[TheJesus]

Long story short, my kids love everything that has a screen, so I got them to read on an ereader. They were sharing a device, which caused some conflict, so I scored a 2nd hand Kobo Glo. When I received it, the device was running firmware 3.8.0 and wasn't connecting to wifi nor could I connect it to pc via usb cable. So I performed a factory reset and still couldn't do either. I tried 3 different computers, Windows XP, 10 and 11 and about 7 different micro usb cables, all to no avail.

Next step, I opened the device and loaded the latest firmware, 4.38.21908 on the microsd card. The reader started the update and I ended up with a device with 2 vertical lines on the screen. Restarting didn't solve the problem, so I restored a backup of the microsd card, performed a manual reset and got the device to boot again, only to be stuck in the same place.

Tried my luck with firmware 3.19.5761, same scenario, screen shows 2 vertical lines and I end up resetting again. Only this time, when I connect a usb cable, the pc detects the reader and I manage to sync using Kobo desktop. Much to my surprise, I'm now running firmware 4.38.21908 and can sync my content using the pc.

My only problem now is that I can not get this device to connect to wifi. My home wifi uses the 2.4Ghz band and has WPA2 encryption. When I try to connect, it just tries for a while and then says it can not connect.
I thought it could be the encryption, so I also tried an unencrypted personal hotspot, but that just ends in the same error.

Any advice from more seasoned experts?
Right now the device is functional and both kids can read at the same time, but my ocd won't let this go and wants to have that wifi working.
Any ideas would be welcome.

Thank you!