Kobo problem - not showing up in Windows

[kombat]

Hey guys, my wife is having a problem with her Kobo reader, and it's driving us CRAZY. I'm really hoping someone here can offer some advice.

The problem is, I reinstalled Windows XP this week, so we lost everything on the computer. She reinstalled the Kobo software and Adobe Digital Editions tonight, but when we plug the Kobo into the computer, it shows up with a drive letter in Windows Explorder, but when I try to browse to it, Windows Explorer says "The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

Also, it's not showing up in ADE or the Kobo software at all.

When I start the Kobo, it reports that there are no books loaded on it at all - not even the ones that came pre-loaded!

I've already done a Reset on the Kobo reader itself, no luck.

Any advice?

[p_a_smith]

My suggestion is you try plugging the kobo into a different computer just to see what happens. If you get the same message I would contact customer service to get the Kobo replaced.

If it works fine on the other computer it sounds like it is a computer problem you are having and not the Kobo (my guess is though if the computer is working fine otherwise it is a Kobo problem).

[zoran]

At very first, does the device work? If yes, it has it's file system
untouched. If no, aside I see no reason for remote reader to be
involved in windows problem, try to reset it. Also, connect the
reader to the usb adapter on the back of the box. Try with and
without desktop apps open. Something will show up, sooner or
later.

[hpjrt]

I run XP ... and when I plug my Kobo in, it does show up in Windows Explorer ... and appears to be like another drive ... but I don't think it functions as "another drive" ... so just simply close out of the popup. Don't try to "explore" the file structure of it ... because I don't think XP will let you.

Now ... with ADE, I found that I had to start ADE first and then plug my Kobo in ... and then ADE recognizes it.

The other problem you'll have is if you try to "eject" the Kobo via "my computer". Windows XP just won't do that ... so you have to go down into the "safely remove hardware" icon on the task bar.

I don't know about the Kobo desktop software ...

Hope this helps.

Mary

[farrioth]

Originally Posted by hpjrt

but I don't think it functions as "another drive"

There's no reason the Kobo shouldn't behave as a regular dirve, unless there's some fault specific to Windows XP.

[taming]

I'm with Zoran--try the back USB ports, first, in case it is related to the specific ports. Windows will load generic USB drivers as part of a new install, but you may need to locate and install the drivers for your particular machine--probably not a problem if you used a restore partition from your machine, but not uncommon if you installed from the XP disk.

On my XP machine (and my Win7 one as well ) the Kobo reader shows up NOT as a generic drive, but as the Kobo reader.

[zoran]

It is always good to unmount the device first. Thinking of it helps
to avoid any problem with mashed file system. On unix it takes to
connect the cable to the adapter and mount it to the directory
tree. After usage, umount command lets one to pull the cable out.
On win mounting is automatic, as I know. After doing the stuff,
I would remove all processes that still use the device. Otherwise,
it may end with corrupted file system. Ejecting reader is the way to
go free, since it is the name for unmount. Cannot say for closure
of applications, but having little icon aside the system clock to
safely remove hardware is something I would use.
Btw, I mount the reader as fat file system, just like usb stick and
similar gadgets.

[taming]

If you have disconnected the device without doing a proper unmount/eject, you could get a corrupt drive message (been there done that). If so, you should get a message from Windows asking to repair the drive. In this situation, you may want to let Windows do it. I don't say that lightly as Windows makes all sorts of changes in the most unexpected places if you let it run wild, but this does seem to work well on USB connected devices.

[kombat]

Just an update, guys.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We called Kobo support, and the agent recommended that we make sure the Kobo was fully recharged. She said it wouldn't show up in Windows if it was still charging. So we waited the requisite 3 hours for the light to change colors, but still no dice.

We ended up mailing the unit back to them, and they send us a new one (or fixed it and sent us back the same one - we can't tell for sure, but it works anyway).

They were incredibly fast at this. After we called and they decided we should send it in, we had a kit couriered to our doorstep in one day. We shipped it the next day, and 2 days later, it was back. Now it works again.

It sucks that it had the problem in the first place, but kudos are owed to Kobo support for their great support and incredibly fast turnaround fixing/replacing the unit.

[dmacmart]

I don't think the agent's advice was accurate though - I'm pretty sure it shows up in Windows while charging. But I'm happy it worked out for you.

[Vivian]

Hi,

This is my first post. I had the exact same problem. It started today. I plugged the reader into a computer which didn't have the desktop application installed. I got a message saying I needed to format the drive. I pressed Cancel, and because it spooked me, immediately unplugged the reader, which then said "No books found." Even worse, when I tried plugging it into other computers I couldn't read anything on it: I got the message: "The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable."

I called customer service. They suggested doing a "reset to factory defaults" but that made no difference. So they said it would have to be referred to a higher level of tech support.

Unable to leave well enough alone, we ran CHKDSK on it with the /F switch. There is some improvement: we can now look at the files when we plug it into the computer, including my downloaded books. However, it still claims to have no books on it.

I am trying the "reset to factory defaults" again; maybe it will work better now that the FAT32 errors are corrected.

[zoran]

Originally Posted by Vivian

This is my first post. I had the exact same problem. It started today. I plugged the reader into a computer which didn't have the desktop application installed. I got a message saying I needed to format the drive. I pressed Cancel, and because it spooked me, immediately unplugged the reader, which then said "No books found." Even worse, when I tried plugging it into other computers I couldn't read anything on it: I got the message: "The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable."

Huh! The error message says what I would say myself. You should never
ever simply unplug the cable.

Regarding operating system you use, you have to browse previous posts
for formatting topic. As the last resort, you could always reinstall firmware.

At this point, there is no need to rush. Read all you find on the issue, ask
more question and answer for further details. Do nothing till you exactly
know what you have to do. First: post data about operating system, ver-
sion of it. Have you succeed in booting the reader up? What error message
is if you have it? More details you post, more probability to help.
Best regards.

[taming]

Originally Posted by Vivian

Hi,This is my first post. I had the exact same problem. It started today. I plugged the reader into a computer which didn't have the desktop application installed. I got a message saying I needed to format the drive. I pressed Cancel, and because it spooked me, immediately unplugged the reader, which then said "No books found." Even worse, when I tried plugging it into other computers I couldn't read anything on it: I got the message: "The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable."

I called customer service. They suggested doing a "reset to factory defaults" but that made no difference. So they said it would have to be referred to a higher level of tech support.

Unable to leave well enough alone, we ran CHKDSK on it with the /F switch. There is some improvement: we can now look at the files when we plug it into the computer, including my downloaded books. However, it still claims to have no books on it.

I am trying the "reset to factory defaults" again; maybe it will work better now that the FAT32 errors are corrected.

Although I agree with Zoran when he said that unplugging without a proper disconnect can cause some big problems, it sounds like you had not done anything wrong when you plugged it in and got the message about formatting the drive--unless you had "pulled the plug" in that way at an earlier time.

It doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the desktop was installed.

I have some questions:

Is it Kobo-1 or Kobo WiFi?
What firmware/software version were you running?
Do the books show up when try to view the drive in Calibre?
Did you have books that were sideloaded through ADE? Calibre? Only books downloaded through the sync function of the desktop?

[zoran]

Originally Posted by taming

Although I agree with Zoran when he said that unplugging without a proper disconnect can cause some big problems, it sounds like you had not done anything wrong when you plugged it in and got the message about formatting the drive--unless you had "pulled the plug" in that way at an earlier time.

Some file systems are more fragile than others. I'm always reluctant to
pull out usb medium before I check if I unmounted it properly. My bet
is that first pull out made some corruption to the file system. Since we
have no more details on the issue, I suppose original poster solved it
somehow.

After doing a harm of this kind, good fs tries to repair itself. One of the
best I ever saw is ffs2. I suppose win has file system checker to go over
and make it clean. I'm sure someone did that and reported on this fo-
rum.

Best regards.

[PeterT]

Its actually funny; I was certain I had actually read at one point that Microsoft had changed how mounts of removal drives were performed, and that for USB attached devices there was no need to perform the eject function.