Hacked Kobo Touch

[Brianrh]

I've just bought a Kobo Touch N905C from a seller on Ebay as a cheap entry into Kobo ereaders, before I consider buying a new Clara. Having used the Kindle eco system for a while, I would like to leave it for several reasons.

Anyway, for the good news, the Touch I bought was cheap and works. The bad news is it seems to be running a version of Android which is not what I want at this point in time.

Could anyone tell me if a copy of the original Kobo OS is still present in the Ereader that I can reset to or is there another route I need to take to try to get back to the original state?

I would be very grateful if anyone can walk me through any processes as this is all new to me.

Many Thanks.

Brian

[bluepeter]

Have you tried asking the seller? Whilst you've got the hardware that you've paid for, it does sound as if you were misled. You might well have grounds for returning it, on the basis that your reasonable expectations have not been met.

Declaration of interest: I'm currently offering a Clara 2E (with the standard Kobo firmware!) on eBay.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Brianrh

I've just bought a Kobo Touch N905C from a seller on Ebay as a cheap entry into Kobo ereaders, before I consider buying a new Clara. Having used the Kindle eco system for a while, I would like to leave it for several reasons.

Anyway, for the good news, the Touch I bought was cheap and works. The bad news is it seems to be running a version of Android which is not what I want at this point in time.

Could anyone tell me if a copy of the original Kobo OS is still present in the Ereader that I can reset to or is there another route I need to take to try to get back to the original state?

I would be very grateful if anyone can walk me through any processes as this is all new to me.

Many Thanks.

Brian

Here's how to reset your Kobo Touch. This may restore it back to running the Kobo firmware.

https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/artic...Kobo-Touch-2-0

[PeterT]

Get yourself new a new SD card and request a fimrware image from @DNSB in the obo µSD Card Image Requests https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=355778 thread. Write the image to the new SD card and try that.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Get yourself new a new SD card and request a fimrware image from @DNSB in the obo µSD Card Image Requests https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=355778 thread. Write the image to the new SD card and try that.

Wouldn't a factory reset sort out the problem?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Wouldn't a factory reset sort out the problem?

As far as I recall, the Android install overwrites both the system and restore partitions so factory reset will not work.

Since the OP has PMs enables, I've sent the link to the N905C firmware.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As far as I recall, the Android install overwrites both the system and restore partitions so factory reset will not work.

Since the OP has PMs enables, I've sent the link to the N905C firmware.

Why would the restore partition be overwritten?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would the restore partition be overwritten?

The mostly like reason that comes to mind is that the space was needed since the Touch 905C has a massive 2GB µSD card.

Perhaps you could explain why you would want to be able to restore Kobo firmware over an Android system?

[Brianrh]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Have you tried asking the seller? Whilst you've got the hardware that you've paid for, it does sound as if you were misled. You might well have grounds for returning it, on the basis that your reasonable expectations have not been met.

Declaration of interest: I'm currently offering a Clara 2E (with the standard Kobo firmware!) on eBay.

I could and probably should contact the seller but as I only paid £16 for the Touch, I thought I would see what was involved in restoring it to original state.

Thanks to the knowledgeable people here it looks as there is a way which should work and, at this price I think it is probably worth the risk.

[Brianrh]

My original plan was to get a cheap Kobo ereader as an introduction to the Kobo ecosystem and see if I could happily get away from the Kindle and all the hoops that you have to jump through to side load books. If I was satisfied I would think of buying a new Kobo at Christmas.

However, catching on what DNSB was asking earlier, I am now wondering about looking closer at the Android system and if it might be a better bet.

During boot up it flashes up that it is Android 2.01 dated 2010 so I don't know how secure it would be connecting to Wifi and if there would still be updates available for it?

I have meanwhile downloaded the Touch image so thanks DNSB for that and have save it in case I persue the original plan. I am grateful for all the info, links and a better understanding of how it works.

Thanks all.

Brian

[PeterT]

Frankly, I'd ignore totally the Android experience on a Kobo Touch. You're looking at a hacked, totally unsupported environment, out of date (Android is currently at 15.x), probably no access to Google Play Store for loading apps.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by Brianrh

However, catching on what DNSB was asking earlier, I am now wondering about looking closer at the Android system and if it might be a better bet.

It depends, in part at least, on what you want to do with the device. If you want a simple e-reader, I can't think of any benefit that Android has over the standard Kobo offering. The Kindle and Kobo Android apps, in particular, are massively inferior to the dedicated Kobo e-reader.

I understand that KOReader is reckoned to be pretty good (I have no personal experience of it), and is available for Android. But it's also available for Kobo, meaning that Android isn't needed if you want to try it.

[DNSB]

Basically, there are no updates for that antique Android system and I would never connect it to my WiFi at home, never mind thinking about using it outside the home. It was a way for someone who had an old Touch and wanted to play with Android to do so but IRL, the system was slow and glitchy.

[Brianrh]

So I have progressed but I have a new problem.

I wrote the image i downloaded to a 2GB SD card, it went ok and I replaced the SD card in the Touch. I did a manual reset, restarted and I had a Kobo OS on the Touch.

However it was when I went to set up via wireless where was I encounted the problem. I could change and set time, date, time zone but as soon as i had entered the wireless password and it had connected, it returned to requesting date, time, etc.

I looked on the internet where I found a post on Reddit where someone had the same problem and they were told it was due to too out of date firmware. It said that as from May 2023 a security update made it only possibe to be able to do do a firmware update by writing the new firmware into the .kobo folder of the reader. However when I connect the Touch to my Ubuntu Linux laptop, it doesn't see the ereader at all.

I'm going to try writing the firmware image to a 8GB SD and try that in case the original was corrupt.

Has anyone else encounted this? Any suggestions what I can try next?

Brian

[bluepeter]

TBH, it's probably a good idea to go with a larger SD card anyway. 2GB ain't much. (I've got 32GB - which I admit is a bit of an overkill - in my Mini.)

What screen was showing on your Kobo when you tried to get it to connect to your Linux computer? You need to get it on to the setup screen. There are a couple of different versions, and I can't remember exactly what they say, but the general thrust of it is that it invites you to connect to WiFi. One version says something like "Don't have WiFi?", and you need to select that and connect by USB at that stage. The other version doesn't say that, but you connect by USB at that point anyway. If you've already got past that point by connecting to WiFi, you'll need to reboot and start again.