PRS-600 Stuck on "Opening Books" screen.

[rasteps]

Well, I've read these stories over and over again, but unfortunately, not before frying my Reader.

I tried flashing the firmware with a modified image, but whatever I did, didn't give me the desired result. Now I'm stuck with a Reader with just says "Opening books...". I've tried to soft reboot after powering up, but when I push the RESET button and slide the POWER SLIDE twice as instructed, the screen just flashes a couple of times and goes back to the "Opening Books..." screen. (I'm guessing that this means the device is still alive but the firmware is porked.

I've called SONY and they tried to talk me through the process, but no joy. They finally suggested shipping it back to them, even though I'm not currently in the US, but they can't seem to get around the ban on shipping lithium batteries internationally.

It seems that the only thing I have left is to try to delete the porked image. I have a service manual with tells me how to get into the test mode, but does anyone know how to delete the image from that point?