the situation

i was installing some apps on my prs-t1 (which was rooted with a custom firmware) and moved them to the sd card when suddenly the device would not react anymore but showing a rotating loader icon … i then let the battery drain and powered the reader on again .. with the result that i was prompted with a popup message saying “google framework service stopped unexpectedly” every time i powered it on …

when i then connected the reader to any pc (windows and linux) and selecting “data transfer mode” the device was stuck at “connecting” … this made the device no more usable .. thus i decided to reset it to factory defaults …

first insight or “how the reset button works”

the reset button does not reset the device to the factory defaults but restarts it so this was no option at all …

it does not matter how long you press the button .. after releasing it the reader will be restarted after approx. 3 seconds …

the way to the solution

so the next goal was to reset the system defaults via software .. i was on version 1.0.04.12210 and did not want to update (though the custom firmware project over at sourceforge which i was running and wanted back on had a stable release for 1.0.05.11130 [current latest version]) as everything was working fine and the changelog did not mention anything promising new features …

first try: running the updater … not

i was searching the web for the “PRS-T1_Updater_1.0.04.12210.exe”-file (MD5 c7d279a54fee81b9638821c898c7aea9) .. (found it on mediafire) downloaded it and couldn’t believe the updater-message saying “now connect your device using ‘data transfer mode’” .. which .. still did not work …

second try: restoring via sd card

on i went looking for a solution to restore the reader .. and i found one and will now shamelessly copy the instructions (with some modifications):

  1. check which version you are running (goto “settings” > “about” > “device information” and check the “version”-value)
  2. download a restore-zip/-archive appropriate to the version you are on from a source you trust (i found mine over here)
  3. extract the folder “OS Firmware” from that restore-archive onto a sd card and plug it into your reader
  4. charge your reader to 100% (the battery icon actually shows “100%” when full)
  5. power of the device
  6. while pressing the HOME and MENU buttons simultaneously power on the device
  7. when the screen shows “updating” you may release the buttons
  8. wait …
  9. after the update is finished you are presented with a text telling you to reset your device
  10. press the reset button

after these steps you are “back to normal” … you now want to check all settings and maybe also root the device (again) using a custom firmware .. which i might do tomorrow .. i will keep you updated …