Touch Kobo Touch bricked with the screen "Restarting"

[Mallano]

Hi guys.

Kobo Desktop doesn't recognize my ereader, but my computer shows the main/external card sd. So i copied the upgrade files in the .kobo folder and unplugged the device. The e-reader at this moment is frozen and just shows the text "Restarting" in different languages. I was read many topics of this forum and i tried so many times to do a hard reset with multiple button combinations without success.

Right now my kobo has the following conditions:

• My device is fully charged
  When I do a factory reset with the device on, the led is red and nothing happens.
• The computer doesn't recognize my device.
• This model has the main memory sd embedded into the device.

Also I wrote to the seller for technical support, but he said the same in this forum.

Thanks in advice.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Mallano

Hi guys.

Kobo Desktop doesn't recognize my ereader, but my computer shows the main/external card sd. So i copied the upgrade files in the .kobo folder and unplugged the device. The e-reader at this moment is frozen and just shows the text "Restarting" in different languages. I was read many topics of this forum and i tried so many times to do a hard reset with multiple button combinations without success.

Which firmware version and package did you use? If you used anything except the Mark3 package and put the "updates" directory on the device, I think you are stuck.

• My device is fully charged
  When I do a factory reset with the device on, the led is red and nothing happens.

Just to check, for the factory reset using the buttons to work, the device has to be off. To force it off, hold the power slider in the off position for at least 20 seconds. There won't be any visible change.

And the device has to be charged. Even if it was fully charged when this started, you need to charge it again. The device is likely to be in a loop using a lot of CPU. Put it on charge for a while, force it off and then try the factory reset.

[Mallano]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Which firmware version and package did you use? If you used anything except the Mark3 package and put the "updates" directory on the device, I think you are stuck.

The device had the firnaware 1.9 and I downloaded a zip file with the version 3.11.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Just to check, for the factory reset using the buttons to work, the device has to be off. To force it off, hold the power slider in the off position for at least 20 seconds. There won't be any visible change.

And the device has to be charged. Even if it was fully charged when this started, you need to charge it again. The device is likely to be in a loop using a lot of CPU. Put it on charge for a while, force it off and then try the factory reset.

OK, later I'll comment that occurs.

Thanks!

[Mallano]

Nothing happens. The button on/off is red when I try to do a hard reset.

[davidfor]

Firstly, there is little point in posting in a second thread when you have your own discussing a problem. It just means the people trying to help have to keep track of where they answered what. It quickly becomes annoying and to be honest, I think it reduces the chances of you getting help.

Originally Posted by Mallano

Nothing happens. The button on/off is red when I try to do a hard reset.

Sorry, I can't think of what a the red LED means. But, if you have followed the instructions for doing the factory reset properly and nothing happens, then I don't know what to suggest. As the N905 version of the Touch doesn't have removable internal memory, I don't know of a way to rewrite the memory to fix those sort of problems. At this point, the only thing I can suggest is to talk to Kobo and see if they are willing to do something.

[Mallano]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Firstly, there is little point in posting in a second thread when you have your own discussing a problem. It just means the people trying to help have to keep track of where they answered what. It quickly becomes annoying and to be honest, I think it reduces the chances of you getting help.



Sorry, I can't think of what a the red LED means. But, if you have followed the instructions for doing the factory reset properly and nothing happens, then I don't know what to suggest. As the N905 version of the Touch doesn't have removable internal memory, I don't know of a way to rewrite the memory to fix those sort of problems. At this point, the only thing I can suggest is to talk to Kobo and see if they are willing to do something.

I wrote this problem because I can't solve it in the old posts. I'm so sorry I was thinking that is very useful a new post for replies.
The led is a light of switch button (on/off), maybe I made a mistake because my English is very bad.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Mallano

I wrote this problem because I can't solve it in the old posts. I'm so sorry I was thinking that is very useful a new post for replies.

My issue was that you had started this thread and had some replies. Then you posted in another thread from several months back that didn't have a reply. And didn't describe the problem you are having.

The led is a light of switch button (on/off), maybe I made a mistake because my English is very bad.

Sorry, I meant I don't know what it means when the LED is red. Green is charging and blue is activity such as booting. Based on what you are seeing. red is probably a bad state, can't boot state.

[TechniSol]

I recall that I had something similar to this happen once when updating my Touch. It's been a while, but as I recall, the trick was to plug in the USB cable for power(used laptop & cable as I recall -might have left it plugged in for a while first), and hold the power button for 20 secs or so to make sure it was off, then while still charging perform a reset with the buttons and the reset hole at the same time(several hands are required or you must manage the front button and reset hole with one hand while flicking the power with the other.) which got it to restore back to the original firmware and then I updated it through WIFI again and all went well. Took a while and had me on tenterhooks until it finally restarted with the latest firmware.

Really had me going for a while, if I remember correctly it took quite a few tries to finally get the restore to begin. I can only guess that something glitched during the first firmware download via WIFI and was not caught prior to the unit trying to update or that the update glitched for some other reason after the checksum showed the firmware was OK(I'm assuming they compare checksums before applying an update). Not sure if it makes a difference, but I have the Touch with an internal SDHC -though I've never actually had to manually re-image it.(Nice to have in case you do get stuck!)

One more thought, I'm not sure if it makes any difference to the hardware, but I'm not sure in what order I released the reset microswitch or the button -you might try multiple combinations, but always hold the power switch for 20 seconds first, so that you're starting in the OFF state, release it, press & hold the buttons and then flick the power switch. I'd watch the LED & LCD carefully while flicking and after to see if any change is noticed. The only other thing that comes to mind is that if all else fails you might try opening the unit up and unplugging the battery for 10-20 seconds and then recharging/resetting. This has been known to reset units that were somehow hopelessly locked up or maybe stuck in a loop of some sort. I'd maybe try the reset right after that, rather than holding the power switch off for 20 seconds as it should be completely off after disconnecting the battery...

Good luck!

[Mallano]

Originally Posted by davidfor

My issue was that you had started this thread and had some replies. Then you posted in another thread from several months back that didn't have a reply. And didn't describe the problem you are having.

This is my first topic created and I just read these topics and its has a solution, but I did these solutions without success.

Originally Posted by TechniSol

I recall that I had something similar to this happen once when updating my Touch. It's been a while, but as I recall, the trick was to plug in the USB cable for power(used laptop & cable as I recall -might have left it plugged in for a while first), and hold the power button for 20 secs or so to make sure it was off, then while still charging perform a reset with the buttons and the reset hole at the same time(several hands are required or you must manage the front button and reset hole with one hand while flicking the power with the other.) which got it to restore back to the original firmware and then I updated it through WIFI again and all went well. Took a while and had me on tenterhooks until it finally restarted with the latest firmware.

Really had me going for a while, if I remember correctly it took quite a few tries to finally get the restore to begin. I can only guess that something glitched during the first firmware download via WIFI and was not caught prior to the unit trying to update or that the update glitched for some other reason after the checksum showed the firmware was OK(I'm assuming they compare checksums before applying an update). Not sure if it makes a difference, but I have the Touch with an internal SDHC -though I've never actually had to manually re-image it.(Nice to have in case you do get stuck!)

One more thought, I'm not sure if it makes any difference to the hardware, but I'm not sure in what order I released the reset microswitch or the button -you might try multiple combinations, but always hold the power switch for 20 seconds first, so that you're starting in the OFF state, release it, press & hold the buttons and then flick the power switch. I'd watch the LED & LCD carefully while flicking and after to see if any change is noticed. The only other thing that comes to mind is that if all else fails you might try opening the unit up and unplugging the battery for 10-20 seconds and then recharging/resetting. This has been known to reset units that were somehow hopelessly locked up or maybe stuck in a loop of some sort. I'd maybe try the reset right after that, rather than holding the power switch off for 20 seconds as it should be completely off after disconnecting the battery...

Good luck!

Thanks I'll try to do a hard reset this way and I'll comment the situation.

Edited

I try so many times to do it friend, but nothing happens. When i did it, the light button is turn blue and then is off. Even i pushed the power button for more than 20 seconds.