows the main menu.

i managed to restore the jetbook to factory default but when i try to do the reflash nor it states that "necessary file(s) are missing". i tried putting the file flash nore from the latest firmware on the sd card - but still it states "necessary file(s) are missing".
i am still in the diagnostic menu. am i supposed to stay in there or what am i supposed to do now?

Thank you

Woodie wrote:Hi,

thank you for your quick reply.
yes, i press the on/off button, the reader works then it shows the main menu.

i managed to restore the jetbook to factory default but when i try to do the reflash nor it states that "necessary file(s) are missing". i tried putting the file flash nore from the latest firmware on the sd card - but still it states "necessary file(s) are missing".
i am still in the diagnostic menu. am i supposed to stay in there or what am i supposed to do now?

Thank you

Hi,

The SD card should be in when you do reflash nor. Also it should be on unlock position. Please note this could wipe your card so backup yoru files!

Let me know if it works!

hi,

the sd card was in. it was unlocked. tried it again - still same message. is there a special file that's supposed to be on the sd card?
do i need to do the reflash as everything seems to be working alright now.

thank you.

hi,

sorry, seems i didn't send my last message yesterday. after resetting to "factory defaults" and "reflash noir" failure - i pressed the reset button on the back and the jetbook lite restartet. Everything seems to be working fine for now and it feels like it is reacting quicker to commands given.

thank you.

Woodie wrote:hi,

sorry, seems i didn't send my last message yesterday. after resetting to "factory defaults" and "reflash noir" failure - i pressed the reset button on the back and the jetbook lite restartet. Everything seems to be working fine for now and it feels like it is reacting quicker to commands given.

thank you.

Hey,

Ok great! If it is working no need to do anything else. Glad to help!

You might consider a couple of things that may provide for some added confidence in
the performance of your JBL, and your ability to understand and address the internal
flash memory (sometimes called the JBL's "hard drive", here).

You can treat the JBL's internal memory as and external drive attached to your PC
by the USB cable. Windows will assign a drive letter to the JBL's internal memory
as it sees the JBL internal flash memory as an attached FAT structure partition.

While the JBL ships from the factory with the internal memory formatted to FAT16,
which is fine for the 120MB. I would suggest that it makes sense to reformat it to
FAT32 to match the format you will want on the higher capacity SD card flash
memory. The FAT32 also includes more advanced file handling and stability
features. (Although, neither format intrinsically supports "load leveling", a feature
of particular interest for flash memory structures.)

Windows includes the "ChkDsk" utility which can find and correct defects in a FAT
file structure, I also feel it is wise to run ChkDsk with the option to "Automatically
fix file system errors" checked but not the option to "Scan for and attempt recovery
of bad sectors".

If you open "My Computer" you should see all your recognized drives listed. If you
connect your JBL to your PC, with the USB cable, and then open "My Computer"
you should see a new drive listed for your JBL's internal memory ( and one for any
SD card you may have in the JBL)

You can create a folder on one of your PC's hard drives to receive the contents of
your JBL's internal memory. Then click on the drive letter for your JBL to open
a window displaying the contents of the JBL internal memory. You can then use
Ctrl-A to select all the JBL internal memory contents and drag it to the folder on
your PC's hard drive. Now you will have a backup in case you need it, and you
can safely reformat the JBL's internal memory, to FAT32 and run ChkDsk on it.

With the USB cable connected, and My Computer open "Right-Click" on the drive
letter for the JBL's internal memory and you should see a "Format" option. You
can select that option and set the format to FAT32 and set the option for
"Automatically fix system errors" as well as the "Quick Format" option if you like.

You should now have a clean and well structured internal memory. You need to
have a "Books" and a "Pictures" folder on the "Root" of the internal memory.
(They can be empty folders.) You can copy back as much or as little of the
original contents as you want, otherwise. ( Having some extra room in the
internal memory can't hurt, in my opinion.)

If you have firmware version 0.16e then you should have a hidden folder;
".adobe-digital-editions" which ADE needs to recognize your device as one it
can "Authorize". If you have already gone through that process you will have
a "Digital Editions" folder and some subfolders. You would probably want to
copy those back to your JBL, as well.

Luck;
Ken

Ken Maltby wrote:You might consider a couple of things that may provide for some added confidence in
the performance of your JBL, and your ability to understand and address the internal
flash memory (sometimes called the JBL's "hard drive", here).

You can treat the JBL's internal memory as and external drive attached to your PC
by the USB cable. Windows will assign a drive letter to the JBL's internal memory
as it sees the JBL internal flash memory as an attached FAT structure partition.

While the JBL ships from the factory with the internal memory formatted to FAT16,
which is fine for the 120MB. I would suggest that it makes sense to reformat it to
FAT32 to match the format you will want on the higher capacity SD card flash
memory. The FAT32 also includes more advanced file handling and stability
features. (Although, neither format intrinsically supports "load leveling", a feature
of particular interest for flash memory structures.)

Windows includes the "ChkDsk" utility which can find and correct defects in a FAT
file structure, I also feel it is wise to run ChkDsk with the option to "Automatically
fix file system errors" checked but not the option to "Scan for and attempt recovery
of bad sectors".

If you open "My Computer" you should see all your recognized drives listed. If you
connect your JBL to your PC, with the USB cable, and then open "My Computer"
you should see a new drive listed for your JBL's internal memory ( and one for any
SD card you may have in the JBL)

You can create a folder on one of your PC's hard drives to receive the contents of
your JBL's internal memory. Then click on the drive letter for your JBL to open
a window displaying the contents of the JBL internal memory. You can then use
Ctrl-A to select all the JBL internal memory contents and drag it to the folder on
your PC's hard drive. Now you will have a backup in case you need it, and you
can safely reformat the JBL's internal memory, to FAT32 and run ChkDsk on it.

With the USB cable connected, and My Computer open "Right-Click" on the drive
letter for the JBL's internal memory and you should see a "Format" option. You
can select that option and set the format to FAT32 and set the option for
"Automatically fix system errors" as well as the "Quick Format" option if you like.

You should now have a clean and well structured internal memory. You need to
have a "Books" and a "Pictures" folder on the "Root" of the internal memory.
(They can be empty folders.) You can copy back as much or as little of the
original contents as you want, otherwise. ( Having some extra room in the
internal memory can't hurt, in my opinion.)

If you have firmware version 0.16e then you should have a hidden folder;
".adobe-digital-editions" which ADE needs to recognize your device as one it
can "Authorize". If you have already gone through that process you will have
a "Digital Editions" folder and some subfolders. You would probably want to
copy those back to your JBL, as well.

Luck;
Ken

Hey Ken,

Thanks for the great info! I have recommended ChkDsk to a few people to try and optimize or even fix their JBL. Any reason why they should not select the "can for and attempt recovery of bad sectors"? To be honest i have some understanding of how it works but not at a more technical level.

Jerry wrote:
Hey Ken,

Thanks for the great info! I have recommended ChkDsk to a few people to try and optimize or even fix their JBL. Any reason why they should not select the "can for and attempt recovery of bad sectors"? To be honest i have some understanding of how it works but not at a more technical level.

The reasoning I have most often read suggests that there is no benefit for the flash memory based structure from a "surface scan" that is not over weighed by the unnecessary ware on the limited read/write cycles that flash
memory has available. For the use of ChkDsk during a format procedure, you will be getting the basic structure rewritten anyway, I guess more so if you don't use "Quick Format".

Luck;
Ken

Hi there!
Found this thread and hope that someone can help me with my problem with JetBookLite. All the book is doing is turning on the screen, showing the logotype of JetBook-Lite and that's it! I can't turn it off either. In this case, only the reset button helps.
Now, I tried the suggested steps to enter the diagnostic menu, but can't get through the first step:

"1) Enter Diagnostics Screen: We will try to enter the diagnostics screen. First reset the device. Next hold down three buttons, they are On/OFF, Menu and Font zoom. Your screen will turn on. Once it does release on/off button. (Continue to hold down font zoom and menu). It may take up to 30 seconds to enter the screen. Please try this more than once to assure it works."

Tried holding and letting go of the on/off button as described, but all I have is the LED indicator turning on and going off in about 40 seconds. And that's it! Repeated this step a few times, but with the same result. The device is not recognized when connected to the PC. The 4Gb SD card which was used by the JetBookLite is not recognized by the PC as well. Tried another, 2GB SD card on the JetBookLite -- nothing.

Any suggestions? Would really appreciate any reply.

This sounds like the one real hard to fix problem that has effected a few jetBook Lites (JBL) There is a chance that you can fix it
by connecting to your PC with the USB cable and resetting the JBL then formatting the JBL's internal memory. It may take over
ten tries, and may not even work at all, but it has worked for a few. What is probably the best thing to do is contact Ectaco's
support tech people and return the device for repair or replacement.

I'm sorry if you are one of those few who run into this, but the JBL is a great device and very reliable once you have a good
one. I have three that have never given me any problems.

Luck;
Ken

Hi Ken,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. i will definitely try your suggestion. The only problem with it is that the book itself is not with me. I bought it on e-Bay for my mother who was experiencing an acute feeling of getting "stupid" (quoting her) because of the lack of reading material. She lives in a godforsaken country where books are not on the list of the necessary items. Since the book was bought on e-Bay, it was shipped to Malaysia where I stuffed it with a multitude of books and sent it over to her.

Currently, the book is with a hardware/software guru, who managed to locate similar problems on the Russian forums that are discussing problems with JetBooks. What he was advised is to try to replace the old BIOS with the new one. But the problem is that we have no idea which version was on that book initially. Since the book does not respond to any other operation, it is virtually impossible to identify which version of BIOS it was carrying from the beginning. Since, as it turns out, BIOS has to be upgraded in sequence, and since there are lots of versions of such update, we are stuck.

Currently, I'm expecting some kind of answer from the Ectaco Tech Support (thank you very much for the advice, because when I was writing the previous post at 4 AM, for some reason I thought that this forum IS the tech support provided by the Ectaco guys). Will see what solution they will offer. Just posted your suggestion to the fellow who is trying to fix the book. Might need to wait for an answer for awhile.

Really appreciate your concern. Guess, if it doesn't work, I will have to either send the unit over to the Ectaco or buy a new one. Disaster!

elena_1608 wrote:Hi Ken,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply. i will definitely try your suggestion. The only problem with it is that the book itself is not with me. I bought it on e-Bay for my mother who was experiencing an acute feeling of getting "stupid" (quoting her) because of the lack of reading material. She lives in a godforsaken country where books are not on the list of the necessary items. Since the book was bought on e-Bay, it was shipped to Malaysia where I stuffed it with a multitude of books and sent it over to her.

Currently, the book is with a hardware/software guru, who managed to locate similar problems on the Russian forums that are discussing problems with JetBooks. What he was advised is to try to replace the old BIOS with the new one. But the problem is that we have no idea which version was on that book initially. Since the book does not respond to any other operation, it is virtually impossible to identify which version of BIOS it was carrying from the beginning. Since, as it turns out, BIOS has to be upgraded in sequence, and since there are lots of versions of such update, we are stuck.

Currently, I'm expecting some kind of answer from the Ectaco Tech Support (thank you very much for the advice, because when I was writing the previous post at 4 AM, for some reason I thought that this forum IS the tech support provided by the Ectaco guys). Will see what solution they will offer. Just posted your suggestion to the fellow who is trying to fix the book. Might need to wait for an answer for awhile.

Really appreciate your concern. Guess, if it doesn't work, I will have to either send the unit over to the Ectaco or buy a new one. Disaster!

Hey,

Thanks for the question and sorry to hear about the difficulty with the unit. If the diagnostics screen and Ken's suggestion do not work you may have to contact our technical services for a warranty replacement. Please note the warranty is good for one year after the initial purchase.

You can send an email to [email protected], He will issue an RMA for the product if it is still under warranty. You would sent it back with the proof of purchase in the box.

Hope this helps!

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for the reply. I've contacted the Ectaco Tech Support and received a message which advised me to send the unit back to Ectaco. There is one problem though. The devise was bought on eBay and I do have the receipt for the transaction which was performed via PayPal.
Will this receipt qualify for the one required for the replacement of the unit?

Since the devise was bought in May, 2010, I cannot be sure if it is still under warranty. In other words, I will try to figure it out by providing the serial number of the unit with the hope that Ectaco will be able to establish whether the unit is still under warranty. If it is not, should I send the unit anyway, or forget about the whole thing and buy the new one?

If you have any relevant information, I would really appreciate if you could suggest a more sensible way out of the situation. I mean, all the shipment cost would go down the drain if the warranty has expired.

Thanks in advance,

Elena