Battery life, indexing, and corrupt files

cathyWeeks · 01-09-2008, 03:16 PM

Ok,
I've identified some problems with my Kindle, and Amazon is shipping me a new one in 10 days. I've had mine for about 5 days.

1. My battery lasts one day - roughly 12 hours. With the wireless it's much less. It lasts no more than 2 hours with active use of the wireless.

2. There were 5 files on my SD card that alternately were indexed, and then were NOT indexed. I'd do a search, and sometimes it would say that certain items were not searchable (in other words - they weren't indexed yet), and then a few hours later, a search didn't yield that same message, so it was as if the indexing had completed. But the next day, those same files would be listed again as not being searchable. A search a few hours later then revealed no non-indexed files again. It went back and forth like that several times. I know from reading experiences from others, that files that are corrupt will cause the Kindle to chug away at indexing them, and drain the battery. What puzzles me is the incidences of everything appearing indexed. Anyway, I deleted the files in question, and will test the battery life to see if that was the source of the problem. If the Kindle magically lasts 5x longer, then I'll assume the kindle's problems were due to corrupt files, and cancel the replacement.

However, I do hope folks can answer my questions about how files become corrupt.

The files were from a mixture of sources - project gutenberg, feedbooks, and at least one was one I built myself (source material was a text file from gutenberg, that I formatted and built myself using mobipocket creator). Another was built in mobipocket creator by another member, using Gutenberg as the source.

ALL were on the 1-meg SD card.

1. Could the source of the problem have been the SD card? Perhaps bad sectors? Could re-formatting it help? Would formatting it via a windows machine, and an SD card reader cause it to be unusable in my Kindle?

2. If the SD card isn't the problem, would the source of the corruption have been the copying the files from my machine to the SD card? Or would it have been the downloading process from the internet to my machine?

3. What about the file I created myself? Where would the source of the corruption have been there?

Anything else I should try?

Cathy Weeks

TallMomof2 · 01-09-2008, 04:10 PM

I had an Adata 1 GB SD card go bad in my Kindle. So it is possible. A couple of days after I got the Kindle I went to use it and it was dead. Wouldn't charge, wouldn't reset, etc. After talking to Amazon support and some head scratching I removed the SD card and tried it in my Palm (didn't want to try it it in a card reader on my PC because my PC is way more expensive than my Palm.) The SD card made my Palm go into a soft reset cycle, where the Palm would soft reset, show the time screen and then soft rest again. I quickly turned off my Palm and removed the offending card.

The Kindle was still dead and I was waiting on a call from Amazon customer support. FF to the next day, I get up and my Kindle was working fine! It's been fine ever since. I purchased a Toshiba 1GB SD card and it's been in my Kindle with no problems.

Definitely, check out your SD card in another device to be sure it can be reliably read.

HTH

zartemis · 01-10-2008, 09:06 PM

Other sources of corruption if the SD card is good: the USB cable or card reader/writer you used to transfer the files.

TallMomof2 · 01-11-2008, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zartemis

Other sources of corruption if the SD card is good: the USB cable or card reader/writer you used to transfer the files.

Oh yeah, I had an USB cable go bad at the same time a video card died in me PC and it took me a week to figure out that the cable was bad after replacing the video card. It seems as if cables are the last thing you check.

crionox · 01-13-2008, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathyWeeks

Ok,
1. My battery lasts one day - roughly 12 hours. With the wireless it's much less. It lasts no more than 2 hours with active use of the wireless.

I can attest to the same battery problem. Those times sound about consistent with mine. Not only that, but my battery does not seem to hold a charge very well. Being busy this past week, I just had it off for a few days and it was dead when I turned it back on Friday night. It was about 3/4 full before then, the wireless turned off, and the device turned off in the interim (not in sleep mode).

I'm wondering if other Kindle owners are having the same problem? It could just be a bad battery, and I've been meaning to get a backup anyway. But if others are in the same condition then it might not help.

David

gregr209 · 01-13-2008, 05:56 PM

I received a new Kindle on Thursday. Charged it and purposely left the units EVDO on over the last several days. This morning (Sunday) I woke up to read my morning paper and the unit was dead. I thought when I went to bed last night the battery meter showed 3/4 charged. So I did go from Thursday afternoon until Sunday without a charge. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. With my old Kindle (I had it replaced for the new one) I could go up to 7 plus days without a charge as long as I manged the wireless and only turned it on when needed and didn't use it much.

My 2 cents,
Greg

01-09-2008, 03:16 PM	#1
cathyWeeks Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 220 Join Date: Jan 2008 Device: Kindle	Battery life, indexing, and corrupt files Ok, I've identified some problems with my Kindle, and Amazon is shipping me a new one in 10 days. I've had mine for about 5 days. 1. My battery lasts one day - roughly 12 hours. With the wireless it's much less. It lasts no more than 2 hours with active use of the wireless. 2. There were 5 files on my SD card that alternately were indexed, and then were NOT indexed. I'd do a search, and sometimes it would say that certain items were not searchable (in other words - they weren't indexed yet), and then a few hours later, a search didn't yield that same message, so it was as if the indexing had completed. But the next day, those same files would be listed again as not being searchable. A search a few hours later then revealed no non-indexed files again. It went back and forth like that several times. I know from reading experiences from others, that files that are corrupt will cause the Kindle to chug away at indexing them, and drain the battery. What puzzles me is the incidences of everything appearing indexed. Anyway, I deleted the files in question, and will test the battery life to see if that was the source of the problem. If the Kindle magically lasts 5x longer, then I'll assume the kindle's problems were due to corrupt files, and cancel the replacement. However, I do hope folks can answer my questions about how files become corrupt. The files were from a mixture of sources - project gutenberg, feedbooks, and at least one was one I built myself (source material was a text file from gutenberg, that I formatted and built myself using mobipocket creator). Another was built in mobipocket creator by another member, using Gutenberg as the source. ALL were on the 1-meg SD card. 1. Could the source of the problem have been the SD card? Perhaps bad sectors? Could re-formatting it help? Would formatting it via a windows machine, and an SD card reader cause it to be unusable in my Kindle? 2. If the SD card isn't the problem, would the source of the corruption have been the copying the files from my machine to the SD card? Or would it have been the downloading process from the internet to my machine? 3. What about the file I created myself? Where would the source of the corruption have been there? Anything else I should try? Cathy Weeks

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01-09-2008, 04:10 PM	#2
TallMomof2 Kindlephilia Posts: 2,017 Karma: 1139255 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Snowpacolypse 2010 Device: Too many to count	I had an Adata 1 GB SD card go bad in my Kindle. So it is possible. A couple of days after I got the Kindle I went to use it and it was dead. Wouldn't charge, wouldn't reset, etc. After talking to Amazon support and some head scratching I removed the SD card and tried it in my Palm (didn't want to try it it in a card reader on my PC because my PC is way more expensive than my Palm.) The SD card made my Palm go into a soft reset cycle, where the Palm would soft reset, show the time screen and then soft rest again. I quickly turned off my Palm and removed the offending card. The Kindle was still dead and I was waiting on a call from Amazon customer support. FF to the next day, I get up and my Kindle was working fine! It's been fine ever since. I purchased a Toshiba 1GB SD card and it's been in my Kindle with no problems. Definitely, check out your SD card in another device to be sure it can be reliably read. HTH

01-10-2008, 09:06 PM	#3
zartemis Addict Posts: 283 Karma: 2002 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle3, Kindle2, Nook, NookColor	Other sources of corruption if the SD card is good: the USB cable or card reader/writer you used to transfer the files.

01-13-2008, 05:56 PM	#6
gregr209 Enthusiast Posts: 49 Karma: 29 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Tracy, CA Device: Sony Reader 505 / Kindle	I received a new Kindle on Thursday. Charged it and purposely left the units EVDO on over the last several days. This morning (Sunday) I woke up to read my morning paper and the unit was dead. I thought when I went to bed last night the battery meter showed 3/4 charged. So I did go from Thursday afternoon until Sunday without a charge. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. With my old Kindle (I had it replaced for the new one) I could go up to 7 plus days without a charge as long as I manged the wireless and only turned it on when needed and didn't use it much. My 2 cents, Greg

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