Kobo Wireless won't show any books

Vanguard3000 · 07-23-2014, 02:35 AM

I've got an old Kobo Wireless that I lent to a friend at work, and today it seems to have crashed.

Seemingly out of nowhere, it stopped displaying all of her books. Most of these were sideloaded onto the internal memory, but it also won't display the 100 free books that came hardcoded into the device. It won't even show the option to hid the free ebooks!

I brought it home this evening to find that the Kobo memory was totally empty - not even system files (metadata, etc). I tried loading books on, and when the device starts up it goes straight to the library, which is empty. After plugging in the device again and trying to load the epubs in Sigil, they open properly, which leads me to believe it's not a failed internal memory.

I've tried doing a factory reset as well as the pin-in-hole method, and neither of them have helped. It won't synch to Calibre (it throws an error) or to Kobo Desktop (doesn't even notice anything had been plugged in - I assume the Wireless is no longer supported). I am using firmware 1.9.11.

So, has the device just insisting on retirement, or is there potentially a fix for this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

davidfor · 07-23-2014, 03:05 AM

That seems to be happening to a few people with the WiFi. It has been reported a few times in https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230628. The fix that has been reported as working is to open it, removed the internal SD card an put a new image on it. I will send you a PM with a link to the image.

Vanguard3000 · 07-24-2014, 02:44 PM

Thanks for the prompt reply (and the PM). I tried putting the image on the internal microSD, but now when I try turning on the device, the blue light comes on and stays on, and the screen does not change at all. It also takes no input other than the power button (which just turns the light back off after a long-press).

Does the image have to be put on the disk while still zipped or unzipped (I tried both with the same effect). Do I need to add any other files?

davidfor · 07-24-2014, 08:15 PM

How did you put the file onto the card? It is a disk image and needs to be written to the card in the correct way. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122 has the details of how to do this. It does refer to the Glo, but the basic method is the same.

Vanguard3000 · 07-25-2014, 02:06 PM

Perfect. For some reason I was thinking it was more like flashing an android rom, so I thought the zip or image would unpack itself.

Anyway, it worked like a charm. Thank you very much, Davidfor!

07-23-2014, 02:35 AM	#1
Vanguard3000 Groupie Posts: 152 Karma: 474196 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ottawa Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Kobo Wireless won't show any books I've got an old Kobo Wireless that I lent to a friend at work, and today it seems to have crashed. Seemingly out of nowhere, it stopped displaying all of her books. Most of these were sideloaded onto the internal memory, but it also won't display the 100 free books that came hardcoded into the device. It won't even show the option to hid the free ebooks! I brought it home this evening to find that the Kobo memory was totally empty - not even system files (metadata, etc). I tried loading books on, and when the device starts up it goes straight to the library, which is empty. After plugging in the device again and trying to load the epubs in Sigil, they open properly, which leads me to believe it's not a failed internal memory. I've tried doing a factory reset as well as the pin-in-hole method, and neither of them have helped. It won't synch to Calibre (it throws an error) or to Kobo Desktop (doesn't even notice anything had been plugged in - I assume the Wireless is no longer supported). I am using firmware 1.9.11. So, has the device just insisting on retirement, or is there potentially a fix for this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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07-23-2014, 03:05 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	That seems to be happening to a few people with the WiFi. It has been reported a few times in https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230628. The fix that has been reported as working is to open it, removed the internal SD card an put a new image on it. I will send you a PM with a link to the image.

07-24-2014, 02:44 PM	#3
Vanguard3000 Groupie Posts: 152 Karma: 474196 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ottawa Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Thanks for the prompt reply (and the PM). I tried putting the image on the internal microSD, but now when I try turning on the device, the blue light comes on and stays on, and the screen does not change at all. It also takes no input other than the power button (which just turns the light back off after a long-press). Does the image have to be put on the disk while still zipped or unzipped (I tried both with the same effect). Do I need to add any other files?

07-24-2014, 08:15 PM	#4
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,907 Karma: 47303748 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	How did you put the file onto the card? It is a disk image and needs to be written to the card in the correct way. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122 has the details of how to do this. It does refer to the Glo, but the basic method is the same.

07-25-2014, 02:06 PM	#5
Vanguard3000 Groupie Posts: 152 Karma: 474196 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Ottawa Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Perfect. For some reason I was thinking it was more like flashing an android rom, so I thought the zip or image would unpack itself. Anyway, it worked like a charm. Thank you very much, Davidfor!