Aura HD Bricked after factory reset? Any troubleshooting?

[robertiv]

Hi all,

I have a Kobo Aura HD. It was having the issue of the current book cover not updating on the sleep screen, instead stuck on a book I hadn't read in months. Looking online it seemed people had luck with a factory reset, so I tried that route.

However after the reset supposedly completed, instead of loading up the Kobo OS, I just had a blank screen. Trying to turn on/off with the power button just makes it flash black twice and then go back to blank white. Reset button does nothing. The computer does not recognize a device when plugged in to USB.

Kobo "customer care" (an Orwellian phrase in this case) did the usual troubleshooting advice described above that I'd already tried, then basically said You're SOL. Useless.

Am I indeed SOL? Feels like this doesn't have to be a deal-breaker, because it wasn't a mechanical issue - something in the software just got scrambled during the reset. Is there a way to manually reset the firmware or something similar? Their customer support obviously has a tiny script and then instructions to tell users to f*** off, but maybe the community is a little more tech savvy.

Any input would be appreciated! This will be the last Kobo I buy, but it'd be nice to read the books I've got left on it first.

[robertiv]

Woah - after spending hours trying to fix this, two minutes after writing the above post I was scanning this sort of "Kobo Sucks" blog and randomly came across this post:

https://koboproblems.wordpress.com/2...upport-vector/

It worked, simple as that. Took 5 seconds. I wasn't even looking to find a fix there, was more just commiserating with other people about their terrible tech support. I kept insisting to the customer service guy that this was probably some minor software glitch and there had to be other troubleshooting possible, but he was not interested whatsoever and more or less told me to go away and have a beautiful day.

So yeah, problem resolved, but man they've got terrible support. I still will never buy another product nor recommend them to anyone because of this.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by robertiv

Woah - after spending hours trying to fix this, two minutes after writing the above post I was scanning this sort of "Kobo Sucks" blog and randomly came across this post:

https://koboproblems.wordpress.com/2...upport-vector/

It worked, simple as that. Took 5 seconds. I wasn't even looking to find a fix there, was more just commiserating with other people about their terrible tech support. I kept insisting to the customer service guy that this was probably some minor software glitch and there had to be other troubleshooting possible, but he was not interested whatsoever and more or less told me to go away and have a beautiful day.

So yeah, problem resolved, but man they've got terrible support. I still will never buy another product nor recommend them to anyone because of this.

Interesting that the page you point at gives advice on doing a factory reset which is what you stated you had done in your first message. Did you actually try the hardware factory reset (light button while powering on for the Aura HD) or did you just try the pinhole reset? Kobo support tends to suggest a factory reset as pretty much the first step.

While the instructions at Resetting your Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura HD, or Kobo Glo could be clearer on making sure your device is powered off (hold the power switch for 20-30 seconds though nothing will show/change on the screen if the ereader is hung would be better in my opinion as the first line of the instructions), the rest is pretty standard.