I'm crushed!

[redhedlvr2]

Last August I bought a Sony eReader.  I got it specifically for loading my favorite fanfic on.  I chose it over the Kindle because it would handle the word docs directly and wouldn't require fancy Kindle email accounts and a "small fee" to load all my fic.

Last night I tried to load some new fic on the reader.  I got it all sorted and tagged in the eLibrary, connected the reader and then Windows crapped out on me.  Now it won't open the eLibrary at all.  I've done all the usual things, reboot, virus check, loaded the most current version from the Sony site, but no good.  I even chatted with a technician who's only solution was to uninstall the newest version and load an older one which "I promise will work".  Right.

So I checked out Calibre.  It looks good, but there's one tiny little line, way down in the text I was reading that says if you have Windows Vista 64bit, that you're "out of luck".  Yep, that's me.  Just out of luck all the way around.  It looks like their solution is to uninstall the Sony driver and reload their.  Which I've done. 

Now comes the scarey part.  I haven't tried to sync the reader yet.  I'm afraid I'll lose everything I do have on the machine already and I'm not sure I want to risk that yet.

My other alternative is to try to load everything up on my older computer whcih has regular Windows XP.  The kicker there is that I don't have much space left on the hard drive.  Too many songs and WoW take up what's available.  At least I think that's it's problem.  Plus, it was a custom made jobby a friend (ex-friend?) of mine put together and I've had problems with it in the past as well.   Duaghter-Type's boyfriend, a computer geek at Wawa, says "I've never seen anything like it" but won't be specific.

So, if anyone out there has run into this problem, what have you done to correct it, or am I really as screwed as it seems?

Comments

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Could you get hold of another hard drive that you could put into the Frankenputer? I don't know how much they cost these days, but I don't think they're all that expensive.

[redhedlvr.livejournal.com]

I have thought of that as well. My concern is the computer knowledgable people in my life currently have looked at that computer and just shaken their heads. I need to get more space in there somehow though. That thing is like a tank as far as computers go, too. I'll have Daughter-type and boyfriend over for dinner and see what he thinks.

Thanks for commenting.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

There's a good tutorial here (at least it looks like a good one--and Lifehacker is an awesome site besides). I've never installed one, but I've watched my son (the one who DIDN'T go to school for computers) install one in about ten minutes. It looks harder than it actually is, just from observation. Although the inside of a computer like yours may be more alien than the norm, given its mashed-together origins. ;)

[redhedlvr.livejournal.com]

Alienware?

Hee he!!

I've never looked inside the thing. Very scarey!

Someone here at work suggested an external hard drive. I think I could handle that. I won't give up!!

thanks for the link. I will check that out.

[redhedlvr.livejournal.com]

Holy moly! This looks great. Thanks again.

[redhedlvr.livejournal.com]

Just a wee, little update.

The Frankenputer seems to have handled the eLibrary well. I did NOT update to the current version though. Both Sony and Windows had updates recently and I suspect they aren't playing nicely together. So I'm reading all the the fic I had transfered over before attempting to sync. But I think I'm ok since I'm able to open the library and even downloaded the "real" book I bought.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[feather-autant.livejournal.com]

So it worked on your Vista machine before?

If so, you can try to 'repair' the driver instead of having to reinstall it. Go to add/remove programs, find the one for Sony reader, and click repair instead of uninstall. You might have to do this to a few programs, like cable driver and the actual reader.

I have this problem periodically with my Nokia, which has all my fic on it. It works for me, so good luck to you! I'd be crushed to lose all my fic!

[redhedlvr.livejournal.com]

Oh crap! See I just don't know enough about the technical aspect of these things I use every day. Or at least, I know enough to be dangerous.

I uninstalled and reinstalled quite a few things. I did a system restore, and I restored files from my Norton online storage dohickey. The system seems to think the eLibrary program is running even though it won't open. Or at least it did, because now it's gone.

I'm with primroseburrows though. I think the Frankenputer is the answer. The only thing I do with the new computer that has Vista on it, is play WoW. It's got all kinds of memory and a fancy vid card and so far, knock wood, WoW has run just dandy. The problems I think I'm having are more in line with the horror stories I've been hearing about Vista, so I count myself lucky there.

I don't know what the heck to do.

Thanks for commenting though, and believe me, I WILL remember the repair driver thing. It will be right before I start that restore/panic mode I go into. Hee he.