Ok...
I got 4 Kobo Vox tablets for family for Christmas. 3 didn't work, 1 did. 2 had the tablet upgrade error, and 1 kept saying card is full. NONE were able to do a factory reset (vol+ power), also formatting the user partition did nothing.
So the one that worked, did a factory restore from settings, downloaded the updates, then before finishing first setup turned it off. So when turn on it just asks for Timezone ect...
Then using dd created a copy of the memory card, flashing it to the memory cards of the other 3 tablets. All worked. So tested working fix.
This is not an beginners task, say intermediate. I created a torrent for the image (2.5gb) and will seed long as I can from my work at 20Kb/s. If anyone can please help out with the seeding and hosting the .torrent file would be appreciated.
NOTE: Requires Linux (I use Linux Mint here at work), for beginners Ubuntu would make life a bit easier. Also install Gdiskdump to make it easier.
GUIDE:
1) download the image from
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/63645/kobovox.img.gz dropbox direct link
http://fileai.com/?r=795 (this one is slowwww, but steady)
2) Take apart your Kobo Vox and remove the memory card. Its easy, take off back cover, remove screws, unplug battery, carefully seperate plastic housing, memory card is on top edge. (this is the not so beginner part)
3) Use a memory card reader and connect to your computer
4) Load up Gdiskdump (Recommend for ease of use, command line dd is my choice)
5) First screen (source) choose "File" from the drop down
6) Second screen (destination) choose "Harddrive", choose your memory card, should show as 7.05gb disk
7) Click go and take a coffee/smoke/tea break.....
8) Put it all back together
9) Turn on and should just ask to connect to wifi, check for updates fast fast then go straight to the timezone selection
10) PROFIT!
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Thank you DrunkMonk for this following guide for Windows users!
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Alright, update and alternative solution for those non-linux individuals like myself and those having write access issues.
After getting the .img.gz file I tried, tried and tried again to install on existing SD card. What I found out is that my vox's 8gb card was not allowing write access no matter what I did. I tried everything I could think of and decided I'm done with the card! I bought a new card for $15 bucks and downloaded WinImage here.
http://www.winimage.com/download.htm
If you don't want to use linux use this program. The steps to reflash are as follows:
1. First thing you will have to format and partition the new sd card using cmd prompt. Search youtube if you don't know how.
2. Extract the .img file from the .gz file.
3. Open WinImage. Under the "Disk" tab select "restore Virtual Hard Disk" . Then select your SD card and hit ok. In the popup select filetype in the bottom right and select "all files". Find and select your kobovox.img file. Select ok again to start.
4. Pop back sd card into your vox once re-imaging is complete and follow the setup. Good to go without using linux.
*As a note, it may just be that my cardreader wasn't accessing the microsd from the vox appropriately. This might happen to you. I'd suggest just buying a combo SD card/adapter that's 8gb and doing it my way. It's less than 20 bucks and it will save you the headache of trying to get the internal sd to write. Plus it will save you working in linux if you aren't very knowledgeable of it.
Hope this helps someone else!!!
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Have fun, hope it helps
UPDATE: Added new download link that won't be going down... Well, not till boss finds out
UPDATE 2: Added dropbox link thanks to Lanord!
UPDATE 3: Added windows guide thanks drunkmonk!