# Kindle DX - items periodically disappear



## mediokre (Jun 13, 2009)

Hi there, the pdfs I transferred via USB to my new Kindle DX sometimes disappear during use. When freshly uploaded they also take a while for Kindle to register them. I currently have 49 items (including one book downloaded from Amazon), but just 15 minutes ago only 32 items were showing up. Now it's back to 49. Earlier in the afternoon suddenly ZERO showed up -- only the New Oxford American Dictionary remained.

Is this normal? Any ideas why this is happening? Does downloading stuff via Whispernet cause the library to so temporarily disappear? Thank you.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

I don't own a DX just a k2, but that sounds WACKY! I can't imagine why they would show up then disappear and then re-appear. Maybe if they dont become consistent you can call amazon cs. Or maybe someone else here much smarter than me will know the reason, but either way I hope it gets resolved for you.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

I'm guessing that maybe it's still indexing items.  I'd give it a day or so to see if it straightens out.


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## Annie (May 28, 2009)

That definitely does not sound right. I would try resetting the KDX back to its original out of box state, and then redownload everything. If it's still doing the same thing, I would call Amazon CS. I don't know why it would do that.


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## mediokre (Jun 13, 2009)

Thank you all.

The problem may have been that I unplugged Kindle without "ejecting" or "safely removing" it (I use Windows). After my files disappeared, I plugged the Kindle back to my computer and then ejected it, and then the files showed up again. I've been careful to eject the device since then and so far the problem has not recurred.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

I'm glad it worked out for you, I always wondered if 'ejecting' was necessary. I guess it is!


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## JulietLim (Jun 29, 2009)

Hi.  I got the same problem of items disappearing leaving only the dictionary.  I've tried to do what was suggested - plug it in again but the items didn't return.  When I look at the unit on USB mode, I can see the files.  

Finally found out that the 12 PDF files that I uploaded caused this condition.  When I removed the 12 PDF files, I can see all the items.

Can anyone help me understand this?


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

JulietLim said:


> Hi. I got the same problem of items disappearing leaving only the dictionary. I've tried to do what was suggested - plug it in again but the items didn't return. When I look at the unit on USB mode, I can see the files.
> 
> Finally found out that the 12 PDF files that I uploaded caused this condition. When I removed the 12 PDF files, I can see all the items.
> 
> Can anyone help me understand this?


I do not have the DX but if I understood I thought it was intentionally made to handle PDF's. it doesn't make much sense that you would have to erase them to see other items.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

JulietLim said:


> Hi. I got the same problem of items disappearing leaving only the dictionary. I've tried to do what was suggested - plug it in again but the items didn't return. When I look at the unit on USB mode, I can see the files.
> 
> Finally found out that the 12 PDF files that I uploaded caused this condition. When I removed the 12 PDF files, I can see all the items.
> 
> Can anyone help me understand this?


I'm guessing you do know you can change the "showing" options: personal docs, subscriptions, books, or all.

PDF's you load show up in personal docs. The users guide and dictionary show up in books. You won't see both kinds of content unless you are showing "all".

If it's not consistently working right, I'd contact CS.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

JulietLim said:


> Hi. I got the same problem of items disappearing leaving only the dictionary. I've tried to do what was suggested - plug it in again but the items didn't return. When I look at the unit on USB mode, I can see the files.
> 
> Finally found out that the 12 PDF files that I uploaded caused this condition. When I removed the 12 PDF files, I can see all the items.
> 
> Can anyone help me understand this?


All PDFs are not equal. Plus, the DX wouldn't be able to read PDFs that were copy and/or print protected, or at least I'm pretty sure it wouldn't. Where did these PDFs come from?


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## Uriel (May 13, 2009)

I noticed that whenever I add/delete a lot of larger files at one time to the DX that it will do that.  Restarting it (holding the slider for 15 seconds) always cleared it up.  I doubt it's related to the PDF settings (unless they are DRM'ed ones) as I know I've had a couple on it that were print-protected (purchased PDF comic books from drivethrustuff.com).  It's probably something to do with the indexing is my guess.


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## bbz (Jun 29, 2009)

I have this problem on and off all the time--no documents shown at all and some items shown in the archive folder that should have been shown regularly.  This happens to me either after detaching from a computer (yes, after ejecting) and sometime after the Kindle crashes and reboots (which happens usually when on the web but sometimes when viewing a pdf or even going to the kindle store).  So far the documents are always on the kindle, there's just some glitch in finding them.

So far reconnecting to the computer fixes it for me and turning it off by holding the power switch for 15 seconds fixes it too.  The "reset" option in the setting menu didn't fix it when i tried that.

I'm not sure if it happens every time, but last night all my indexes had to be rebuilt.  Not a big deal but you can't search for a while and your Kindle uses more power for a few hours, so it's a good idea to plug in if this happens.

I don't know why, but a pdf I put on last night has never shown up.  I guess it's a "bad pdf"?  It's a tiny 5-pager with image pages my sister made so I don't know if there's anything special about it or if it made this problem more likely.


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## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

Every once and awhile this happens with my K2, but it is limited to just the books that I did not purchase from Amazon. It always fixes itself once I restart the Kindle.


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I'm guessing you do know you can change the "showing" options: personal docs, subscriptions, books, or all.
> 
> PDF's you load show up in personal docs. The users guide and dictionary show up in books. You won't see both kinds of content unless you are showing "all".
> 
> If it's not consistently working right, I'd contact CS.


I did know you could show all your items, but forgot and set it to books only and then could not find the pdfs. Duh. Guess you just have to get use to this new reader. How funny. Thanks, Ann.


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## nbbaron (Aug 5, 2009)

I found this board specifically looking to see if anyone else ran into this problem.
I have had my Kindle DX for a little over a month and last night, I turned it on and *POOF* all of the material disappeared, leaving nothing but the dictionary.
NOTHING.

I was totally freaked out by it (and in the middle of reading a good book!) I had not downloaded or done anything. No .pdf files being moved or that I was viewing at the time. I have 38 items on there. 23 were archived at Amazon. I wasn't all that concerned with the .pdf files as I could always retransfer them from my PC.

I tried to connect to Whispernet to have them download (at least the book I was reading!) and nothing. Whispernet said it was not available and try later. Tried again it just timed out. Very, very frustrating.

I went online to read some boards and suggestions. Finally, I ended up holding the slide button for about 15 seconds and all of the archived books reappeared. BUT the fonts and words per page were all adjusted back to factory presets. I was able to read the book I was reading. This morning when I got up, everything was back to normal, INCLUDING the .pdf files had reappeared and the count was back to 38 items.

I called Kindle support this morning because honestly? I don't want it happening any more. I love my Kindle and wanted to find out if others ran into this problem. Just seemed very odd to me.  The tech said he hadn't heard of it happening and that maybe I hit a "shortcut" key. (I didn't)  and then he showed me the top line where I could choose Personal Docs, Subscirptions, books, etc. 

But I can honestly say, I turned the Kindle DX on ... I saw (briefly a second or two) the page I was on in my book and *POOF* everything vanished. I wasn't touching ANYTHING.

Glad to see that others have had similiar occurences!

nbbaron


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## Pawz4me (Feb 14, 2009)

All the archived books on my K2 disappeared a few days ago.  They stayed gone for about a day and then were back.  I never did a reset, they reappeared as magically as they vanished.


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

I have similar problems with the archived items showing zero when I know there are items that should appear.  Also, I have the books sorted By Most Recent First and that, too, stops working somewhere along the way.  I just rebooted my DX and it still is NOT sorting By Most Recent First.  That is so annoying.  Archived Items still reading zero.  

I am not going to Sync and Check for Recent Items.  Yeah!  Everything working again.  Question: Why do I have to go to WN to keep things working correctly?  I am only reading not buying.


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## Johanna (Aug 7, 2009)

I had this problem a few weeks ago.  I was reading a book on my new Kindle DX (a pdf book) and as I turned a page, suddenly I was back to the home page and all my books, except the dictionary, were gone.  I called tech support and she couldn't understand what had happened, but she took me through re-booting the kindle, and my books all came back.  I think they were still there all the time, but for some reason became inaccessible.  The tech couldn't explain it, but fortunately it has not recurred.


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