Aura H2O Ereader not recognized by Computer

[eddiezia]

I have bought a used Kobo Aura H2o Edition 1 today. I have used different models of Kobo over the last 10 years and never faced a problem like this. I hope someone can kindly help me resolve this?

I have a small usb cable that I got with the Ereader. Small meaning about three inches or so in length. When I hook it up with my Desktop I don't see it recognized by the PC. It does not show up in the Windows Explorer as a usb device. Now this could possible be due to a faulty usb cable or the faulty usb port on my PC. The device appears to be charging as soon as it is connected the usb port. It was at 54 % charge when I first plugged it in. Later it was at 100 %charge. So the port and the cable are apparently working.

I tried to do the same thing with my laptop PC and again the device is not displayed in the Windows Explorer but the Battery status appears to be charging.

I called kobo support but they told me to do a factory Reset manual as well as using the pin. I had already done that. No help with that.

I tried to use wifi and downloaded a free ebook from my kobo account. This book works great. The display is awesome. Page Turns work great. Light brightness is awesome. Everything seems to work like a charm but I cant seem to download files from my PC.

I already have installed Caliber but it does not seem to detect the ereader as well. Kobo Desktop was installed as well and it did not recognize the device as well.

Can someone kindly help me? I thank you in advance.

[davidfor]

Have you tried another cable? The fact that the cable does charge the device, does not mean it will transfer data. I have at least one cable that was made like that. Plus a couple of other damaged cables that only charge.

[eddiezia]

David Thanks for responding to my situation. I dont have another cable. This is the only one I got from the previous owner. She herself never uploaded books from a PC instead she would get books from kobo online and only had these books on her device.

She explained to me that unless she logged in via wifi into her device she could not access any of her books. When she gave me her device she asked for it back and after signing out of her account she handed it back to me.

I cant seem to use the Kobo Aura usb cable neither does my Iphone cable fits in to the device. I will need to go and search for a replacement usb cable to confirm your hypothesis.

What I wonder is even if the usb cable is faulty and unable to transfer data it should recognize the device in the Windows Explorer. Anyways thanks David for responding to my question.

Let me know if someone can come up with another way to troubleshoot this. I am getting a replacement usb cable first thing in the morning.

[rtiangha]

Make sure the new cable is a USB data cable, and not just a USB charge cable. As davidfor already mentioned, they do make things such as charge-only cables, which are basically cables that don't have wires connected to the data pins. These are usually sold along with USB power packs, although you can buy them by themselves as well.

[eddiezia]

Thanks Rthinga. I am just off to the store for the data cable. I will ask for a data cable and not the charge cable. I was not aware of the distinction at all. Your and Davids insights are much appreciated. Stay Blessed both of you.

[eddiezia]

David and Rtiangha thanks for your insights. It was a faulty cable that got replaced. The new cable has fixed the issue. The lesson I learnt from David is that even if the device getting charged it may not necessarily transfer data as well. Case closed