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Old 07-27-2010, 11:49 AM   #13
zero10
Member
zero10 began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 18
Karma: 10
Join Date: Jul 2010
Device: Kobo
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoran View Post
I almost forgot to ask about that.
Kobo way is to press middle button and power up the device.
SD card should be mounted, just as ext3 file system has no
reason to be on otherwise. After upgrade, device powers down.
SD card out and power up. I assume reader was on cause up-
grade failure?
Best regards.
You are right, I made a mistake in my post. The person in-store was repeatedly holding the power button and/or the center d-pad button trying to get it to first power off, then to power back on into the SD card update mode.
Unfortunately when your reader does not update properly you are _NOT_ able to power it off, so you cannot directly enter this mode from the "off" state. Some people have had luck forcing a reboot by plugging it into their computer, I used the paperclip method since there was no computer at the stand where he was working on it.
After allowing the person in-store to try a couple times I offered my help. I held the center d-pad button then tapped the reset button, and it booted up into the SD card update mode, the screen blinked once, then back to the normal Kobo loading screen, it blinked again and went back to the SD card update mode, blinked, back to the Kobo screen and it ran all 7 dots, then back to the SD card update screen where it properly updated.


Quote:
Originally Posted by HamsterRage
My point was simply that I thought your anger was somewhat misdirected. The fact is that software sometimes goes wrong, especially in the Windows world. I think Kobo has acknowledged, in this forum, that this first upgrade was a big deal, no going back once you start, process. Something went wrong for you, and they fixed it within minutes.
If you find it difficult to locate anything constructive in my initial post then allow me to re-iterate the constructive points for clarity.

The people at Kobo suggested that the only way to repair my device was to return it to them for service, a process that takes "about" 2 weeks. It was only with the help of these forums that I knew of a shorter method, and once they acknowledged this was something which was done in Canada it occurred to me that perhaps they would also have shipped the SD cards to the stores and then I arrived at an even faster resolution to the problem.

If somebody calls Kobo with a similar issue, the resolution process should go as follows:
1) Are you in a major city / near a chapters store? If so, take it in, they have the SD cards and can fix it on the spot
2) If you are unable to make it to a Chapters location (due to working hours, locations or whatever), do you want an SD card mailed out? It is a much faster way to fix it!
3) If both 1 and 2 are no, THEN let's send out an envelope and return it to Kobo for service. This should never be the first solution given the amount of time involved.


Also, when performing firmware updates on a device your company provides, you should be taking extra measures to verify that the firmware is properly written to the device. People in this thread have misunderstood this statement to read "Kobo should test the firmware more thoroughly". This is NOT what I have said, I am sure they tested it on a variety of computers and devices and were quite thorough about the process.

What I am saying is, the program itself needs to be more thorough in verifying the firmware was correctly written. They can test it all they like but they must still expect the odd failure in the real world. Obviously it is not properly verifying this part or it should have displayed an error about the firmware update process going astray. If they could detect the situations where the firmware updates are failing they could gather more information back in these situations and would stand a chance of remedying the root cause of this issue for future users. I have lost faith in this update process, I am left sitting here feeling like if I ever attempt another USB firmware update it will fail in exactly the same way.

I understand every product on the market is not perfect, I understand the firmware and software were written by people, who like all people in this world, are flawed. However, what I do not understand is the blatant disregard to the gravity of this situation being displayed by the software development staff at Kobo, this is not simple human error. They are updating the firmware on their device, they have the power to make these devices completely inoperable and unrepairable if they are not careful. They need to be more diligent in detecting, tracking and resolving these situations to prevent future issues.

I will post my full hardware configuration here for the people at Kobo in the interest of providing as much information as possible to allow them to be more thorough in their development methods going forward.
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