Forma Unable to connect to Wi-Fi after installing KOReader and Plato

[JawadLeLogeur]

I used the kfmon installer.

On the Kobo firmware, I can turn Wi-Fi on and off but it cannot find any networks.

On KOReader, I get failed to initialize network cobtrol client: failed to conmect to wpa_supplicant control socket: /var/run/wpa_supplicant/eth0

Any suggestions?

[davidfor]

You need to remove the extra applications and test. I wouldn't normally think they cause problems, but, you t need to validate what is happening first.

Also, in any post about problems, you should mention what device you have and exactly what firmware version you are running. The causes and solutions have changed. And it is always good to be explicit about what is happening. For example, your subject says "Unable to connect to Wi-Fi", but in the post you state, "it cannot find any networks". Those are very different things. The former could be because of firewalls or lack of internet connectivity.

The KOReader error does sound like a problem reported before. There is/was a way to reset the WiFi setting completely. This cleared some files stored on the root partition and the device rebuilt them later. It was a KoboRoot.tgz file that was posted here some time back. That might help.

[chronoreverse]

Restart your Kobo, power off then on. In my experience, this sometimes happens when you exit those apps. I use the reboot option to avoid it.

[NiLuJe]

Having an idea about which exact device you're using, and on which firmware version would be helpful.

Also, if that actually ever worked on the original FW, and, as was mentioned, whether it does work after a reboot. Neither KOReader nor Plato should make any permanenent changes, but they may exacerbate existing WiFi quirks when you relaunch Nickel after exiting KOReader/Plato *without* a full restart, at least for the first connection attempt. (i.e., when you simply exit Plato/KOReader). FWIW, toggling WiFi off/on *usually* clears things up on my quirkiest device, the H2O.

[JawadLeLogeur]

My bad, I thought the post device tag would be visible. It's a Forma running 4.15.12920

So far, I have determined that rebooting/toggling the Wi Fi on off/switching between firmwares doesn't seem to work. I've tried all the combination sequences I could think of.

I will try to find the .tgz file first, then will try reinstalling and I'll report back with my findings. Is there a way to backup settings and data before doing this? I've downloaded a number of dictionaries and other features already.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

My bad, I thought the post device tag would be visible. It's a Forma running 4.15.12920

The device tag is there but all too often, the wrong device is chosen so a thread which says Aura actually refers to the Aura One (or was that the Aura H20? Aura HD? whatever other device names starting with Aura that Kobo has used).

Generally, placing the device type in your personal details is the best way⁠—IMNSHO,

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

My bad, I thought the post device tag would be visible. It's a Forma running 4.15.12920

The tag is there, but I didn't notice it when reading your post. And I like to see everything stated in one place.

So far, I have determined that rebooting/toggling the Wi Fi on off/switching between firmwares doesn't seem to work. I've tried all the combination sequences I could think of.

I will try to find the .tgz file first, then will try reinstalling and I'll report back with my findings. Is there a way to backup settings and data before doing this? I've downloaded a number of dictionaries and other features already.

When I'm trying something different, I take a copy of everything on the book partition. Then, if I need to, I can restore to that state easily. It doesn't save any configuration stored on the root partition, such as the WiFi settings, but it gets me back where I started easily.

[NiLuJe]

It's still unclear to me if you ever actually managed to get this to behave as you wished on a vanilla FW.

The title would hint at a "yes", but your latest answer muddies the waters a bit...

TL;DR: Yeah, I'd follow @davidfor's suggestion to get to the bottom of this.

[JawadLeLogeur]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

It's still unclear to me if you ever actually managed to get this to behave as you wished on a vanilla FW.

The title would hint at a "yes", but your latest answer muddies the waters a bit...

TL;DR: Yeah, I'd follow @davidfor's suggestion to get to the bottom of this.

To clarify I was able to connect to any Wi-Fi network on the vanilla FW without any problems before installing kfmon. Prior to that I had not installed anything else. It could still be a coincidence and that something else is the cause but that seems quite unlikely given the timing.

[NiLuJe]

Okay, thanks .

After a quick search, I found a whole 2 posts with a similar issue over ~10 years.

To be clear, after a *cold boot*, straight into Nickel, what happens (in detail) if you try to enable WiFi *from the Settings menu* (and not the WiFi top icon)? (Since I assume a Kobo boots with WiFi on, you may have to kill it first, but the results from the same experiment in the default boot state are helpful, too).

As @davidfor mentioned, in the few posts this was mentioned, there was talk of wiping the wpa_supplicant config. In my experience, Nickel's never had any trouble doing that on its own when it's having quirky WiFi issues, but, YMMV, and WiFi is finicky on those devices, on a whole lot of levels, so the job's not necessarily as straightforward as one would assume.

I did not manage to find a KoboRoot to do that, though, so, here's one, that'll replace the config with the default blank template.

[JawadLeLogeur]

Thanks for the help!

So after a cold boot, I enabled WiFi from the Settings menu. Then I picked 'Join a Wi Fi network': the Scanning for networks progress bar almost reached the end, but then it defaults to No Wi Fi networks found. I tried the add network function with various networks but no luck. Toggling the Wi Fi from the top icon yields the same result: no Wi Fi networks found. From KOreader the error message is the same as in the OP.

I unzipped the .tgz you provided in the .kobo folder, then let it reboot. Nothing changed compared to what I described above.

I then unzipped the kfmon uninstall .tgz in the .kobo folder after perusing your github page. Nothing changed with Wi Fi, but the script worked as intended and kfmon was uninstalled (only the pngs remained)

At this point I just opted to do a factory reset. Then it turned out I had the same Wi Fi issue at setup. Lawd give me strength. 😂 I ended up installing Kobo Desktop to configure the device. At this point I'm not sure what else to do. I have no idea how I managed to brick the Wi Fi. Perhaps reinstall some firmware?

To be honest, the only reason I need Wi Fi is for Pocket. Maybe there is a way to update Pocket periodically by connecting to USB?

[NiLuJe]

I've never encountered the KOReader issue myself, but the "one pixel left in the scan bar and then nope" situation vaguely rings a bell. I've only *very* rarely managed to reproduce that, and generally the device will deadlock soon after because it turns out it's one of the wifi module that wrecked the kernel on unload. (And I've generally been doing some fairly untoward things to the device before to get it to this state ;D. Plus, that was on the H2O, which is generally much more finicky than the Forma.).

Most of the time, the "wonky wifi" symptoms on a warm custom nickel restart are: scanning's just fine, my preferred SSID is on top, but @ 0 bar, and the initial connection attempt takes a while, then fails. Usually fixed by killing wifi, and retrying from the Settings menu.
When you're extremely unlucky, that wipes the WiFi password (although this seems to have gotten better in recent FW).
(And, for shit'n giggles: if I drop nickel from this state before attempting to get WiFi up, KOReader will connect on the first try with no visible delay. And then restarting nickel might get WiFi working with no extra shenanigans. Gremlins.).

That's just as another data point, this is obviously not what you're seeing, since a factory reset, will, in fact, fully reinstall the original FW that your device ran OOB. So, if it's still broken there, that's potentially not a good news, and I'm afraid I'm out of ideas?

(But at least it tracks with you consistently being able to reproduce that on cold boots even before the factory reset).

[JawadLeLogeur]

Haha I guess we will never know for sure what happened. Although it's entirely possible that it was a hardware failure that just happened to come at exactly the wrong time for me to assume otherwise. Perhaps dust or water ingress or some other shock? In any case, Kobo agreed to give me a replacement so the problem will be resolved soon. Heck, I might even get a device without the uneven grey streaks on the bottom. A man can dream...

Thanks to all who responded. I will report back if I discover any more information.

[ps67]

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

Thanks for the help!

To be honest, the only reason I need Wi Fi is for Pocket. Maybe there is a way to update Pocket periodically by connecting to USB?

Kobo Desktop will update Your Pocket articles. I just tried because I did not know, I disabled Wi Fi and synchronized my Kobo and I obtained a new article. But of course Wi Fi is more comfortable if You are able to make it work.

The only time that Kobo Desktop was really useful for me was after a factory reset that caused the wi fii not to work.

A strange thing that happens to me: if I get up Wi Fi and imediately go to Kobo Store the chances of a correct functioning increase