Database Users

{Q} CM7 Nook Color not recoginzed in either Linux or Windows

Hello, I have CM 7.0.3 encore with the overclocked kernel on my nook. Lately I have not been able to get the thing to connect to my computer in either windows or Linux. (It's XP and "Lucid Lynx" 10.04 Ubuntu if that helps)
If I connect my cable to either the front of back USB ports (because I have tried both under both OSs) at best I get my windows install to see and start to run auto hardware install. This, of course does not work and the machine will inform me that my new hardware (which it correctly ids as a nook until this point) may not work correctly. And, it does not. It displays as 'removable drive' and clicking on it pulls up an 'insert disk please' message.
In Ubuntu the Nook will show up as B&N Ereader. Both SD cards (the internal and the card in slot) show as the same thing. Clicking on them brings up a message that this drive is not a folder and cannot be opened as such.
This thread leads me to think that there should be a notification in windows about the usb being connected...and as soon as I post this I will be restarting to check that... but I really rather do this under Ubuntu. ETA. This does not work for me. Canceling the install software wizard does not work either. (I have been uninstalling the faulty installs each time and rebooting the comp without the nook attached. Oh, and the Nook IS awake too. )
Searches bring up nothing, and I'm a bit lost.
I must be missing something so basic and simple no one has had this issue but me. I mean, Android is a Linux variant, right? They should be able to talk to one another!??

If your trying to accomplish what I think you are then it doesn't matter what your computers says. Plug your Nook into the PC and open your notifications window. There should be a USB icon on the status bar waiting for your input. Just follow the prompts.

Given you have gone through the process of installing the Android SDK, in Linux, from the terminal you need to change to your target folder to
Code:
~/android-sdk-linux_86/platform-tools
then you need to log in as root and kill, then start the server. make sure to exit root when you are done.
Code:
su : enter password
# ./adb kill-server
# ./adb start-server
# exit
then it should pick it up.

I have the same problem as OP and went crazy trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. It's not as simple as everyone suggests.
To be clear I'm using Linux, Ubuntu Natty. I have a Samsung Vibrant also running CM7 nightlies. Start adb, plug in Vibrant, shows up in adb devices list without any problem. Plug in the NC no device in adb. running lsusb there is no android vendorID for the NC but there is for the Vibrant. The NC only shows a vendorID for the mass storage just like the OP says.
The NC is booting with CM7 nightlie on the SD card, not eMMC. Will that make a difference?

IFLATLINE, Thing is, there is no notification popup on my Nook for me to tap.
neidlinger, I will be trying that ASAP. I do not have that installed... I'm rather new to Linux.
I did manage to brick the nook trying to update the build last night so I'm in the middle of reflashing it. So, as soon as I finish making a boot micro SD (I know, I should just have one I keep for this but I don't) I will be flashing phiremod's version of CM7 on the nook.
digver, I did find somewhere on here that the OC kernel was causing some people grief and that once they removed it they had no issues connecting the the computer... but I think they were windows. I'm not sure if that will fix this very annoying little problem.

katsrevenge said:
neidlinger, I will be trying that ASAP. I do not have that installed... I'm rather new to Linux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally i <3 linux. It's the only way to fly esp with dealing with Androids. Android Central has a GREAT write up on how to install the SDK on your Linux unit.
I'll have to look up the link @ home. I'm at work and WebSense blocks 99% of everything.

[Q] [noob question] ADB Over Usb NOOK TOUCH

Hi guys!
could any of you guys help me a bit to get nook connected to ADB via USB?
I've tried bunch of tutorials on the net, but I still get bloody error!
I've already installed Android SDK and installed everything in it from android repositories, and I also installed "Nook Touch USB ADB Drivers" but I still can't get it connected! any idea?

Hi.
1st: Do you have any android phone? This is the best way to check that your pc with android sdk is properly configured. Once you are able connect to a phone, you can be sure that the problem is on the nook site
2nd: Let me tell you the way how I have rooted my nook and made usb work (because I have decided not to use touchnooter). I used noogie image to get rw access to nook partitions and replace uRamdisk on nook with the uRamdisk attached here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16880141&postcount=6
Of course, backup the original one.
On linux site, it was also necessary to add udev rules (as mentioned on the page) but this is linux related. I can't help with windows, for me they are too difficult to use
But I can confirm that mentioned uRamdisk works.

[Q] What's the micro usb port for?

Does anyone use the micro usb port? I have yet to find a use for it. I can't transfer files with it, charge with it nor are there any peripherals (that I know of) that can use it. I searched around but couldn't find much useful stuff on the port. All I found was this useless video:
**Ok I can't post the video because of more stupid forum rules but just go to youtube.com and append this after the url: /watch?v=1xBVu-IatDQ **
Anyway, if someone has ideas on how this port can be used I'm all ears... Thanks.
dq

It is a file transfer port. you plug a cable into it and into your PCs usb port. works like the ones on your phone.

Does it work for you? Because it doesn't for me. Nothing happens when I plug it into a computer. No automounting on the computer side or indication on the tablet that I can put it into "usb storage mode" like the 2.X Android versions do.
dq

don quixada said:
Does it work for you? Because it doesn't for me. Nothing happens when I plug it into a computer. No automounting on the computer side or indication on the tablet that I can put it into "usb storage mode" like the 2.X Android versions do.
dq
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What OS are you using on your computer, and have you installed the drivers for it?

don quixada said:
Does it work for you? Because it doesn't for me. Nothing happens when I plug it into a computer. No automounting on the computer side or indication on the tablet that I can put it into "usb storage mode" like the 2.X Android versions do.
dq
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Computer OS? i just plugged it into my Win7 system and it was there instantly. 3.0 shows up as a media device, which allows both the tablet and the computer to talk to the sdcard at the same time. So you won't see a mount prompt on the tablet. BTW my Incredible2 is running 2.3 and also lets me access the SD card on it and the computer at the same time.

I'm still using an old tiny xp and it worked fine for me just plugged it in and there it was

I tried Gentoo Linux and XP and neither worked. What drivers do I need to install?
I also have access to a Win7 system so I'll try that.
dq

Drivers from acer website.

I have adb installed should this not be enough?

You need none installed. ADB if its running in some form might be interfering. its just a basic driver in windows it uses.

I only run adb-server when I need it and not all the time. I thought that any needed drivers would have been installed when I installed adb.
For my Gentoo machine what should I do? It's not detected at all if I plug it in. My x10 mini and Nexus One are detected no problem and I can mount them and everything so what's up? Is there a kernel module that I need to build?
Thanks.
dq

I had to download these drivers for my xp netbook ,,
http://global-download.acer.com/GDF...A Tab&Step3=A500&OS=a05&LC=en&BC=Acer&SC=PA_6

I agree with Nova 5. The Windows drivers for USB come with the SDK and while you might not think you will have use for the SDK you will. It makes the process of installing custom ROM,s and Recovery Kernels a breeze. You download your zip flashes or recovery images to Win 7 and then you adb push your downloads to the tablet. The alternatives, unless soneone was nice enough to compile you an apk, which most advanced system developers don,t bother with, unless their app is destined for the massees throug Andriod market, is to install a terminal emulator and enter native Unix/Linux shell commands manually. If you aren't a shell cmd expert I suggest you immediatly download the latest Android SDK for Windows and start learning what it can do for you with just 2 or 3 adb push commands which can help you advoid 10's of lines of manually entered Linux shell commands that can do some real damage to your system if you are copying someone elses terminal emulator sh install instructions, don't understand what they do and make 1 simple typing mistake. With adb push you don't even have to get involved in Linux's complicated bit based permission changes to install something at the system level.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

Yes, well I only really use adb in the same capacity as what you describe-- to root a device. After that busybox can be installed and I can either ssh into the device (which I prefer) or use the terminal on the device itself.
But my problem is the detection of the device once it is plugged into my Linux box. I'm not sure if I need a special driver for that and I'd rather not aimlessly search through the kernel config in order to build one (I've done that before and it's painful!). It's good to know that one can mount it on an external device and still use it simultaneously though. That will save me time in trying to fiddle around with settings in the tablet itself...
dq

don quixada said:
I have adb installed should this not be enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are not able to transfer files Try enabling usb debugging before connecting to pc.

If the tab is not in the usb devices list and it doesn't show up as an unknown device, you might want to try another usb cable. Or another port if you have the Windows and Linux on the same machine and you are trying to connect on the same port.
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

gradyzero said:
I agree with Nova 5. The Windows drivers for USB come with the SDK and while you might not think you will have use for the SDK you will. It makes the process of installing custom ROM,s and Recovery Kernels a breeze. You download your zip flashes or recovery images to Win 7 and then you adb push your downloads to the tablet. The alternatives, unless soneone was nice enough to compile you an apk, which most advanced system developers don,t bother with, unless their app is destined for the massees throug Andriod market, is to install a terminal emulator and enter native Unix/Linux shell commands manually. If you aren't a shell cmd expert I suggest you immediatly download the latest Android SDK for Windows and start learning what it can do for you with just 2 or 3 adb push commands which can help you advoid 10's of lines of manually entered Linux shell commands that can do some real damage to your system if you are copying someone elses terminal emulator sh install instructions, don't understand what they do and make 1 simple typing mistake. With adb push you don't even have to get involved in Linux's complicated bit based permission changes to install something at the system level.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not nearly what I was saying. Not even close enough that a bomb would touch it.
Simple answer is my vista and win7 systems accessed the iconia as a media player device requiring no drivers as they are a common system driver. My only comment about ADB was that it might be interfering if it somehow was left running in the background.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but I had to play around with the settings and plug it in several times and finally it showed up. Now I plug it in and the dialog for auto play shows up instantly. When I choose to view files, I get a window with two drives. One is the internal storage and the other is the sd card.

sandiegoan said:
I'm not sure what the problem is, but I had to play around with the settings and plug it in several times and finally it showed up. Now I plug it in and the dialog for auto play shows up instantly. When I choose to view files, I get a window with two drives. One is the internal storage and the other is the sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes mine gets a bit wonky as well. Every now and then, I'll plug it in, get the windows dialogue box asking me what I want to do. I open it up and the box is blank, no drives, nothing. Unplug it, wait a few seconds, pop it back in, and everything is OK. No rhyme or reason, and it doesn't happen all the time.

Quick trick for win7 .
Plug in the device.go into device manager delete its entry and the USB controller it resides on.unplug device.install driver from acer web site.then try the device again.
This works on several USB type issues
Good luck if you don't understand don't try

[Q] adb driver for nookcolor on windows 7

Apologies if this is already posted somewhere. just point me to the link and I'll take a look, but everything I have tried so far has failed.
I have been trying to get adb working on my NookColor under Windows 7. I am running a rooted 1.4.2 stock image. I installed the sdk by following the guide at http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_USB_ADB, but when I get to step III.3.1, the device does not show up where the guide tells me it should. I gget a myNOOKcolor device under Portable Devices instead. I tried following the same procedure for this device, but when I get to step III.3.2.3, I get an error message saying "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems."
I was able to follow the same procedure to install the driver for my MyTouch 4g. It looks to me like the problem s that Windows identifies my Nook as a portable storage device, rather than an unidentified device type, like my MyTouch was. I've tried uninstalling the driver, but it just reinstalls itself when I unplug and plug the device back in.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

marchingknight11 said:
Apologies if this is already posted somewhere. just point me to the link and I'll take a look, but everything I have tried so far has failed.
I have been trying to get adb working on my NookColor under Windows 7. I am running a rooted 1.4.2 stock image. I installed the sdk by following the guide at http://nookdevs.com/NookColor_USB_ADB, but when I get to step III.3.1, the device does not show up where the guide tells me it should. I gget a myNOOKcolor device under Portable Devices instead. I tried following the same procedure for this device, but when I get to step III.3.2.3, I get an error message saying "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems."
I was able to follow the same procedure to install the driver for my MyTouch 4g. It looks to me like the problem s that Windows identifies my Nook as a portable storage device, rather than an unidentified device type, like my MyTouch was. I've tried uninstalling the driver, but it just reinstalls itself when I unplug and plug the device back in.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the problem is the device id. I posted a workaround for CM9. It might be the same for your upgraded stock. See if my post helps. Look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=21665649

leapinlar said:
I think the problem is the device id. I posted a workaround for CM9. It might be the same for your upgraded stock. See if my post helps. Look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=21665649
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the post!
I looked at your workaround and it did not help. There is no nook entry under "Other Devices" in the device manager. the only entry for my nook is the "myNOOKcolor" under portable devices. When I right click on that and go to details, there is no device id listed.
Is there any chance that I may need to revert to 1.4.1 in order for this to work?

marchingknight11 said:
Thanks for the post!
I looked at your workaround and it did not help. There is no nook entry under "Other Devices" in the device manager. the only entry for my nook is the "myNOOKcolor" under portable devices. When I right click on that and go to details, there is no device id listed.
Is there any chance that I may need to revert to 1.4.1 in order for this to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With CM9, you have to be sure to have usb debugging turned on before the device will show up. That guide was written for an earlier version of the stock software. Is there anything like that in your stock software? Do you have to install nook tools to get at the setting? It's been a long time since I played with stock and the software has changed.
Edit: There is an alternate script listed in that referenced page you listed. Did you try that?

leapinlar said:
With CM9, you have to be sure to have usb debugging turned on before the device will show up. That guide was written for an earlier version of the stock software. Is there anything like that in your stock software? Do you have to install nook tools to get at the setting? It's been a long time since I played with stock and the software has changed.
Edit: There is an alternate script listed in that referenced page you listed. Did you try that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have trtied all the troubleshooting steps in that page, if that's what you mean. Nothing has worked for me so far. I have tried disabling automount and usb debugging, to no avail.
I guess I should ask a new question. If I create a bootable CM7/CM9 sd card, will I be able to copy apk's to /system/app on my nook? That is really the only reason I need adb to work, so I can install non market apps.

marchingknight11 said:
I have trtied all the troubleshooting steps in that page, if that's what you mean. Nothing has worked for me so far. I have tried disabling automount and usb debugging, to no avail.
I guess I should ask a new question. If I create a bootable CM7/CM9 sd card, will I be able to copy apk's to /system/app on my nook? That is really the only reason I need adb to work, so I can install non market apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but with difficulty. But you don't really want to install to /system, you want to install to /data (on emmc, which is the difficulty doing it from SD). You can use terminal emulator in CM7 to copy the files to emmc /data/apps. You first have to mount emmc /data. If you want to try that, I can help you.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

leapinlar said:
Yes, but with difficulty. But you don't really want to install to /system, you want to install to /data (on emmc, which is the difficulty doing it from SD). You can use terminal emulator in CM7 to copy the files to emmc /data/apps. You first have to mount emmc /data. If you want to try that, I can help you.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well something else actually occurred to me. Will I be able to copy apps to my sdcard (not the CM7 bootable, just a regular sd card), then copy them to /data/app using root explorer? If I can do that, there there's really no problem, I'll just have to deal with the fact that adb doesn't work.
If I can't do that, then yes, please help me do it using a bootable sd

marchingknight11 said:
Well something else actually occurred to me. Will I be able to copy apps to my sdcard (not the CM7 bootable, just a regular sd card), then copy them to /data/app using root explorer? If I can do that, there there's really no problem, I'll just have to deal with the fact that adb doesn't work.
If I can't do that, then yes, please help me do it using a bootable sd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have root explorer working on emmc, yes you can do it that way. You can actually have root explorer just install for you also.
Sent from my Nook Color running ICS and Tapatalk

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A

marchingknight11 said:
I have trtied all the troubleshooting steps in that page, if that's what you mean. Nothing has worked for me so far. I have tried disabling automount and usb debugging, to no avail.
I guess I should ask a new question. If I create a bootable CM7/CM9 sd card, will I be able to copy apk's to /system/app on my nook? That is really the only reason I need adb to work, so I can install non market apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using CM10 on my nook color after spending 8+ hours yesterday finally being able to get back to where I started. I can again see my nook and the card but it is now showing up under portable devices. I used to have them listed as drives. this is fine as I have access to the card after I click on the nook in File explorer. I would like it the previous set-up just because Calibre has my card and device flipped and its easy to confuse me. I learned that if I can label my nook f and the card g Calibre will think the first letter is the main drive.
My original reason for this post: I can not find where to disable the automount in CM10 can you tell me where you disabled it? and if anyone can wave their magic wand and get me back to where I can name my nook and card THANKS:fingers-crossed:

Droidatar said:
I am using CM10 on my nook color after spending 8+ hours yesterday finally being able to get back to where I started. I can again see my nook and the card but it is now showing up under portable devices. I used to have them listed as drives. this is fine as I have access to the card after I click on the nook in File explorer. I would like it the previous set-up just because Calibre has my card and device flipped and its easy to confuse me. I learned that if I can label my nook f and the card g Calibre will think the first letter is the main drive.
My original reason for this post: I can not find where to disable the automount in CM10 can you tell me where you disabled it? and if anyone can wave their magic wand and get me back to where I can name my nook and card THANKS:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to activate USB Mass Storage in CM10. It uses MTP by default. Go to settings, storage, menu, USB computer connection and check off Mass Storage rather than MTP. Then they show up as drive letters instead of under portable devices. You may also have to activate in the notification area.
And I think in Windows you can control what the drive letters are. Go to manage computer and select disk management and you can change the drive letters.
Sent from my Nook HD+ Running CM10 on SD

leapinlar said:
You need to activate USB Mass Storage in CM10. It uses MTP by default. Go to settings, storage, menu, USB computer connection and check off Mass Storage rather than MTP. Then they show up as drive letters instead of under portable devices. You may also have to activate in the notification area.
And I think in Windows you can control what the drive letters are. Go to manage computer and select disk management and you can change the drive letters.
Sent from my Nook HD+ Running CM10 on SD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANK YOU, so very much it has been driving me crazy. I knew where that was to change it to mass storage but I just never guessed to hit menu. After I read your post I saw the tiny 3 dots in top right. I really should just wear my glasses
and Yes I have changed the letters in the past as you have noted. However it seems a mute point Calibre just released a new version that lets me correct that problem. However it's nice to have the mass storage issue fixed.
Thanks again

[Q] USB mounting after rooting

I can't get my Nook to mount on my computer after rooting with NookManager. Is this normal? I looked for a setting to re-enable this feature but couldn't find it. Any ideas? thanks

I forget where that is on settings, but if you have ADB working you can fix that.
You need sqlite3 installed on either host or Nook.
Code:
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
update secure set value=1 where name='usb_mass_storage_enabled';
OTOH, if you have ADB, why would you want UMS?

Renate NST said:
I forget where that is on settings, but if you have ADB working you can fix that.
You need sqlite3 installed on either host or Nook.
Code:
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
update secure set value=1 where name='usb_mass_storage_enabled';
OTOH, if you have ADB, why would you want UMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'm hoping I can find the setting. I don't really know much about ADB. I just want to be able to side load books easily.

Renate NST said:
I forget where that is on settings, but if you have ADB working you can fix that.
You need sqlite3 installed on either host or Nook.
Code:
/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db
update secure set value=1 where name='usb_mass_storage_enabled';
OTOH, if you have ADB, why would you want UMS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't need to change the setting for a root with NookManager. USB mounting works but I have noticed sometimes that after connecting to the PC then disconnecting it looses its ability to be connected again as a USB drive until you reboot your Nook. Haven't spent the time to track down why the Nook looses its brain sometimes and won't connect.

straygecko said:
Shouldn't need to change the setting for a root with NookManager. USB mounting works but I have noticed sometimes that after connecting to the PC then disconnecting it looses its ability to be connected again as a USB drive until you reboot your Nook. Haven't spent the time to track down why the Nook looses its brain sometimes and won't connect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've rebooted. I've used sqlite to read and verify that 'usb_mass_storage_enabled' is set to 1. I've verified getprop reports that persist.service.mount.umsauto is 1. Still no usb automount.
Rooting isn't worth not being able to use Calibre

Is the host machine Windows?
if you loaded the ADB driver things can get out of whack and the UMS interfaces are driverless.
Normally when you connect a Nook to a host two new (UMS) disks will appear.
Whether those disks have backing (data behind them) is another question.
Are you missing the disks or the data?

Renate NST said:
Is the host machine Windows?
if you loaded the ADB driver things can get out of whack and the UMS interfaces are driverless.
Normally when you connect a Nook to a host two new (UMS) disks will appear.
Whether those disks have backing (data behind them) is another question.
Are you missing the disks or the data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running Windows and have tried two different host machines that both worked with the Nook before the root.
The Nook does NOT show up whatsoever in "My Computer". Thanks for your help, I may just reset the firmware and give up on rooting it.

Classic773 said:
I am running Windows and have tried two different host machines that both worked with the Nook before the root.
The Nook does NOT show up whatsoever in "My Computer". Thanks for your help, I may just reset the firmware and give up on rooting it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes Windows won't show a removable disk if another disk it has seen has been assigned the same drive letter. Plug your Nook into your PC and go into Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk management and see if the disks show up there. If they do
right click on them and select Change Drive Letter and Paths and assign them drive letters. It should stick after that unless you assign the same drive letter to another removable disk.

straygecko said:
Sometimes Windows won't show a removable disk if another disk it has seen has been assigned the same drive letter. Plug your Nook into your PC and go into Administrative Tools | Computer Management | Disk management and see if the disks show up there. If they do
right click on them and select Change Drive Letter and Paths and assign them drive letters. It should stick after that unless you assign the same drive letter to another removable disk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I don't here the normal USB device connected sound that I here with other things, also the Nook doesn't show the normal popup that indicates its in USB mode.
I typically don't have an SD card in it, that shouldn't matter right. I've tried it with an SD card but most of the time I don't have one in.

You have ADB working on WiFi or USB?
If it's working on USB then you obviously do have it showing in Device Manager.
A somewhat tangental comment:
There seems to be lots of people who say, "I tried to root using Mega-Super-Giga-Updater" and it didn't work so I'm going back to stock 1.1.5".
Nook firmware is old and getting older with no update in sight.
I would strongly recommend standardizing on 1.2.1
Remember, the essence of "rooting" on the Nook is just enabling ADB.
All the other stuff is just the trimmings.
I have no knowledge/experience/insight of any of these "Super-Duper-Nooters".

Renate NST said:
You have ADB working on WiFi or USB?
If it's working on USB then you obviously do have it showing in Device Manager.
A somewhat tangental comment:
There seems to be lots of people who say, "I tried to root using Mega-Super-Giga-Updater" and it didn't work so I'm going back to stock 1.1.5".
Nook firmware is old and getting older with no update in sight.
I would strongly recommend standardizing on 1.2.1
Remember, the essence of "rooting" on the Nook is just enabling ADB.
All the other stuff is just the trimmings.
I have no knowledge/experience/insight of any of these "Super-Duper-Nooters".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem was the USB cable, which straygecko mentioned in different thread. Never thought of trying a different one since this one worked fine for charging. Thanks to both of you

Oh, you probably had a "charging" cable.
I ran into one of those once.
They only have 2 conductors in the cable.
It probably saved them a whole $0.02.
It's a cruel trick to play on somebody.

Renate NST said:
Oh, you probably had a "charging" cable.
I ran into one of those once.
They only have 2 conductors in the cable.
It probably saved them a whole $0.02.
It's a cruel trick to play on somebody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't chuck them!
I find them invaluable if you want to charge a phone or nook without using it pop up as mass storage or MTP. They are also ALOT longer.
Great for car charging or grabbing power from public usb sources.
If booting from nookmanager to PC to copy backup across (something you should do asap before you forget) then trying to connect NST to computer after rooting you will find it won't appear in windows explorer.
This is windows getting confused. If you click on the safetly remove device icon you will see two drive letters are assigned its just explorer that can't access them. Easy fix is to reboot. If your like me and dozens of web browsing windows open and regard rebooting as something the power company forces on me few times a year you can do this to access.
Start->settings->Control Panel->Administration Tools->Computer Management->Disk Manager.
You will see the drive letters for your nook there. Right click (don't click format or delete!) and chose open. Explorer will now happily open a window with your drive contents.