Aura H2O won't sync or download books

Grant Jacobs · 07-16-2020, 07:30 AM

My set up is usually:

- Order books on the Kobo website

- Open Kobo Desktop app, and sync to get the books onto the laptop

- Plug eReader in via USB cable. Wait until app syncs with eReader

(I prefer not to use Wifi as it drains the eReader battery and, as I'll get to, this now seems not to work in a weird way.)

Latest attempt to do the above results in the usual grey pop-up, saying "start sync" (or similar) —— and nothing more ever happens, and I have to cancel the sync.

It has created some sort of "placeholder" entry for the books, but not actually installed them - they have no-cover cover (if you understand my meaning!) & title, and appear in My Books, but are marked as needed to be downloaded.

I've tried via Wifi, too. If I turn the Wifi on, it claims I've only got one bar, but that's a lie; it's a solid 5 bars. It's doubly weird as all the neighbouring Wifis look right. Anyway, I've tried two different things:

- click on the 'Download'. This changes to a greyed-out 'Pending', but doesn't seem to actually start downloading. I've checked with the an older 70kb book that need downloading, and even that won't. (I don't really properly understand this; does this 'Download' thing work without a running a 'Sync'?)

- click on the Sync icon, and wait. It claims to start… and, well, go nowhere.

The only "advice" KoboHelp ever seems to offer is "wipe it all", so I can't be a**ed asking them again. (FWIW, just MHO, sounds awfully like a tactic admission that they simply are unable to maintain updates properly, and have resort to forcing users to start over from scratch.)

Not really sure exactly what doing a factory restart does to the books, as their help isn't exactly helpful so I'm reluctant to try that :-(

(Excuse the frustrated post, but I'm at my wits end with Kobo near permanent inability to maintain its own eReader, at least IME.)

davidfor · 07-16-2020, 09:30 AM

What did Kobo actually tell you to do? Did they say to sign out of your account on the device? Or did they say to do a factory reset? And, is there any reason you didn't actually do one of these things? I mean, they are the only ways to fix the problem you have. The sign out will probably work, but, it might be necessary to do the full factory reset.

For the record, the database on the device is almost definitely corrupt. The behaviour you describe is what I would expect from a corrupted database. I am a little surprised the Kobo desktop application didn't complain, but, it does depend on exactly what part of the database is corrupt. If you want to check, you can use an SQLite database manager to test the database. Or, if you are a calibre user, my Kobo Utilities plugin can test it.

About the only alternative I can think of is that the internal storage is failing. That would cause a corrupt database and other behaviour as well. But, the first test for this is what I suggest above. If it keeps recurring, then you look at the storage.

07-16-2020, 07:30 AM	#1
Grant Jacobs Member Posts: 13 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2019 Device: Kobo Aqua	Aura H2O won't sync or download books My set up is usually: - Order books on the Kobo website - Open Kobo Desktop app, and sync to get the books onto the laptop - Plug eReader in via USB cable. Wait until app syncs with eReader (I prefer not to use Wifi as it drains the eReader battery and, as I'll get to, this now seems not to work in a weird way.) Latest attempt to do the above results in the usual grey pop-up, saying "start sync" (or similar) —— and nothing more ever happens, and I have to cancel the sync. It has created some sort of "placeholder" entry for the books, but not actually installed them - they have no-cover cover (if you understand my meaning!) & title, and appear in My Books, but are marked as needed to be downloaded. I've tried via Wifi, too. If I turn the Wifi on, it claims I've only got one bar, but that's a lie; it's a solid 5 bars. It's doubly weird as all the neighbouring Wifis look right. Anyway, I've tried two different things: - click on the 'Download'. This changes to a greyed-out 'Pending', but doesn't seem to actually start downloading. I've checked with the an older 70kb book that need downloading, and even that won't. (I don't really properly understand this; does this 'Download' thing work without a running a 'Sync'?) - click on the Sync icon, and wait. It claims to start… and, well, go nowhere. The only "advice" KoboHelp ever seems to offer is "wipe it all", so I can't be a*ed asking them again. (FWIW, just MHO, sounds awfully like a tactic admission that they simply are unable to maintain updates properly, and have resort to forcing users to start over from scratch.) Not really sure exactly what doing a factory restart does to the books, as their help isn't exactly helpful so I'm reluctant to try that :-( (Excuse the frustrated post, but I'm at my wits end with Kobo near permanent inability to maintain its own eReader, at least IME.) Last edited by Grant Jacobs; 07-16-2020 at 07:48 AM.*

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07-16-2020, 09:30 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	What did Kobo actually tell you to do? Did they say to sign out of your account on the device? Or did they say to do a factory reset? And, is there any reason you didn't actually do one of these things? I mean, they are the only ways to fix the problem you have. The sign out will probably work, but, it might be necessary to do the full factory reset. For the record, the database on the device is almost definitely corrupt. The behaviour you describe is what I would expect from a corrupted database. I am a little surprised the Kobo desktop application didn't complain, but, it does depend on exactly what part of the database is corrupt. If you want to check, you can use an SQLite database manager to test the database. Or, if you are a calibre user, my Kobo Utilities plugin can test it. About the only alternative I can think of is that the internal storage is failing. That would cause a corrupt database and other behaviour as well. But, the first test for this is what I suggest above. If it keeps recurring, then you look at the storage.

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