Touch Returned my Kobo Touch

[pamay]

After buying my Kobo Touch a month ago, have just returned it due to it freezing, coming back to life again after a couple of days and the same thing happening a few days later.

I am really missing it and wondering whether to buy another Kobo,possibly Wifi, or change brands altogether. I keep coming back to Kobo as it seems to cover all forms of publications - should I give it another go

pamay

[MorganM]

I say yes. But on saying that I have never had any problems with my own KT.

[robko]

I'm with MorganM. I've never had major issues like that with my Kobo. After having had the Touch I doubt you'd be happy with the Wifi.

[The Terminator]

Seems like the best ePub reader in Canada, the NST looks nice too though. The Sony was out for me because it doesn't support tap page turns.

[plib]

I've had problems with the KT freezing. Twice. Returned it both times and, so far, it hasn't happened again - but I haven't added any books in a while, I'm still working through the original installs.

One of the things I consider really silly about the KT is that the hard reset button, the pinhole on the back, is designed to bring back the Home screen whereas if you want to do a complete reset you either have to do it through a software "Factory Reset" or some have said a combo press of the Home button and power switch work.

When my two froze the pinhole reset didn't work, neither did the combo press and the software reset was obviously unavailable.

It seems really stupid to me that a physical hardware reset button, the pinhole, doesn't take it back to a "Factory Reset" state. Every other device I own if I do a hardware reset it does the equivalent of a reset to defaults. The current Kobo method seems seriously flawed to me and I'm wondering what their position is going to be if/when it freezes irretrievably once the warranty period is up. I was told that lockups are mainly due to content conflicts, which makes the factory reset option for a hard reset even more appropriate.

[John F]

I would wait for the next firmware. I'm using 1.9.16, and it's frustrating.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by plib

I've had problems with the KT freezing. Twice. Returned it both times and, so far, it hasn't happened again - but I haven't added any books in a while, I'm still working through the original installs.

One of the things I consider really silly about the KT is that the hard reset button, the pinhole on the back, is designed to bring back the Home screen whereas if you want to do a complete reset you either have to do it through a software "Factory Reset" or some have said a combo press of the Home button and power switch work.

When my two froze the pinhole reset didn't work, neither did the combo press and the software reset was obviously unavailable.

It seems really stupid to me that a physical hardware reset button, the pinhole, doesn't take it back to a "Factory Reset" state. Every other device I own if I do a hardware reset it does the equivalent of a reset to defaults. The current Kobo method seems seriously flawed to me and I'm wondering what their position is going to be if/when it freezes irretrievably once the warranty period is up. I was told that lockups are mainly due to content conflicts, which makes the factory reset option for a hard reset even more appropriate.

"content conflicts" ? Is that a new name for bugs ?

You wouldn't want a factory reset really. If the machine locks up, it often is just a one time glitch and a restart will get it going again. You wouldn't want to lose everything and go back to an earlier firmware every time you needed to push the reset button on the back.

[Koboyashi]

Originally Posted by plib

Every other device I own if I do a hardware reset it does the equivalent of a reset to defaults.

This is true for small devices like programmable timers, room thermostats and so on. Not so for data processing devices. Ancient personal computers had a reset button on the front panel to force a reboot if the machine froze. On handheld devices, usually the reset button is shielded by a pinhole, to prevent accidental reboot - thats all.

[The Terminator]

The pinhole reset is great for fixing little problems or crashes. Factory resetting every time it froze would suck.

[plib]

My computer case is an Antec P180, still one of the better cases around, and has a reset button on the front. My Palm has a reset button. My router has a reset button. all are data processing devices. All go back to firmware defaults or reboot/reinstall when the reset is used. Which means if all else fails I can reset to factory defaults or reinstall Windows if necessary.

When both of my Kobos failed the reset button didn't bring the installed configuration back and the power/home combo didn't work - after multiple tries on both for up to 30 seconds. Which meant that my only option was to return for a replacement. Luckily that happened within 15 days of Christmas so I got a replacement with no bother. What happens when it's out of warranty? Even in warranty it will cost shipping which is a sizeable percentage of the total purchase cost.

Most of my stuff is stored in Calibre, anything that's not can easily be redownloaded. I don't care about reading life, and bookmarks can easily be recreated if needed. Usually they're not that vital anyway.

A hardware reset which doesn't bring back a hardware stored default is broken.

[Xennex1170]

Originally Posted by plib

My computer case is an Antec P180, still one of the better cases around, and has a reset button on the front. My Palm has a reset button. My router has a reset button. all are data processing devices. All go back to firmware defaults or reboot/reinstall when the reset is used. Which means if all else fails I can reset to factory defaults or reinstall Windows if necessary.

When both of my Kobos failed the reset button didn't bring the installed configuration back and the power/home combo didn't work - after multiple tries on both for up to 30 seconds. Which meant that my only option was to return for a replacement. Luckily that happened within 15 days of Christmas so I got a replacement with no bother. What happens when it's out of warranty? Even in warranty it will cost shipping which is a sizeable percentage of the total purchase cost.

Most of my stuff is stored in Calibre, anything that's not can easily be redownloaded. I don't care about reading life, and bookmarks can easily be recreated if needed. Usually they're not that vital anyway.

A hardware reset which doesn't bring back a hardware stored default is broken.

I have a Palm TX and the pinhole reset DOES NOT reset to factory default and clear everything. It simply reboots the system. There is another method used to do what you describe as a factory defaults reset.

The PC would also only reboot the system. The router I can understand would reset to factory default. The difference between the 3 is that the router has no software that is user installed so it is 'safe' to reset to factory defaults. The PC and the Palm on the other hand would be a HUGE hassle to have to reinstall everything to get it back to how you had it. The reset is not 'broken' it just is erroring on the 'safe' side.

[plib]

Originally Posted by Xennex1170

I have a Palm TX and the pinhole reset DOES NOT reset to factory default and clear everything. It simply reboots the system. There is another method used to do what you describe as a factory defaults reset.

The PC would also only reboot the system. The router I can understand would reset to factory default. The difference between the 3 is that the router has no software that is user installed so it is 'safe' to reset to factory defaults. The PC and the Palm on the other hand would be a HUGE hassle to have to reinstall everything to get it back to how you had it. The reset is not 'broken' it just is erroring on the 'safe' side.

I have a Zire 71 which I still use for certain things. Following is how to do a Hard Reset:

To perform a Hard reset, do the following:

Hold down the power button on the front panel of the handheld.
While holding down the power button, use the tip of an unfolded paper clip (or similar object without a sharp tip), to gently press the reset button inside the hole on the back panel of your handheld.
Release the reset button.
When the Palm logo appears on the screen, release the power button.
When the message appears on the screen warning that you are about to erase all the data stored on your handheld, do one of the following: Press the page up button on the front panel of the handheld to complete the Hard reset and display the Digitizer screen. Pressing any other button performs a Soft reset.

So the paper clip can erase everything i.e. factory default.

If I can reboot a completely buggered Windows machine I can re-install Windows from scratch i.e. factory default.

As it happens I have installed software on my router. But using the reset button brings it back to DD-WRT defaults, i.e. DD-WRT factory default.

When my Kobo locked up I could do nothing. The pinhole didn't do anything. The combined power button/home button combo did nothing, and obviously I couldn't do a "Factory Reset" - because the damned thing was locked up solid!

So it had to be returned, twice. Those times it was back to the local Chapters. Are Kobo going to pay the courier fees if it happens again and has to go to them in Toronto? Are they going to replace it if it happens again in 12 months and is out of warranty?

I repeat (certainly as far as the Kobo is concerned):

A hardware reset which doesn't bring back a hardware stored default is broken.

[robko]

Originally Posted by plib

I repeat (certainly as far as the Kobo is concerned):

A hardware reset which doesn't bring back a hardware stored default is broken.

So, how is holding one physical button down and flipping another not a "hardware reset"? Doing that does a complete reset back to the original firmware flashed onto the ROM (i.e. it does a factory reset). If that's not working for you, I'm not sure what any other type of reset would do any more. Sounds like something was more broken than just needing to get the device back to its original settings. Or am I missing something?

[jusmee]

A reset restarts the processor from a particular memory location. This is in read-only memory, but often is just flash memory I suspect. The first instructions it executes would be to test if the other button is being held down, and if it is, branch off to do a factory reset.

If this doesn't work, then, either a hardware failure has occurred or this ROM has been corrupted. The ability to "brick" many modern devices when doing firmware upgrades, suggests to me that the ROM, is indeed flash memory, and can be corrupted

[plib]

Originally Posted by robko

So, how is holding one physical button down and flipping another not a "hardware reset"? Doing that does a complete reset back to the original firmware flashed onto the ROM (i.e. it does a factory reset). If that's not working for you, I'm not sure what any other type of reset would do any more. Sounds like something was more broken than just needing to get the device back to its original settings. Or am I missing something?

A return to firmware defaults, a "Factory Reset" in Kobo terminology, is the final "go to hell" option when nothing else works. As such it should be a hardware function, not software, and it should be the simplest possible hardware function - a one button push, not a function which requires a device which is already locked up to recognize that you are pressing/moving two buttons at once. The "Home button+paperclip button" option didn't work in my case, and the software option was obviously unavailable. Proper design makes the final, can't do anything else, take it back to bare metal option as simple as possible for precisely that reason. Protect it by making it impossible to activate accidentally, but make it a one button, simple as possible, complete reset. Anything else is just bad design. Also I still don't understand why trying to read an html document should lock it up so badly it had to be returned to the store - my version of the "Factory Reset".