Aura HD Loss of Tiles on Homescreen after turning on the device.

[rkr]

i have been having this problem after the following happened:
problem: the reader doesnt display last books read on the home screen until i open any one book stored on the device(i have books in memory card).-started after reset.

the bug started to happen when i did a reset after my kobo aura hd hanged after i plugged my aura hd to the computer and clicked connect on the kobo.
the computer after that didnt recognize the reader . so i unplugged it and did a pin hole reset .after that whenever i turn off and then on the books on the home screen dissapear. on shelves and stats remain unless i open a book by going inside library or shelves or i dismiss a tile.

I have done two resets to my reader both were when i formatted the memory card and inserted into the reader(as my ereader displayed cant recognize fat 32 memory card(or something like that)).when i connected my ereader to the computer to add books it hanged.the first time after reset the above bug didnt appear.but after the second reset the above bug appeared.

i have been suggested by davidfor to check the database with kobo utilities plugin in calibre as he suspected it was corrupted but it returned OK.

what should i do ?
pls help
thanks in advance

[rkr]

also i have started to encounter some weird problems

1)one time tiles became very big that they didnt fit the screen and info was half visible
2) and also sometimes while turning on a vertical black thick line(about 1 inch thick) comes and goes (when only the 5 squares are on the screen). this never happened before although the device doesnt hang.

i have also signed out and again setup the device but problem still remains

another suggestion i got was to factory reset and i just wanted to clear some doubts:

if i have to do a factory reset should i remove the memory card? should i format the memory card before entering it into the reader after factory reset? how should i deauthorize my account before factory reset so that i dont loose books i downloaded from kobo store? would i have to re install latest firmware after factory reset?

IF there is any other method to try before a factory reset pls tell me what to do.

pls help
thanks in advance

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rkr

if i have to do a factory reset should i remove the memory card? should i format the memory card before entering it into the reader after factory reset? how should i deauthorize my account before factory reset so that i dont loose books i downloaded from kobo store? would i have to re install latest firmware after factory reset?

IF there is any other method to try before a factory reset pls tell me what to do.

pls help
thanks in advance

I'd remove the external uSD card just to speed things up. You don't need to deauthorize anything before the factory reset. If you are using ADE, copy the .adobe-digital-editions directory to your computer before doing the reset as it contains the activation.xml file -- copy it back afterwards and you won't have to reauthorize your Kobo to read Adobe DRMed ebooks.

You will need to install the latest firmware after the reset. This will be done as part of the initial setup whether you connect over WiFi or by connecting to a computer running the Kobo desktop application.

After all this is finished, you can re-insert the uSD card and let your Kobo process the books on it.

One note is that with the later firmware on my Kobos, a power cycle removes quite a few of the icons from the home page and the library icon shows every book on the uSD card as having been added. For now, I regard this as a relatively harmless bug since the books I am reading from the uSD card show in the recently read view of the library making it easy to reopen them.

Good luck!
David

[davidfor]

@rkr: Firstly, sorry for not getting back to you. I read your other responses and couldn't think of anything. Actually, one thing did occur to me overnight.

Is the clock on the device correct? And does it stay correct after the power off and on? What is displayed on the home screen is based on time. If there is a problem with the clock, this could explain things.

But, I think you will need to do a factory reset. DNSB's advice for this is good. There are two other things I would do. Firstly, take a copy of books that you have sideloaded onto the main memory. That gives you an easy way to get them back on. I would also use my Kobo Utlitites plugin in calibre to store the reading status of all the books. That way they can be restored after the factory reset.

[rkr]

@davidfor,@DNSB thank you for you advice. i m very grateful.

i also wanted to share that now the problem still remains after the factory reset but to a lesser degree. the tiles update sometimes and sometimes not and only the ones that i read last get updated (and the books read before the last read book dont update on the homescreen-they did earlier). i have calibre shelf management set to (only on send). i have all my books on memory card.can the mmc be at fault?

@davidfor i checked the time after factory reset and it showed time as 1 pm but actually it was 1:15 so i changed it to 1:15. i hope you can find the solution to the bug

and i also noticed one more thing i removed all books with calibre but still the tile which shows library books added says 44. then i added 8 books still it said 44 books added although there were only it in the library.

pls help
thanks in advance

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rkr

@davidfor,@DNSB thank you for you advice. i m very grateful.

i also wanted to share that now the problem still remains after the factory reset but to a lesser degree. the tiles update sometimes and sometimes not and only the ones that i read last get updated (and the books read before the last read book dont update on the homescreen-they did earlier). i have calibre shelf management set to (only on send). i have all my books on memory card.can the mmc be at fault?

The driver only has a direct affect on the tiles if you use calibre to remove a book or a shelf gets deleted.

@davidfor i checked the time after factory reset and it showed time as 1 pm but actually it was 1:15 so i changed it to 1:15. i hope you can find the solution to the bug

15 minutes wouldn't have done it. I was thinking more along the lines of wrong year.

and i also noticed one more thing i removed all books with calibre but still the tile which shows library books added says 44. then i added 8 books still it said 44 books added although there were only it in the library.

That doesn't surprise me. Each tile is an entry in the database. The entry for the library tile has the list of new books found. Deleting them using calibre won't cause an update of this.

Can I see the database and config file from the device? The database is in the directory ".kobo" and is called "KoboReader.sqlite". The config file is in ".kobo\Kobo" and is called "Kobo eReader.conf". If you can upload them somewhere and PM the link, I can look at them. Or PM me for an email address you can send them to.

[rkr]

@davidfor i have sent you a PM with dropbox links

thanks

[davidfor]

I have the files and have looked at them.

The database tells me that the tiles should be: sync, two preview kepubs, one sideloaded kepub, a shelf, an Award and the library. The other thing is that all your sideloaded books are on the SD card.

One thing I realised that you haven't mentioned is what firmware version you are on.

Also, can you sideload a book to the main memory. And open one of the PDFs on the SD card. Then see what happens after the power off.

[rkr]

@davidfor
my firmware version is 2.8.1(b2c05cda0e ,9/20/13)

i think homescreen ia now updating correctly.i added the calibre manual epub in the main memory and the tiles are now getting updated after i power on. but the book that i read before the last read book (the first and largest tile) is not there after i power on(it was there before i powered off).

is this normal or do all the the other books on the homescreen before turn off get updated after turning on the kobo?

and also as the reader first opens after turning on the homescreen shows the the calibre book and library tile shows 9 books added and then my last read book appears after a screen refresh and library tile shows 36 books added which maybe is correct.do you think the( 9 books added) bug is harmless?

thanks

[rkr]

i aslo wanted to tell you that i removed the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre before the factory reset but i cant say that for sure as i cant remember that were these files still there on the ereader after factory reset(if i didnt delete them before) but anyway i had deleted them in the process before re adding the books . but i think i may have deleted other folders in the process i dont know.

before the reset i had copied all the files of the reader on the pc(folder names are-.kobo,.adobe-digital-editions,Digital Editions,folder images,samsung.&file names are-driveinfo.calibre , metadata.calibre).
i dont know how folder images and samsung got in the reader(i have a samsung laptop though).

so now after the reset there are less folders than before(folder names are-.kobo,.adobe-digital-editions,&file names are-driveinfo.calibre , metadata.calibre).

the digital editions folder is absent(i dont know if i deleted it) . and i could not find the annotation or manifest folder in the ereader. i cant see any .annot file on the ereader although i have made few annotation(highlights, bookmarks ) to books after the reset.

is the digital editions folder important?where can i find the annotions i did? should i copy the special editions folder from my pc to reader?

pls help
thanks in advance

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by rkr

@davidfor
my firmware version is 2.8.1(b2c05cda0e ,9/20/13)

There was a bug in a a firmware version with sideloading kepubs to the SD card and the home screen. But, it was fixed before 2.8.1.

i think homescreen ia now updating correctly.i added the calibre manual epub in the main memory and the tiles are now getting updated after i power on. but the book that i read before the last read book (the first and largest tile) is not there after i power on(it was there before i powered off).

is this normal or do all the the other books on the homescreen before turn off get updated after turning on the kobo?

No, it isn't. Apart from the library tile, they should stay the same when you power off and on.

and also as the reader first opens after turning on the homescreen shows the the calibre book and library tile shows 9 books added and then my last read book appears after a screen refresh and library tile shows 36 books added which maybe is correct.do you think the( 9 books added) bug is harmless?

This is annoying but normal. If there is an SD card installed, then each time you power on, it will check the card for new books. This takes a few seconds after the home screen is displayed. When it is done, the home screen is updated and the library tile shows all the books on the SD card as new. But, it doesn't affect the reading status or position in the library lists.

Originally Posted by rkr

i aslo wanted to tell you that i removed the driveinfo.calibre and metadata.calibre before the factory reset but i cant say that for sure as i cant remember that were these files still there on the ereader after factory reset(if i didnt delete them before) but anyway i had deleted them in the process before re adding the books . but i think i may have deleted other folders in the process i dont know.

The factory reset wipes the user partition of the device. No files on it survive. That was the reason for the suggestion to back them up.

before the reset i had copied all the files of the reader on the pc(folder names are-.kobo,.adobe-digital-editions,Digital Editions,folder images,samsung.&file names are-driveinfo.calibre , metadata.calibre).
i dont know how folder images and samsung got in the reader(i have a samsung laptop though).

so now after the reset there are less folders than before(folder names are-.kobo,.adobe-digital-editions,&file names are-driveinfo.calibre , metadata.calibre).

That is normal. Most of these files and folders are created by something automatically. "driveinfo.calibre" and "metadata.calibre" are created the first time calibre sees the device and then changed on each connection. Most of the other folders are created by the firmware when needed. I'm not sure about "images" but "samsung" was probably created by an app on the laptop. Most likely it is a backup app that Samsung provides.

the digital editions folder is absent(i dont know if i deleted it) . and i could not find the annotation or manifest folder in the ereader. i cant see any .annot file on the ereader although i have made few annotation(highlights, bookmarks ) to books after the reset.

is the digital editions folder important?where can i find the annotions i did? should i copy the special editions folder from my pc to reader?

"Digital editions" is created when you open an epub or PDF that is on the main memory. If you put books back on the main memory and had annotations, you can restore the directory and they should be picked up. Otherwise, just ignore them.

In case you haven't worked it out, I don't know what is happening. It should work and is working for others on that firmware. But, there is a workaround: Don't power off. Your config file shows you have auto power off set. Change to sleep and then never power off. It will run the battery down faster, but not that much. And starting to read will be a lot quicker after hitting the power button.