Glo Messed up Kobo Glo

[ryuji35]

I am not sure if I should just give up this device already *sigh*

Anyway, I have a more than a year old Kobo Glo, it is stuck with Kobo Firmware 3.1.0 (It won't update), and whenever I plug it in to my computer (or different computers) it says "USB Device does not recognized." I tried using different UB Cords already to no avail. I wanted to do a reset but the power switch does not work anymore.....

So the only way for me to load books is by MicroSD. My question is, can I still salvage this device at least by trying it to work by being recognized by my computer? And update it to the latest firmware?

Or should I look for a new device....

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ryuji35

Or should I look for a new device....

Let's answer this one first.

Do you want a new device? If so...

Your Glo is broken. It can't be fixed. You need to go and spend a lot of money on nice new ..... [fill in the blank for your preferred ereader]

Will that satisfy whoever you have to justify expediture to?

Originally Posted by ryuji35

I am not sure if I should just give up this device already *sigh*

Anyway, I have a more than a year old Kobo Glo, it is stuck with Kobo Firmware 3.1.0 (It won't update), and whenever I plug it in to my computer (or different computers) it says "USB Device does not recognized." I tried using different UB Cords already to no avail. I wanted to do a reset but the power switch does not work anymore.....

So the only way for me to load books is by MicroSD. My question is, can I still salvage this device at least by trying it to work by being recognized by my computer? And update it to the latest firmware?

The broken switch is a problem. I assume you are using it with a cover to sleep and wake when needed. Do you know why the switch is broken? Have you opened it and tried to reseat the slider part of the switch?

For a factory reset, you should be able to do it from the settings. It's on the device information page of the settings. That will do it without needing the switch. You can also do it the way Kobo say for the H2O. Press the pinhole reset and when the squares start dancing, press it again. Repeat three more times and it should ask you about doing a factory reset.

If either of these do the factory reset, I would connect to the PC before doing the setup. That will show you if it they see each other and work. If the PC doesn't see the device properly, then the problems are more severe. I'm not sure what to suggest then.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by davidfor

If either of these do the factory reset, I would connect to the PC before doing the setup. That will show you if it they see each other and work. If the PC doesn't see the device properly, then the problems are more severe. I'm not sure what to suggest then.

Do I want a new device? Well, honestly, I do. But the only thing that I want now is the Voyage and it's a fortune to spend money on it. I don't see the reason for me to buy the Aura now when the specs between it and the Glo is very minimal. I am trying to wait for the next gen "Aura" before I buy a new one. But lo and behold, these issues started to arise on my Glo.

I did a factory reset. But yes, the device is still won't be recognized by the PC. I have Win7 Desktop and a Win 8 Laptop. Both declared that my deviced "malfunctioned"

[Ken Maltby]

It is possible to do updates by removing the internal uSD card, from your glo and using BootIce on your Windows7 machine to change the partition table of the uSD card so that the FAT32 user partition is listed first allowing windows to read the uSD card and work with that partition.

You first Backup the partition table as it is, so you can return it to the order needed for the uSD card to work in your glo. Give the save a name like "Glo_format". Then you make the "KOBOeReader" partition accessible, which should move it to the top of the listed partitions. Then you backup that, with a name like "Windows_format", so you can just Restore that partition table, to make the card work in windows.

With the card's partition table compatible with windows you should see the card in windows explorer, and can add the files and folders to make the update you want. Once you have done that you would open BootIce again and restore the glo_format partition table. Now you can return the uSD card to your Kobo device and the update should take effect.

Luck;
Ken

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ryuji35

Do I want a new device? Well, honestly, I do. But the only thing that I want now is the Voyage and it's a fortune to spend money on it. I don't see the reason for me to buy the Aura now when the specs between it and the Glo is very minimal. I am trying to wait for the next gen "Aura" before I buy a new one. But lo and behold, these issues started to arise on my Glo.

Yes, I don't see any real advantage of an Aura over a Glo. If I broke, my Glo now, I'd probably buy another one. Or go up to the Aura H2O. The Voyage is interesting, but I'm too firmly entrenched in the Kobo ecosystem to want to change.

I did a factory reset. But yes, the device is still won't be recognized by the PC. I have Win7 Desktop and a Win 8 Laptop. Both declared that my deviced "malfunctioned"

The same result from different PCs usually means it is the device. If there is a non-Windows machine you can try, that might do something different.

Something you could try on the Windows machines USBDeview. Running that will list the installed drivers for any USB device that has ever been connected to the PC. When you run it, find all the references to Kobo and delete them. This will force Windows to reinstall the drivers when you next connect. Doing this has helped a few people with some strange connections problems.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

It is possible to do updates by removing the internal uSD card, from your glo and using BootIce on your Windows7 machine to change the partition table of the uSD card so that the FAT32 user partition is listed first allowing windows to read the uSD card and work with that partition.

You first Backup the partition table as it is, so you can return it to the order needed for the uSD card to work in your glo. Give the save a name like "Glo_format". Then you make the "KOBOeReader" partition accessible, which should move it to the top of the listed partitions. Then you backup that, with a name like "Windows_format", so you can just Restore that partition table, to make the card work in windows.

With the card's partition table compatible with windows you should see the card in windows explorer, and can add the files and folders to make the update you want. Once you have done that you would open BootIce again and restore the glo_format partition table. Now you can return the uSD card to your Kobo device and the update should take effect.

Luck;
Ken

Thanks for the suggestion, Ken! Although I find this option a little intrusive considering my limited capabilities lol Not sure how to even whack the Glo's external casing without ruining it.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Something you could try on the Windows machines USBDeview. Running that will list the installed drivers for any USB device that has ever been connected to the PC. When you run it, find all the references to Kobo and delete them. This will force Windows to reinstall the drivers when you next connect. Doing this has helped a few people with some strange connections problems.

This is interesing... I'll try this and if it works, I'll let you all know. If not, then I guess I'll stick to this until even the microSD won't work anymore or until a good device arrives

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ryuji35

Thanks for the suggestion, Ken! Although I find this option a little intrusive considering my limited capabilities lol Not sure how to even whack the Glo's external casing without ruining it.

Ken's suggestion is interesting, but, but not something I would have thought about. When I have wanted to access the internal card directly, I booted a laptop using a Linux live distribution. That can access all partitions on the card once I removed it from the device. I don't know if that is any easier or not.

The other thing I thought of earlier, but Ken's post brought back to my mind, is whether the internal card has any problems. From the other behaviour, I don't think so, but it might be worthwhile trying another card. Opening the device and replacing the card isn't very hard. There is a guide in Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures) (but the pictures have been remove to a link in the second post). You can copy the image from your card but it might be safer to use an image from elsewhere. I can supply one if you want to try it. Also, if you open it, you might see why the power switch isn't working and be able to fix it.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The other thing I thought of earlier, but Ken's post brought back to my mind, is whether the internal card has any problems. From the other behaviour, I don't think so, but it might be worthwhile trying another card. Opening the device and replacing the card isn't very hard. There is a guide in Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures) (but the pictures have been remove to a link in the second post). You can copy the image from your card but it might be safer to use an image from elsewhere. I can supply one if you want to try it. Also, if you open it, you might see why the power switch isn't working and be able to fix it.

I will think about it since I am really scared that I might ruin the device. I will have to see how "intrusive" the opening of Kobo is with the tutorial you have provided.

P.S. I am not sure if you provided the correct link though, it's re-directing me to a thread that's not about memory upgrades

[Ken Maltby]

I think it should have been here.

Luck;
Ken

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

It is possible to do updates by removing the internal uSD card, from your glo and using BootIce on your Windows7 machine to change the partition table of the uSD card so that the FAT32 user partition is listed first allowing windows to read the uSD card and work with that partition.

You first Backup the partition table as it is, so you can return it to the order needed for the uSD card to work in your glo. Give the save a name like "Glo_format". Then you make the "KOBOeReader" partition accessible, which should move it to the top of the listed partitions. Then you backup that, with a name like "Windows_format", so you can just Restore that partition table, to make the card work in windows.

With the card's partition table compatible with windows you should see the card in windows explorer, and can add the files and folders to make the update you want. Once you have done that you would open BootIce again and restore the glo_format partition table. Now you can return the uSD card to your Kobo device and the update should take effect.

Luck;
Ken

Okay, so I gathered my courage and opened my Kobo Glo and to my surprise, I was able to do so. I took my SD Card and downloaded BOOTICE but this part is so confusing, I chickened out and just put everything back. Can you link me up to a turorial on how to do the backing up/ restoring etc.?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ryuji35

I will think about it since I am really scared that I might ruin the device. I will have to see how "intrusive" the opening of Kobo is with the tutorial you have provided.

P.S. I am not sure if you provided the correct link though, it's re-directing me to a thread that's not about memory upgrades

I messed up and link to a post rather than a thread. I have fixed the link in the original post. And Ken got it right.

Originally Posted by ryuji35

Okay, so I gathered my courage and opened my Kobo Glo and to my surprise, I was able to do so. I took my SD Card and downloaded BOOTICE but this part is so confusing, I chickened out and just put everything back. Can you link me up to a turorial on how to do the backing up/ restoring etc.?

So don't mess up, the link is https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122. And I have sent you a PM with the link to the disk image for the Glo. You can restore that to a new card, put it in and see what happens.

[ryuji35]

Originally Posted by davidfor

So don't mess up, the link is https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209122. And I have sent you a PM with the link to the disk image for the Glo. You can restore that to a new card, put it in and see what happens.

Okay, so I was able to do the tutorial quite well (I think.) I used an original Transcend 8GB MicroSD HC and everythign went well. Except when I booted the Kobo with the new SD Card. It reached up to the point where it's already updating via WIFI then BAM everything went white. As if it's completely powered down. I thought my Kobo got bricked or done for good, but I noticed that the light switch is functioning and it's turning the light on and off. So what I did is I pulled and reinserted the card and and did a reset (by pushing the reset button below the device) and it won't work. Not giving up, I took the new SD card and re-inserted the old SD card again and did a reset. And it booted up again.

[Ken Maltby]

Transcend cards may not be the best for this purpose, SanDisk (like Kobo used) and Samsung micro-SD cards seem to work better.

BootIce:

"Mounting" the Kobo internal uSD card in Windows 7 x64

If you can remove the internal uSD card (see above) you can mount it in windows, using "Bootice". Windows will not recognize the uSD card, as it is used in your device, because the partition table has a Linux type partition as the first partition. BootICE can be used to change the partition table so the FAT32 (KOBOeReader) partition is first in the partition table, and Windows will then see it and give it a drive letter. If you save the partition table both before and after changing the partition table, (Bootice lets you save and restore the partition table) you can "restore" the partition table to how you need it for your Kobo or to how you need it so Windows can use it.

First you will need BOOTICE, (there are different versions for 32 and 64 bit OS)

Then you can remove your Kobo devices internal uSD card, from your device and plug it into the reader on your PC.

Open Bootice and check that the "Destination Disk" is your uSD card.

Select the "Parts Manage" button and "Backup Partition Table", to save the existing partition arrangement so it can be restored easily after you are done. [I save mine in the same folder I keep my backup image files.] Give it a name like "Original_ Kobo.dpt"

Then select the "KOBOeReader" partition and click on the "Set Accessible" button. It should move to the top of the list. Now backup the partition table again and give it a name like; "AuraHD_FAT1st.dpt"

Close and exit Bootice. Open Windows Explrer and you should now have the FAT32 partition mounted and you can modify its contents.

When you are done, you open Bootice and restore the original partition table, that you saved earlier. Your uSD card should now work in your Kobo device again, with the changes you made in effect.

Now all you need to do to "Mount" the uSD card with the FAT32 accessible (for updates, ect.), is to "Restore" the FAT1st version of the partition table. Then make your changes and then restore using the backup of the original partition table.

Luck;
Ken

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ryuji35

Okay, so I was able to do the tutorial quite well (I think.) I used an original Transcend 8GB MicroSD HC and everythign went well. Except when I booted the Kobo with the new SD Card. It reached up to the point where it's already updating via WIFI then BAM everything went white. As if it's completely powered down. I thought my Kobo got bricked or done for good, but I noticed that the light switch is functioning and it's turning the light on and off. So what I did is I pulled and reinserted the card and and did a reset (by pushing the reset button below the device) and it won't work. Not giving up, I took the new SD card and re-inserted the old SD card again and did a reset. And it booted up again.

Is it working? Or did it boot by hang? I'm not sure from that description.

One thing with your description is that I wonder if you inserted the card properly. There's been at least one report where someone went through these steps and it didn't work. They opened it again and discovered the card hadn't been pushed all the way in. Once it was pushed completely in, it worked perfectly.