Aura HD Stuck at 85% "Processing content" issue

[Ken Maltby]

Trying to use a large collection of ebook files on an external uSD card causes the Kobo device to process the file data into its database. In the case of any number of files over ~500, the processing display will progress in a normal fashon until it reaches "85% complete" then there is no further indication that any processing is underway. At this time, it is over seven hours and my AuraHD is still displaying "Processing content, One moment please..., 85% complete". This unchanging display gives no indication whether any actual processing is still happening.

One solution is to use "giorgio130"'s port of KoReader to the Kobo, which has a normal File Manager to access the files and doesn't engage in the "Processing" that the "normal" software on the Kobos is so committed to. (KoReader made an ~8000 ebook collection on an external uSD card available for file selection and reading, in a couple of seconds.)

Has anyone found another approach that allows for the use of a large number of ebooks?
Or an explanation of how and why this is occurring?

Luck;
Ken

[TechniSol]

Just a guess, but it's probably getting hung up on a "bad" eBook about 85% of the way through... I cannot say exactly what causes it to get hung, as I'm not sure exactly what is getting looked at in the ebooks, but we know Kobo is gathering info for the db.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by TechniSol

Just a guess, but it's probably getting hung up on a "bad" eBook about 85% of the way through... I cannot say exactly what causes it to get hung, as I'm not sure exactly what is getting looked at in the ebooks, but we know Kobo is gathering info for the db.

I doubt that it is a bad ebook file as I have used cards with the files arranged
differently and it always displays 85%. I also doubt very much that 85% of the 7 or 8000 files on the SD cards get processed in these attempts.

Luck;
Ken

[PeterT]

Correct. Now is there any sign on the device that it is still processing? Any indicator twirling, lights flashing?

If not, you could also have run out of battery; remember that an eInk display needs no power to stay active, and that when the unit shutsdown, the last screen displayed remains on the display.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Correct. Now is there any sign on the device that it is still processing? Any indicator twirling, lights flashing?

If not, you could also have run out of battery; remember that an eInk display needs no power to stay active, and that when the unit shutsdown, the last screen displayed remains on the display.

No lights, and it doesn't take very long, perhaps <5 min to reach the "85%" display; also I have it plugged into a 500mA USB power wart, just to avoid that issue.

I don't think this is uncommon and seems very reproducible.

Luck;
Ken

[PeterT]

This normnally means nothing more than a malformed eBook causing the issue. This is an issue that has been present since day 1 with the Kobo line of eReaders.

[Ken Maltby]

Since it's been eight hours, and as PeterT has pointed out it could have actually shut down and just left the Black Page display in place, I will try to startup the device.
It wouldn't start and I had to hold the switch for a poweroff before I could start it up. It brought up the home screen for a second or two then went to the black processing screen and started the processing all over again. It has now reached 85% and remains there. It may have taken a little less time to get there, for this attempt.

Luck;
Ken

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Trying to use a large collection of ebook files on an external uSD card causes the Kobo device to process the file data into its database. In the case of any number of files over ~500, the processing display will progress in a normal fashon until it reaches "85% complete" then there is no further indication that any processing is underway. At this time, it is over seven hours and my AuraHD is still displaying "Processing content, One moment please..., 85% complete". This unchanging display gives no indication whether any actual processing is still happening.

One solution is to use "giorgio130"'s port of KoReader to the Kobo, which has a normal File Manager to access the files and doesn't engage in the "Processing" that the "normal" software on the Kobos is so committed to. (KoReader made an ~8000 ebook collection on an external uSD card available for file selection and reading, in a couple of seconds.)

Has anyone found another approach that allows for the use of a large number of ebooks?
Or an explanation of how and why this is occurring?

Luck;
Ken

I have over on my aura currently 3293 books. I have no issue with the device locking up. Had to do a reset last night it took a small bit of time for it to surpass 95% but it got the job done in under an hour aprox.

regards

Jack

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by PeterT

This normnally means nothing more than a malformed eBook causing the issue. This is an issue that has been present since day 1 with the Kobo line of eReaders.

That would suggest the worst possible error handling in their processing software. But I can remove the external SD card and remove random folders until I have it down to half its current size, that should insure that any "malformed eBook" will be in a different place and if that were the cause we should see something other than 85%, correct? Although it could be that the progress being reported is bogus and not based on the size of the data being processed.

Luck;
Ken

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

That would suggest the worst possible error handling in their processing software. But I can remove the external SD card and remove random folders until I have it down to half its current size, that should insure that any "malformed eBook" will be in a different place and if that were the cause we should see something other than 85%, correct? Although it could be that the progress being reported is bogus and not based on the size of the data being processed.

Luck;
Ken

Ken have you considered that maybe its just taking its time? I mean I know mine took a bit of time to process my Ebooks and I do have thousands on my reader

[Ken Maltby]

Ok, I tried again after removing a large folder and now it is stuck at 77%. So, that would indicate a bad file problem after all.

I will try again to isolate the offending file. If this proves to be the cause of the hang, Kobo should take a close look at their error handling and perhaps provide additional indication of when processing is still running.

Luck;
Ken

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Trying to use a large collection of ebook files on an external uSD card causes the Kobo device to process the file data into its database. In the case of any number of files over ~500, the processing display will progress in a normal fashon until it reaches "85% complete" then there is no further indication that any processing is underway. At this time, it is over seven hours and my AuraHD is still displaying "Processing content, One moment please..., 85% complete". This unchanging display gives no indication whether any actual processing is still happening.

One solution is to use "giorgio130"'s port of KoReader to the Kobo, which has a normal File Manager to access the files and doesn't engage in the "Processing" that the "normal" software on the Kobos is so committed to. (KoReader made an ~8000 ebook collection on an external uSD card available for file selection and reading, in a couple of seconds.)

Has anyone found another approach that allows for the use of a large number of ebooks?
Or an explanation of how and why this is occurring?

I've stuffed over 7,000 books onto an Aura using an uSD card without any hanging issues. Generally, when the processing hangs, it's a pretty good indicator that an epub that has issues is hanging the process. Sometime, if you do a pinhole reset, it will skip that book, otherwise you will need to remove that book. Locating a corrupted book is a bit of fun.


Alternately, you might want to place the books onto your Aura in smaller quantities until you locate the book(s) that causes the hang or use other programs to check the epubs for issues.

The approach I've been using lately is to use the Kobo Touch Extended driver. It will stop on most corrupted files and complain about them. Remove the corrupted file from the list to be sent to your Kobo and try again. Keep track of the corrupted files for later clean up/removal/recycling of electrons.

My two favourite checkers FlightCrew (downloadable from http://code.google.com/p/flightcrew/) and epubcheck (I use a batch file to check a mass of epubs though the log file tends to get very large and painful to read -- epubcheck is very fussy). For epubchecking a single file, I'd suggest the Pagina-epubcheck (downloadable from http://www.pagina-online.de/software/epub-checker/) which gives a GUI wrapper around epubcheck which is handier for single files.

Regards,
David

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by jackastor

Ken have you considered that maybe its just taking its time? I mean I know mine took a bit of time to process my Ebooks and I do have thousands on my reader

When I stuffed the 7000+ books on a friend's Aura, it took about a while to to process. It took longer for Calibre using the Kobo Touch Extended driver to process the books to .kepub.epub and send the ebooks, covers and metadata to the Aura. The second pass to send the series information and so on took about 4 minutes with virtually no delay on the Aura after the disconnect.

We were watching the Blackhawks and Bruins in first game of the Stanley Cup final so not paying all that much attention to the exact timing other than to say that we started the transfer just before the game, the first pass finished before the second intermission was over, the Aura was finished before the 1st overtime was over and he was ready to read before the 2nd overtime period started. We checked every now and then during commercials hence the inexact timing.

Regards,
David

[jackastor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

When I stuffed the 7000+ books on a friend's Aura, it took about a while to to process. It took longer for Calibre using the Kobo Touch Extended driver to process the books to .kepub.epub and send the ebooks, covers and metadata to the Aura. The second pass to send the series information and so on took about 4 minutes with virtually no delay on the Aura after the disconnect.

We were watching the Blackhawks and Bruins in first game of the Stanley Cup final so not paying all that much attention to the exact timing other than to say that we started the transfer just before the game, the first pass finished before the second intermission was over, the Aura was finished before the 1st overtime was over and he was ready to read before the 2nd overtime period started. We checked every now and then during commercials hence the inexact timing.

Regards,
David

David I am curious. If you turn your Aura off completely to power off mode. How long does it take to come back up? Mine takes quite a few mins I meant to time it but forgot to this morning but it seems to be about 5 mins to boot with the USD card in . Just curious if you have the same issue. Its instant if its sleeping.


Regards

Jack

[Ken Maltby]

OK, after removing all but .epub, .pdb, and .txt files, as well as many whole folders, the processing completed so that the home page would stay up. But there are a number of issues. I had to bring it down to 5051 files, 2.1GB on the SD (per windows). Device Information, Micro SD: 12736MB of 14748MB (2012MB used, close enough) BUT the library is only showing 763 ebooks.

I can start adding back folders to see which contain files that Kobo can't process. It looks to be a long term process.

I have to point out that I have no problem reading these files on my other readers.

Luck;
Ken