Behind the Scenes - The Kobo eReader Firmware Upgrade - Page 2

hyperb · 07-03-2010, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCKobo

The Borders (US and AU) versions are coming soon - if you want to keep shopping with Borders, waiting a week or so is probably best.

Will the new Borders app include some way to synch only a selection of titles? I understand that Kobo customers can manage their elibrary through the website, but this option is not available to Borders customers?

I've got a free title stuck in my elibrary on the Borders AU website where the title and author don't match the content of the book. Support told me there's no way to fix this until the app is updated.

mmayer · 07-12-2010, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mTamblyn

Most Fun Part of Developing the Upgrade
Chants emanating from one of the offices: “Brick it! Brick it! Brick it!” as we tried to pinpoint at which exact point pulling your USB cable would turn the eReader into an unusable brick.

Thanks for the great write-up. I enjoyed a lot reading it.

I am a firmware / kernel guy myself, so I can just picture some of the scenes you are describing. Especially when everybody was trying to break the reader (presumably with all kinds of extra debugs turned on to know exactly where in the upgrade process it was), trying to figure out the likelihood "these customers" would be hitting just the "right" time window to brick their device (and all without the extra help from the debug messages). Sounds like fun times.

-Markus

HamsterRage · 07-13-2010, 10:09 AM

I was really, really impressed by how the software walked you through the upgrade process with very clear instructions and a slick interface. I don't think I've ever seen that kind of process done so well.

The XP, "New Device", step did throw me though. It seems you missed that, and it was even more troubling than it normally would have been because the upgrade program was so good. If it was a slapdash affair, I would have expected lots of normal events in the process to be missed and I would have been less worried.

sabredog · 07-13-2010, 11:16 PM

after option 6 is done, do you unplug the Kobo and use the paperclip or leave it attached to the PC whilst reset takes place?

JCKobo · 07-13-2010, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabredog

after option 6 is done, do you unplug the Kobo and use the paperclip or leave it attached to the PC whilst reset takes place?

It's best to leave it plugged in if your battery isn't full.

sabredog · 07-13-2010, 11:54 PM

Beaut, cheers for that. I am still undecided about updating now or waiting until the next firmware release.

JCKobo · 07-13-2010, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabredog

Beaut, cheers for that. I am still undecided about updating now or waiting until the next firmware release.

What's keeping you from updating?

roguefan99 · 07-14-2010, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCKobo

What's keeping you from updating?

Sorry to jump on, but just for your information. I'm not updating my partners Kobo for two main reasons. Her's works as expected with the charging (mine did not), and she tends to charge it often and leave it on when looking through a book so the time for a reboot from sleep mode would be annoying to her. Also one of her favourite things about the kobo is that it has the cover of the book she was last reading on it. This is a big thing to her (and I also miss it on mine...... when is the next update

) so I havent updated her's because of this.

Also waiting for the borders.com.au update to hit (didn't appear last night)

HamsterRage · 07-14-2010, 09:12 AM

That a legit reason not to upgrade. I find the time from off to reading annoying. More often than not, I use the wait to check email on my Blackberry. Then I feel like a total wanker sitting there on the train with a Kobo in one hand and a Blackberry in the other.

Oh well.

kitsullivan · 07-14-2010, 01:05 PM

PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO RE-AUTHORIZE MY DEVICE. I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT. I COULD READ ALL MY BOOKS JUST FINE AND THEN TURNED MY DEVICE OFF. FATAL MISTAKE! WHEN I PLUG MY DEVICE IN, ADE RECOGNIZES MY DEVICE BUT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY RUN THE WIZARD TO SET IT UP. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP. I AM DESPERATE.

3d0g · 07-14-2010, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kitsullivan

PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO RE-AUTHORIZE MY DEVICE. I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT. I COULD READ ALL MY BOOKS JUST FINE AND THEN TURNED MY DEVICE OFF. FATAL MISTAKE! WHEN I PLUG MY DEVICE IN, ADE RECOGNIZES MY DEVICE BUT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY RUN THE WIZARD TO SET IT UP. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP. I AM DESPERATE.

It should be automatic. Does the kobo show up as drives in your OS when you plug it in? If so, once you start ADE it should re-authorize automatically. Mine did.

cas67 · 07-16-2010, 10:47 PM

is there any reason why we can't just download the SD card image and flash it to an SD card ourselves?

I'm a linux user (don't have windows on any of my computers, never have, and never will) and would have no problem creating or using an SD card to upgrade my kobo.

in fact, for me it's the ONLY way i can upgrade. I don't and won't run closed-source software on my computers so even when you release a linux version of the kobo desktop program, i won't be installing or running it.

(the fact that the kobo presents as a USB storage device and books can be just copied onto it, plus the fact that it's well supported by Calibre were the two main reasons i bought a Kobo rather than some other reader. and Kobo seems to be a very open-source friendly company)

putting up a web page with instructions and download links to the SD image would also be useful to Windows and Mac users who accidentally brick their kobos while upgrading ("the cat pulled out my usb cable!" - betcha didn't have a cat in cable-attack mode in the office while testing

. they could download and flash the image immediately instead of calling customer support and waiting for the post.

and for future updates, it would also make it easy for us users to revert to a previous version if there was a problem or something we really disliked (like the sleep/power-off changes with the current new firmware).

gmos · 07-16-2010, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cas67

is there any reason why we can't just download the SD card image and flash it to an SD card ourselves?

.

I have a seriously bricked Kobo and have been in contact with Customer Support about getting a copy of the SD software (see my other posts in 'Kobo still bricked' and 'Kobo1.4 firmware upgrade failure').

It seems that they are ok with doing that in theory (and if I really, really, really, want to try it), but they haven't been forthcoming as yet with a download link I could use - last response said sorry but it's too large to email to me! I've asked again for a link, and am waiting for a response.

I don't think they anticipated such problems or the need to provide such a solution.

I agree with your reasoning completely.

Ivanovich · 07-17-2010, 01:09 AM

I could sure use a copy of the card image too. I have plenty of computer skills, that is no problem. Right now my wife is grumbling bad things about Kobo since she ran the upgrade and now it refuses to sync.

It isn't too large to e-mail to me. My servers have no size limit on my accounts.

meowsqueak · 08-02-2010, 07:46 AM

Hello Michael,

I've been trying to upgrade the Kobo firmware for about an hour now, but I'm stuck. I'm stuck at the step where you do the "Three Finger Salute".

What happens when I press all three buttons simultaneously and then release power is... nothing. However if I press them simultaneously (or even one at a time, until all three are pressed together) and hold them for a second or so, then the red and blue lights flash alternately (about five times over 1 second), and then the light goes solid red.

However, the screen does not clear (it still shows the 'cover' of the current book) and the red light immediately goes off when any one of those three buttons are released.

I've tried different combinations, releasing each button first, holding for ten seconds, using the 'hard surface' trick. Nothing I do seems to get the device into upgrade mode.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

EDIT: just an additional note - I've just noticed if I press and hold Power for a second, it also does the blue/red alternate flash, then solid red, but now the device won't turn on unless I plug it back onto USB.

EDIT2: I've resolved this issue - I thought the Kobo was charged, but it turns out it was extremely empty - I left it charging overnight and tried again, and it worked. It seems that leaving it connected to a laptop the night prior doesn't charge it but runs it down instead...

08-02-2010, 07:46 AM	#30
meowsqueak Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: kobo	Hello Michael, I've been trying to upgrade the Kobo firmware for about an hour now, but I'm stuck. I'm stuck at the step where you do the "Three Finger Salute". What happens when I press all three buttons simultaneously and then release power is... nothing. However if I press them simultaneously (or even one at a time, until all three are pressed together) and hold them for a second or so, then the red and blue lights flash alternately (about five times over 1 second), and then the light goes solid red. However, the screen does not clear (it still shows the 'cover' of the current book) and the red light immediately goes off when any one of those three buttons are released. I've tried different combinations, releasing each button first, holding for ten seconds, using the 'hard surface' trick. Nothing I do seems to get the device into upgrade mode. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? EDIT: just an additional note - I've just noticed if I press and hold Power for a second, it also does the blue/red alternate flash, then solid red, but now the device won't turn on unless I plug it back onto USB. EDIT2: I've resolved this issue - I thought the Kobo was charged, but it turns out it was extremely empty - I left it charging overnight and tried again, and it worked. It seems that leaving it connected to a laptop the night prior doesn't charge it but runs it down instead... Last edited by meowsqueak; 08-03-2010 at 07:59 PM. Reason: resolved

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07-13-2010, 10:09 AM	#18
HamsterRage Evangelist Posts: 435 Karma: 24326 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kobo	I was really, really impressed by how the software walked you through the upgrade process with very clear instructions and a slick interface. I don't think I've ever seen that kind of process done so well. The XP, "New Device", step did throw me though. It seems you missed that, and it was even more troubling than it normally would have been because the upgrade program was so good. If it was a slapdash affair, I would have expected lots of normal events in the process to be missed and I would have been less worried.

07-13-2010, 11:16 PM	#19
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,630 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	after option 6 is done, do you unplug the Kobo and use the paperclip or leave it attached to the PC whilst reset takes place?

07-13-2010, 11:54 PM	#21
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,630 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	Beaut, cheers for that. I am still undecided about updating now or waiting until the next firmware release.

07-14-2010, 09:12 AM	#24
HamsterRage Evangelist Posts: 435 Karma: 24326 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Kobo	That a legit reason not to upgrade. I find the time from off to reading annoying. More often than not, I use the wait to check email on my Blackberry. Then I feel like a total wanker sitting there on the train with a Kobo in one hand and a Blackberry in the other. Oh well.

07-14-2010, 01:05 PM	#25
kitsullivan Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kobo	PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO RE-AUTHORIZE MY DEVICE. I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT. I COULD READ ALL MY BOOKS JUST FINE AND THEN TURNED MY DEVICE OFF. FATAL MISTAKE! WHEN I PLUG MY DEVICE IN, ADE RECOGNIZES MY DEVICE BUT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY RUN THE WIZARD TO SET IT UP. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP. I AM DESPERATE.

07-16-2010, 10:47 PM	#27
cas67 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: kobo	is there any reason why we can't just download the SD card image and flash it to an SD card ourselves? I'm a linux user (don't have windows on any of my computers, never have, and never will) and would have no problem creating or using an SD card to upgrade my kobo. in fact, for me it's the ONLY way i can upgrade. I don't and won't run closed-source software on my computers so even when you release a linux version of the kobo desktop program, i won't be installing or running it. (the fact that the kobo presents as a USB storage device and books can be just copied onto it, plus the fact that it's well supported by Calibre were the two main reasons i bought a Kobo rather than some other reader. and Kobo seems to be a very open-source friendly company) putting up a web page with instructions and download links to the SD image would also be useful to Windows and Mac users who accidentally brick their kobos while upgrading ("the cat pulled out my usb cable!" - betcha didn't have a cat in cable-attack mode in the office while testing . they could download and flash the image immediately instead of calling customer support and waiting for the post. and for future updates, it would also make it easy for us users to revert to a previous version if there was a problem or something we really disliked (like the sleep/power-off changes with the current new firmware).

07-17-2010, 01:09 AM	#29
Ivanovich electromechanist Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: BC, Canada Device: kobo	I could sure use a copy of the card image too. I have plenty of computer skills, that is no problem. Right now my wife is grumbling bad things about Kobo since she ran the upgrade and now it refuses to sync. It isn't too large to e-mail to me. My servers have no size limit on my accounts.