Kobo problems after 1.8.3 firmware upgrade

balbados · 03-03-2011, 10:33 PM

Help please! I purchased my Kobo in October 2010 with the 1.4.? firmware and used Calibre to manage my library and to transfer ePub books to a 4 gig SDHC card in the Kobo. I was a very happy Kobo user and experienced no problems. Since upgrading the firmware to 1.8.3 there have been a series of issues which the Kobo help desk seem unable to acknowledge as problems, let alone suggest solutions for. The problems are:

1. The Kobo will not recognise the SDHC card and will not boot up when the card is present. When booted up with the card present it freezes with the indicator light eventually flashing blue.
2. With 1.8.3 firmware the Kobo will not recognise ePub books transferred with Calibre (or Adobe Digital Editions, or using drag and drop from Windows XP file explorer for that matter). Calibre initially "sees" the books on the Kobo when they are first transferred, then When the Kobo is ejected and reconnected to Calibre, the books no longer show in the Kobo library. Regardless of which software or transfer method is used, the ePub books never show in the Kobo library. Using Windows file explorer I can see the ePub books on the Kobo - they show as a sub-directory (by author name) of the Kobo root directory, with the ePub files in each sub-directory.

There are no problems reading books purchased from Borders, nor are there any issues with the free 100 preloaded books.

I have tried rebooting the Kobo, doing a factory reset, and re-downloading and reinstalling the 1.8.3 firmware - four times - with no resolution of any of these problems.

Kobo state that it is not possible to reinstall the 1.4.? firmware, although everything worked OK under this version. Is this correct, and if not, where can I get the necessary instructions and files from?

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to restore the Kobo to a pristine state with the 1.8.3 firmware, and again where do I get the directions and files from, and what directories and files should I delete from the Kobo before copying the new files?

I am looking forward to resolving these issues so that I can get back reading my ePub books.

bmag · 03-04-2011, 11:04 AM

Did you try to "re-authorize the device" in ADE?

balbados · 03-04-2011, 04:35 PM

Hi bmag

Thanks for reply.

When the problem first occurred I re-authorised ADE, but no joy. I then uninstalled ADE and deleted any residual files and directories, and then reinstalled ADE and re-authorised the Kobo. Still no joy. I currently do not have ADE installed at all. The ePub books that I want to reinstate on the Kobo are not "protected" by DRM so until the problem is fixed I would prefer not to "complicate" matters by introducing another factor.

I have had some partial success in resolving the recognition of the SDHC card. There were some ePub books on the card which had been transferred there with Calibre, and were readable on the Kobo under the 1.4.* firmware. When these were deleted (using File Explorer) and the card inserted in the Kobo it would boot up with the empty card. The moment that I transferred an ePub file (using Calibre) the Kobo would no longer recognise the presence of the card.

It is beginning to look like the problems are related to the ePub files themselves, and I would appreciate any ideas as to how the ePub files could be causing these problems. Note that none of the Epub books were DRM protected. The question is what changed when I upgraded the Kobo 1.8.3? Does the Kobo apply some form of DRM to the books, or is it loking for some addional ïdentifier? There has never been an error message on the Kobo.

Any help would be much appreciated.

taming · 03-04-2011, 07:09 PM

Do you have a current version of Calibre? Have you tried another card? The Kobo reader does not add DRM to DRM free books.

balbados · 03-04-2011, 08:52 PM

Hi Taming

Thank you for your response.

I am using the current version of Calibre (0.7.48)

The SDHC card problem has been fixed by deleting all directories and all ePub files. The Kobo will not boot up if there are any epub files on the card. For the moment I have removed the card and and will save new books to the Kobo's main memory.

The problems seem to be coming back to any ePub files that are added to the Kobo. Regardless of transfer method (using Calibre or drag and drop) the Kobo does not recognise the files as being present. When using Calibre to copy ePub's to the Kobo a new directory (named for the author) is added to the Kobo root directory and the ePub file is is in the new directory. I have even tried dragging and dropping the ePub file only to the Kobo root directory, but without success.

Is it possible that the Kobo will only see added books in one of the other sub-directories? If so, which one?

Looking forward to eventually resolving this.

kiwipippa · 03-05-2011, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by taming

Do you have a current version of Calibre? Have you tried another card? The Kobo reader does not add DRM to DRM free books.

Welcome back, it's been quiet around here lately, we've missed your sensible advice!

balbados · 03-06-2011, 02:25 AM

After many hours over the past weekend I can now refine an explanation of the problem, but the solution is beyond me.

Excluding the pre-loaded books and books downloaded from Borders, non-DRM ePub books that were loaded and readable with the old 1.4.* firmware no longer appear in the Kobo library. Using Windows file explorer I can see the directories and ePub files under the Kobo root directory.

I have been able to work around this by redownloading and installing the 1.8.3 update (eight times so far) and then opening and starting to read each of my ePub books in turn. (If they are not opened and read they do not show in the Kobo library when next I start it up.) It is a very tedious method of getting non-DRM ePubs onto the Kobo. The method used to place the books on the Kobo makes no difference, whether ADE, Calibre, or drag and drop from Windows.

The Kobo SQLITE file, Kepub and images files have been overwritten with a download from links on this website.

No doubt there is a cause for this problem but I am beyond caring what it is, I just want it fixed, even if it means erasing the entire mini SD card and overwriting it with a complete new set of files. Can this be done through Borders? Is it possible that there is a hardware problem?

BTW, no response from the Kobo desk yet.

bairdn · 03-06-2011, 05:52 PM

I had to delete all (Calibre) books from the library on the Kobo, then deleted them from Calibre, dragged & dropped them into Calibre from windows explorer, then reconverted them to ePub, and resetn the ePub to the Kobo - all works well now.

balbados · 03-07-2011, 04:18 AM

Thank you bairdn for the suggestion. It sounds like a task that will take a few hours which means I wont be able to do this for two weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

cutterjohn42 · 03-07-2011, 11:18 AM

There's also a thread for the wifi where we've been having problems generally with USB and SDHC cards, where added epubs are deleted. I got around this by pulling the SD card and directly writing to it via my notebooks internal reader so far.

Sorry typing on gtab, so no post link. Calibre was also failing.

balbados · 03-08-2011, 12:42 PM

Thank you cutterjohn 42 - I tried this using another USB cable to the Kobo, and it worked. (Now I'm not sure whether or not the old cable was problem, although it was working fine with other equipment.) I copied one non-DRM ePub onto an empty 4gb SDHC card via the card reader on my computer and then with the card in the Kobo it was turned on - and there it was!!! Pushing my luck I then used Calibre to transfer books to both the card and the main memory of the Kobo and everything is working "as advertised".

Thank you to all who contributed their suggestions.

bairdn · 03-08-2011, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by balbados

Thank you bairdn for the suggestion. It sounds like a task that will take a few hours which means I wont be able to do this for two weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

It took me about 2 hours for about 30 books - but I was interrupted a couple of times.

pondego · 07-22-2012, 03:53 PM

have Kobo version 1.8.3 and Calibre version 0.8.61.. I can't do a thing because Calibre won't work any more.. anyone have an alternate to Calibre?

Peggy

PeterT · 07-22-2012, 04:36 PM

Can you clarify what you mean by "Calibre won't work any more....".

Which Kobo do you have? Original or WiFi (sorry I've forgotten what versions of firmware those units had).

The Terminator · 07-24-2012, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Can you clarify what you mean by "Calibre won't work any more....".

Which Kobo do you have? Original or WiFi (sorry I've forgotten what versions of firmware those units had).

It would be the Kobo 1.

03-03-2011, 10:33 PM	#1
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	Kobo problems after 1.8.3 firmware upgrade Help please! I purchased my Kobo in October 2010 with the 1.4.? firmware and used Calibre to manage my library and to transfer ePub books to a 4 gig SDHC card in the Kobo. I was a very happy Kobo user and experienced no problems. Since upgrading the firmware to 1.8.3 there have been a series of issues which the Kobo help desk seem unable to acknowledge as problems, let alone suggest solutions for. The problems are: 1. The Kobo will not recognise the SDHC card and will not boot up when the card is present. When booted up with the card present it freezes with the indicator light eventually flashing blue. 2. With 1.8.3 firmware the Kobo will not recognise ePub books transferred with Calibre (or Adobe Digital Editions, or using drag and drop from Windows XP file explorer for that matter). Calibre initially "sees" the books on the Kobo when they are first transferred, then When the Kobo is ejected and reconnected to Calibre, the books no longer show in the Kobo library. Regardless of which software or transfer method is used, the ePub books never show in the Kobo library. Using Windows file explorer I can see the ePub books on the Kobo - they show as a sub-directory (by author name) of the Kobo root directory, with the ePub files in each sub-directory. There are no problems reading books purchased from Borders, nor are there any issues with the free 100 preloaded books. I have tried rebooting the Kobo, doing a factory reset, and re-downloading and reinstalling the 1.8.3 firmware - four times - with no resolution of any of these problems. Kobo state that it is not possible to reinstall the 1.4.? firmware, although everything worked OK under this version. Is this correct, and if not, where can I get the necessary instructions and files from? Can anyone tell me if it is possible to restore the Kobo to a pristine state with the 1.8.3 firmware, and again where do I get the directions and files from, and what directories and files should I delete from the Kobo before copying the new files? I am looking forward to resolving these issues so that I can get back reading my ePub books.

03-04-2011, 04:35 PM	#3
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	Kobo problems after 1.8.3 firmware upgrade Hi bmag Thanks for reply. When the problem first occurred I re-authorised ADE, but no joy. I then uninstalled ADE and deleted any residual files and directories, and then reinstalled ADE and re-authorised the Kobo. Still no joy. I currently do not have ADE installed at all. The ePub books that I want to reinstate on the Kobo are not "protected" by DRM so until the problem is fixed I would prefer not to "complicate" matters by introducing another factor. I have had some partial success in resolving the recognition of the SDHC card. There were some ePub books on the card which had been transferred there with Calibre, and were readable on the Kobo under the 1.4.* firmware. When these were deleted (using File Explorer) and the card inserted in the Kobo it would boot up with the empty card. The moment that I transferred an ePub file (using Calibre) the Kobo would no longer recognise the presence of the card. It is beginning to look like the problems are related to the ePub files themselves, and I would appreciate any ideas as to how the ePub files could be causing these problems. Note that none of the Epub books were DRM protected. The question is what changed when I upgraded the Kobo 1.8.3? Does the Kobo apply some form of DRM to the books, or is it loking for some addional ïdentifier? There has never been an error message on the Kobo. Any help would be much appreciated.

03-04-2011, 08:52 PM	#5
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	Kobo problems after 1.8.3 firmware upgrade Hi Taming Thank you for your response. I am using the current version of Calibre (0.7.48) The SDHC card problem has been fixed by deleting all directories and all ePub files. The Kobo will not boot up if there are any epub files on the card. For the moment I have removed the card and and will save new books to the Kobo's main memory. The problems seem to be coming back to any ePub files that are added to the Kobo. Regardless of transfer method (using Calibre or drag and drop) the Kobo does not recognise the files as being present. When using Calibre to copy ePub's to the Kobo a new directory (named for the author) is added to the Kobo root directory and the ePub file is is in the new directory. I have even tried dragging and dropping the ePub file only to the Kobo root directory, but without success. Is it possible that the Kobo will only see added books in one of the other sub-directories? If so, which one? Looking forward to eventually resolving this.

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03-04-2011, 11:04 AM	#2
bmag Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Kobo (wireless); Kindle 3	Did you try to "re-authorize the device" in ADE?

03-04-2011, 07:09 PM	#4
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	Do you have a current version of Calibre? Have you tried another card? The Kobo reader does not add DRM to DRM free books.

03-06-2011, 02:25 AM	#7
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	After many hours over the past weekend I can now refine an explanation of the problem, but the solution is beyond me. Excluding the pre-loaded books and books downloaded from Borders, non-DRM ePub books that were loaded and readable with the old 1.4.* firmware no longer appear in the Kobo library. Using Windows file explorer I can see the directories and ePub files under the Kobo root directory. I have been able to work around this by redownloading and installing the 1.8.3 update (eight times so far) and then opening and starting to read each of my ePub books in turn. (If they are not opened and read they do not show in the Kobo library when next I start it up.) It is a very tedious method of getting non-DRM ePubs onto the Kobo. The method used to place the books on the Kobo makes no difference, whether ADE, Calibre, or drag and drop from Windows. The Kobo SQLITE file, Kepub and images files have been overwritten with a download from links on this website. No doubt there is a cause for this problem but I am beyond caring what it is, I just want it fixed, even if it means erasing the entire mini SD card and overwriting it with a complete new set of files. Can this be done through Borders? Is it possible that there is a hardware problem? BTW, no response from the Kobo desk yet.

03-06-2011, 05:52 PM	#8
bairdn Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kob	I had to delete all (Calibre) books from the library on the Kobo, then deleted them from Calibre, dragged & dropped them into Calibre from windows explorer, then reconverted them to ePub, and resetn the ePub to the Kobo - all works well now.

03-07-2011, 04:18 AM	#9
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	Thank you bairdn for the suggestion. It sounds like a task that will take a few hours which means I wont be able to do this for two weeks. I'll let you know how it goes.

03-07-2011, 11:18 AM	#10
cutterjohn42 Addict Posts: 274 Karma: 1029955 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Palm IIIx, EBM-911, REB-1100(dead), PRS-505	There's also a thread for the wifi where we've been having problems generally with USB and SDHC cards, where added epubs are deleted. I got around this by pulling the SD card and directly writing to it via my notebooks internal reader so far. Sorry typing on gtab, so no post link. Calibre was also failing.

03-08-2011, 12:42 PM	#11
balbados Junior Member Posts: 9 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kobo	Thank you cutterjohn 42 - I tried this using another USB cable to the Kobo, and it worked. (Now I'm not sure whether or not the old cable was problem, although it was working fine with other equipment.) I copied one non-DRM ePub onto an empty 4gb SDHC card via the card reader on my computer and then with the card in the Kobo it was turned on - and there it was!!! Pushing my luck I then used Calibre to transfer books to both the card and the main memory of the Kobo and everything is working "as advertised". Thank you to all who contributed their suggestions.

07-22-2012, 03:53 PM	#13
pondego Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2011 Device: Kobo	have Kobo version 1.8.3 and Calibre version 0.8.61.. I can't do a thing because Calibre won't work any more.. anyone have an alternate to Calibre? Peggy

07-22-2012, 04:36 PM	#14
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,166 Karma: 73448616 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Nexus 7, Clara, Touch, Tolino EPOS	Can you clarify what you mean by "Calibre won't work any more....". Which Kobo do you have? Original or WiFi (sorry I've forgotten what versions of firmware those units had).

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