Kobo Clara HD stuck on Power Off Screen

[s73v3r]

My Kobo Clara HD is stuck on the "Power Off" screen. I've tried doing multiple kinds of power button presses (hold for 30s then for 15, hold for 15, wait for 5, hold for 5, hold for 4 then press again) and nothing has worked. I opened the back and unhooked the battery, and also took out the SD card and put it back in, no luck. I've tried charging it in a fast charger, and it hasn't worked.

The backlight turns on, and the power LED turns on, sometimes being solid, sometimes flashing. The screen also is doing something a little weird; instead of being the solid image of the book cover that's being read, it looks like some lines have turned off. It almost looks like the screen is damaged, but it feels completely fine.

I have measured the battery, and its charged to 3.7V. I have requested the image in the proper thread, and flashed it to both the original SD card, and a new one that I bought, all without any luck.

[meeera]

Can we see a photo of the screen, please? It's likely a broken substrate.

[s73v3r]

image at https://ibb.co/tcGZFLY

I don't think it looks broken. When it started doing this, the image was normal.

There is an update, in that, after reseating the ribbon cables, the back light comes on.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by s73v3r

[IMG]I don't think it looks broken. When it started doing this, the image was normal.

There is an update, in that, after reseating the ribbon cables, the back light comes on.

The curved lines that I've circled in the attached image (running between the I and N in KING and in the upper corner inwards) are pretty much the classic indicator of a broken substrate.

[twowheels]

Yeah, no doubt about it — the glass is broken. Sorry for your loss.


EDIT: It seems you’ve already taken it apart and seen how easy it is (I’ve taken mine apart multiple times to dry it out after micro-dozing in the hot tub and dropping it in the water) — you might be able to find a used screen, though I’m not sure if they’re individually calibrated or anything like that.

[s73v3r]

Thanks for the help. I guess it's a good thing I ordered a replacement device.

So, when it first was being unwilling to turn on, it didn't have those lines and stuff. It looked normal. If it was broken at that time, and before it was trying to repaint the screen, would it have not displayed like that?

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by s73v3r

Thanks for the help. I guess it's a good thing I ordered a replacement device.

So, when it first was being unwilling to turn on, it didn't have those lines and stuff. It looked normal. If it was broken at that time, and before it was trying to repaint the screen, would it have not displayed like that?

My understanding: When the screen is cracked some of the invisible in-screen traces break as well, which causes parts of the screen to try to update, but others not. Since eInk is bi-stable (it retains its image w/o power) you don’t see the breakage until it tries to update the display since the eink layer is above the glass and still showing the image that it had on it.