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Old 12-29-2012, 05:11 AM   #1
enchantica
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Vox reset problems

Small problem with my Vox (aren't they all?!)

Mid December my Vox decided it wasn't going to restart and started a (factory?) reset all by itself. Sadly I wasn't able to link it up to a computer to download the update (I was about to leave my house for my Christmas holiday) I had to switch it off and have just got round to trying to sort the problem.

Having charged the vox overnight I've switched it back on and now have a flashing green light at the top. I've tried to do the +volume and power on but nothing is happening - just the flashing green light - nothing coming up on the screen. Any idea what I can do to sort this out? I'm about 10 minutes away from chucking it in the garden and heading to town to buy something more reliable
Cheers
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Old 12-29-2012, 06:47 AM   #2
String
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One thing I always do when my wasn't working right was to remove back take out battery and then reinstall and then everything seemed to work again.

Hope this helps
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Old 12-29-2012, 11:01 AM   #3
enchantica
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Cheers for the suggestion String - popped out and disconnected the battery and tried to fire up my wayward Vox again but no joy. Still got the flashing green light and an utterly blank screen. I've contacted Kobo via email and have received an incident number and the promise that they'll get back to me - but there's higher than usual demand right now (no shocks there!) . Here's hoping they get back to me soon. Oh, and wouldn't you just know it - my Vox is out of it's 12 month warranty by a few days. It might be time to dig deep and spend some ££ on a new toy!

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Old 12-29-2012, 01:37 PM   #4
kingpr
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I am sorry to say but you shouldn't bother. I had the same problem with my first vox (actually 2nd as the first had to go back within 2 days) back in June after about 6 months use. Kobo couldn't do anything about it so I had to send it off to the netherlands (at a cost of £50 to myself). They replaced it with a new one. Yesterday the same thing happened. I now have a piece of useless plastic with a flashing green light! Kobo talked me through all the usual things nothing worked. I told them I wanted my money back - which they have refused (I did point out the terms of the sales of good act!). They want to replace it - but I am not prepared to spend another £50 to send it back.

I suggest you try to insist on getting your money back, regardless of its age. Once you have got to this stage it will never restart.

My advice to anyone out there, do as I did today and go look at the many alternative 7in android tablets on the market from manufacturers that produce goods that work!
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Old 12-30-2012, 04:11 AM   #5
enchantica
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Cheers for that Kingpr - this is sort of what I was suspecting.

The kind people from Kobo have responded to my email overnight (the email where I clearly stated that I'd gone down the +volume then switch on route.) They've given me instructions to do exactly that and to contact them if that doesn't work.

I do love it so much when people don't take notice of what you're telling them! NOT!

I'd left my Vox with it's green light flashing the night away last night to drain the battery in the hopes that a fresh recharge and restart might work so I'm now having to charge it again to try one last time to restart it via this route. In the instructions from the kind people at Kobo it says that I have to hold down the +volume button until the reboot starts. I wonder if I'll still be holding it when I nip down the shops later today to buy something that is actually useful and not a pile of junk!?

I'm not yet decided what I'll spend my money on - but one things for sure - it wont be a Kobo of any sort!

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Old 12-31-2012, 11:52 PM   #6
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I had the same problem with my vox. Here's what I ended up doing since mine was no longer covered by warranty.

1) Take off the back and remove the battery.
2) Take out all the screws and remove the plastic case cover.
3) Find the SD card and remove it
4) Boot up a computer in to Linux. I used my laptop as it has Ubuntu but you could just download the Ubuntu live cd and boot any computer.
5) Find in this forum where to download update.zip. Kobo has made it available to download.
6) copy update.zip into the largest partition on the SD card (you need to have a USB card reader or like that)
7) unmount the sd card from ubuntu and put it back in the vox.
8) plug in the battery and hold the volume + and power button. It should take at least 2 to 5 minutes to apply the update. Once it updates and reboots it should give you the setup screen. At this point you should let it complete it's update check and such before putting it back together.

It's been a few months since I've had to do this so it's possible that you may need to copy it to one of the other partitions on the sd card. I think mine had 4 partitions but most where not big enough to hold the zip file. Also do not unzip the contents of the update.zip file. Just leave it as is and copy it all to the partition. Finally you'll notice that I didn't reassemble the vox until I got it to the setup screen. This is because I wasn't sure about which partition to put the update.zip and didn't want to have take it all apart again.

Hope this helps.

Urban.
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Old 01-02-2013, 02:41 AM   #7
enchantica
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cheers for the info Urban.

I contacted Kobo again after the reset failed and they've told me it needs to be returned to them for repair or replacement but they haven't given me details of how or where yet. As I'm here in the UK I'm going to go down the route of contacting WHSmiths where I bought the device from as they're the one's I have the contract with. I thought I'd bought it just after Christmas last year but I had got it in March so it's well within warranty. I don't have the original receipt but I do have a copy of my credit card statement which shows the purchase. I'm hoping that WHSmith will send it back for me to save me the postage. If they wont then hopefully my credit card issuer will be helpful as it cost over £100. My friend is also having issues with her Kobo (which is less than 6 months old) It's interesting that so many people can have so many problems with the same device.

If I get mine repaired or replaced I'll most likely flog it on as I bought a Nexus 7 at the weekend. So far so good - the Nexus does what I want it to do but much faster and better than the Kobo

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Old 01-04-2013, 03:11 AM   #8
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Do exactly this, I did. I bought my first Vox from WHSMith in Dec 2011. After 6 months I had this problem. Kobo said return and they would repair or replace. I had to return it to the Netherlands at a cost of £50 to myself. I objected to this but Kobo basically said, tough. I got back a new Vox. when this happened again a few weeks ago I again went through to Kobo who were utterly useless. Again they wanted me to return it. I refused saying I wasn't going to spend a further £50 to do so. I took it back to Smiths who, despite the fact it was over 1 year since original purchase, gave me a full refund of the £189-99 that I had originally paid. I then went and got a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7in). I got the 16Gb version which was about £214 but the 8Gb one is (I think) about £150. I got the Samsung, rather than the Nexus (which I suspect it a better device) because it has an SD slot (Nexus doesn't) and I had a lot of data on the SD card I used with the Vox (it is a useful way to transfer data, backup data etc).

My conclusion. The Galaxy tab does everything I could do on the Vox and much more. I loaded the Kobo reading app and transferred all the epub files that I had had on the Vox. It reads them just the same way and I could access the Kobo books I had bought.

I had originally opted for the Vox because I liked the flexibility of file formats that you don't get with, for example the Kindle. Go for an alternative 7 in tablet (either Galaxy or Nexus if you don't want the sd slot). I found that within hours I was back to where I had been with the vox but from a manufacturer that I trust.
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Old 01-04-2013, 03:49 AM   #9
enchantica
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Just a quick update (and thanks for the further info Kingpr)

I emailed kobo customer service 48 h ours ago sending pics of my kobo and giving full details of purchase, my address etc so they can advise me what to do next. Oddly, up until now they've been very quick to reply. As of this moment in time I've not have a reply. Makes me kind of feel that they're happy to help unless things go very badly wrong in which case they don't seem to give a flying fig!

I WILL be heading to WHSmith tomorrow (Saturday) I'm hoping they'll return the Crap...err.. I mean Vox to Kobo on my behalf or maybe give me a replacement. Not bothered what they do as long as they sort it. I have already purchased a Nexus and I'm very pleased with it and wont be going back to the Vox even if it gets sorted. The Nexus is much more responsive than the Vox and having downloaded the Kobo app I'm able to read all the books from my library (I couldn't figure out how to load my books into the onboard app which is far superior to the Kobo one - but hey- as long as I can read my books I can put up with it!)

I'll let you know how I get on with the Vox at my local WHSmith. I'm a bit concerned that I don't have the original reciept and hope they'll accept a copy of my credit card statement.

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Old 01-11-2013, 03:21 AM   #10
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With regard loading your books on to the app. Your Kobo books purchased through Kobo should appear automatically (when you first load the app it syncs with the server). For locally stored epub books I created a folder and copied them there from my pc. Then in the Kobo app in library view at the top right there is a vertical line of three squares. Click on this and there should be two options, import content and settings. Clicking on import content will initiate a search of your files to find any epubs which you can then import to your library. This works in exactly the same way as it did on the Kobo Vox. In fact I found it worked better as it found epub files that the Vox couldn't and others are readable now which for some reason they weren't on the VOx. This is how it worked for me on the Galaxy Tab, I am sure the app works the same way on the Nexus.

Hope this helps!
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Old 01-18-2013, 02:58 AM   #11
enchantica
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update

Cheers again for the helpful info Kingpr. I managed to get my books onto the Nexus very easily.

Quick update. I got a freepost address to WHSmith customer services so I sent my Kobo back 9 days ago or so. Not had any acknowledgement from them that they are dealing with my problem and no word of when it will be returned.

I have to say that I have lost all confidence in the Kobo brand. Although customer services have generally been helpful I know of too many people (personally) who have had problems as well as people on forums.

I decided to get myself a simple e-reader device purely for book reading. I did look at Kobo devices but decided I no longer felt confident in the reliability of Kobo. I bought a Nook Glowlight. Hopefully the Nexus and the Nook will prove more reliable and have a longer life span!

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Old 02-08-2013, 12:24 PM   #12
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Final update. WHSmiths sent me a cheque a few days ago for the full purchase price of the Vox so that's a result. I was surprised that they didn't send me a replacement as they're still selling them (all be it at a much cheaper price than I paid less than a year ago) but I'm happy enough to have the cash back
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