Kobo Glo Problems

[EagleRidgeGal]

Hi All,
I got my Kobo Glo 2mnths ago & I love it, BUT... my currents issues are:
1. It is taking >5 minutes to turn on with an 8gb microSD installed. Kobo said, basically, tough. This is a known issue but they have no plans to change documentation to say this happens when you use a microSD card. I only have ~2000 books, I know someone who has >20 000 & I dread to think how long their start up delay is!
2. I'm using 2.8.1 firmware & my 8Gb microSD card has ~2000 books side-loaded using latest 64bit Calibre (love that program), now, Glo see's the card, & it see's that it has data on it, but it won't display my books. On earlier firmware I was also using a 32Gb microSD card, they displayed just fine. Kobo's response - you need to do a Factory Reset - AGAIN!!! Joy, oh, joy. More hours spent putting things on shelves.
3. I have a shelf that the Glo created when it had a hiccup - it's called "". I cannot rename it, I cannot delete it, & managing it causes the Glo to freeze. I can however add and remove items in the shelf. But the factory reset did not remove it, as Kobo told me it would.
So, has anyone any useful suggestions? I would be extremely grateful, Cheers,

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by EagleRidgeGal

Hi All,
I got my Kobo Glo 2mnths ago & I love it, BUT... my currents issues are:
1. It is taking >5 minutes to turn on with an 8gb microSD installed. Kobo said, basically, tough. This is a known issue but they have no plans to change documentation to say this happens when you use a microSD card. I only have ~2000 books, I know someone who has >20 000 & I dread to think how long their start up delay is!

It isn't going to help you right now, but this seems to be fixed in the next firmware. Or at least, restarting my Glo with 2.9.0 (beta firmware) and 1000 books on the card takes about 45 seconds to get to the home screen. But, I have to say that when I was running 2.8.1, I didn't see any real restart performance problems. Of course, I rarely power off.

2. I'm using 2.8.1 firmware & my 8Gb microSD card has ~2000 books side-loaded using latest 64bit Calibre (love that program), now, Glo see's the card, & it see's that it has data on it, but it won't display my books. On earlier firmware I was also using a 32Gb microSD card, they displayed just fine. Kobo's response - you need to do a Factory Reset - AGAIN!!! Joy, oh, joy. More hours spent putting things on shelves.

By "Glo see's the card" I assume you mean the card is listed in the device information. And that you can't find the books on the card in the library list? What happens if you eject the card and reinsert it without powering off? Does calibre see the books on the card when you connect?

It does sound like the database on the device is corrupt. This could also affect the start up time. Logging off on the device will create a new database, take you through the setup and then add you books back in. The shelves would need to be created. But, you can use calibre to do that.

3. I have a shelf that the Glo created when it had a hiccup - it's called "". I cannot rename it, I cannot delete it, & managing it causes the Glo to freeze. I can however add and remove items in the shelf. But the factory reset did not remove it, as Kobo told me it would.

That's an interesting one. I think you would need to edit the database directly to get rid of it. It is an SQLite database. If you are comfortable with SQL or using an SQLite browsing tool, you need to find the row in the Shelf table for this shelf and change the value of "_IsDeleted" to "true". The KoboTouch driver in calibre can maintain the shelves, but I can't think what an empty shelf name would do to it.

[Risto40]

I also have 8gb card in my Glo, but I only have approx 50-70 books on it (some of them are on microSD, some on device memory). On memory card I have 12 pdf books that each size is between 100-200mb. I add-remove my books manually onto device or mem.card (because Calibre creates so many folders and I get confused). My devices restarts / starts very quickly, in less than a minute.

[EagleRidgeGal]

Thanks davidfor I will try your suggestions. I have changed to only sleeping the glo and not powering off - that's much better. I understand that Kobo's next FW update should fix the shelf problems too, according to one of their techs it's a known issue. We'll see...
davidfor said:

By "Glo see's the card" I assume you mean the card is listed in the device information. And that you can't find the books on the card in the library list?

Yes, I'm sorry, I should have made that clear at the start. The Glo lists the card in the device info. and correctly displays the available memory on the card. The card holds ~2000 books, side-loaded using Calibre 1.3 64-bit, but none of these books are displayed by the Glo. Previously I had a 32Gb microSD card loaded with ~1700 books, all side-loaded using Calibre (though 2 versions of Calibre prior and one version of Glo FW prior) and they were all displayed with no problems.
I'm not familiar with SQL but I'll do some research and give it a go. I'm having a lot of learning since getting the Glo and Calibre. But I'll give your idea's a try.

What happens if you eject the card and reinsert it without powering off? Does calibre see the books on the card when you connect?

Ejecting and reinserting the card whilst Glo running makes no difference to books on card being recognised/displayed. Calibre does indeed see all the books on the card and has no problems interacting with them the same as those on the unit's main memory.
Thanks for your help. I'm off to do some reading up on editing SQL and Calibre/Shelves.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by EagleRidgeGal

davidfor said: Yes, I'm sorry, I should have made that clear at the start. The Glo lists the card in the device info. and correctly displays the available memory on the card. The card holds ~2000 books, side-loaded using Calibre 1.3 64-bit, but none of these books are displayed by the Glo. Previously I had a 32Gb microSD card loaded with ~1700 books, all side-loaded using Calibre (though 2 versions of Calibre prior and one version of Glo FW prior) and they were all displayed with no problems.

I'm not familiar with SQL but I'll do some research and give it a go. I'm having a lot of learning since getting the Glo and Calibre. But I'll give your idea's a try.

Ejecting and reinserting the card whilst Glo running makes no difference to books on card being recognised/displayed. Calibre does indeed see all the books on the card and has no problems interacting with them the same as those on the unit's main memory.
Thanks for your help. I'm off to do some reading up on editing SQL and Calibre/Shelves.

All that is really weird and I haven't heard of that happening before. I would really like to see the database to try an work out what is happening.

Thinking of possibilities, there might be something in the "Kobo eReader.conf". If you look in it, in the section starting "[ApplicationPreferences]", there should an entry for the SD card. It is an eight digit hexadecimal number with a value of true. Mine has "90164EF8=true". Deleting that line might get the device to reprocess the books. That would mean it deleted all the books on the SD card from the database and then added them as new books. If you try this, remember what the id was in case it doesn't work.

Another way that might work is to insert a different card with just a few books. This should remove the current books from the database and then add the new books. Swapping the cards again should get the books on the card processed.

If you try either of the above and it doesn't work, tell me. Someone suggested a new function for the utilities plugin that should help to fix something like this. I haven't sat down to plan it, but someone with a need like this encourages me to do it.

[EagleRidgeGal]

Hello,

I think you would need to edit the database directly to get rid of it. It is an SQLite database. If you are comfortable with SQL or using an SQLite browsing tool, you need to find the row in the Shelf table for this shelf and change the value of "_IsDeleted" to "true".

I did it! And it worked. Yeay! Thanks DavidF, then I did the second thing you suggested,

It does sound like the database on the device is corrupt. This could also affect the start up time. Logging off on the device will create a new database, take you through the setup and then add you books back in.

I've been having additional problems with the Glo - this morning it was constantly refreshing the desktop on the Glo every 30 seconds or so, and there have been EXTREME delays in responses (eg. last night it took >15 minutes to open the library and scroll through 10 pages!!) So, I'd had ENOUGH and this morning (after the constant refresh incident) I did what you suggested re: logging off and re-installing the db. So far, so good. I've also re-formatted my 8Gb microSD card (again to FAT32) and I am now trialling (with Calibre) side-loading my books directly to the microSD card - it is installed in my laptop via an adaptor, and comparing that process to directly side-loading books to the same microSD card inserted in the Glo. The external trial appeared to work okay, all the books were subsequently recognised and displayed by the Glo, but Calibre is now saying this small sample has 2 copies each. I will check on the Glo and see if it recognises 2 copies of the same books. When I initially looked in the folders on the directly mounted microSD card post copying, it could only see one version of each book. Confusing. But a minor hiccup as things go. If this speeds up the Glo and allows me to have my entire library accessible at once all will be good.
DavidF thank you so much for your advice and help. I really appreciate it. You have been far more helpful than the Kobo technicians. Their response to my unnamed shelf problem was to offer to remotely delete all of my shelves, and yet their own rep had told me 3 days earlier that the next firmware update would probably fix this problem - a fact that technician #2 never even mentioned. Technician #2 has also repeatedly pressed me about wanting to know the sources of all of my ~2000 books - is that a normal request? Seemed a little odd to me.
Anyway thank you very much for your help. I will keep you appraised of whether this has been a successful fix or a temporary one. If this doesn't work I guess I'm looking at another factory reset. Oh well. That's tomorrow's problem. Cheers, Kaila.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by EagleRidgeGal

I did it! And it worked. Yeay! Thanks DavidF, then I did the second thing you suggested,

Glad that worked.

I've been having additional problems with the Glo - this morning it was constantly refreshing the desktop on the Glo every 30 seconds or so, and there have been EXTREME delays in responses (eg. last night it took >15 minutes to open the library and scroll through 10 pages!!) So, I'd had ENOUGH and this morning (after the constant refresh incident) I did what you suggested re: logging off and re-installing the db. So far, so good. I've also re-formatted my 8Gb microSD card (again to FAT32) and I am now trialling (with Calibre) side-loading my books directly to the microSD card - it is installed in my laptop via an adaptor, and comparing that process to directly side-loading books to the same microSD card inserted in the Glo. The external trial appeared to work okay, all the books were subsequently recognised and displayed by the Glo, but Calibre is now saying this small sample has 2 copies each. I will check on the Glo and see if it recognises 2 copies of the same books. When I initially looked in the folders on the directly mounted microSD card post copying, it could only see one version of each book. Confusing. But a minor hiccup as things go. If this speeds up the Glo and allows me to have my entire library accessible at once all will be good.

Calibre showing two copies of a book on the device probably means you have a copy in the main memory as well as the SD card. If this is the case, it shows it in the "OnDevice" column. Or two copies have been sent with different paths or file names. A way to check is using the delete prompt. In the library list, select one of the duplicated books and press delete. A prompt will ask you where to delete from, press the "Device" button. The next dialog shows the list of copies with the full path to each. You can see where they are

DavidF thank you so much for your advice and help. I really appreciate it. You have been far more helpful than the Kobo technicians. Their response to my unnamed shelf problem was to offer to remotely delete all of my shelves, and yet their own rep had told me 3 days earlier that the next firmware update would probably fix this problem - a fact that technician #2 never even mentioned. Technician #2 has also repeatedly pressed me about wanting to know the sources of all of my ~2000 books - is that a normal request? Seemed a little odd to me.

Deleting the shelves on the server is a quick way of fixing some of the problems with shelves. The question about the source of the books was probably to work out if they were kepubs purchased from Kobo or sideloaded from somewhere else. For the kepubs, the shelves they are on are synced to the server, so they can do different things about them.

Anyway thank you very much for your help. I will keep you appraised of whether this has been a successful fix or a temporary one. If this doesn't work I guess I'm looking at another factory reset. Oh well. That's tomorrow's problem. Cheers, Kaila.

Glad to be of help and I hope this has fixed things.

[filmo]

How did you format your SD card? Full overwrite format erases data on card but when I just format my Kobo still sees the books. This is using SD Card foundations format software. https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/for.../eula_windows/