Kobo touch won't allow register after reset

[Quasimodo41]

I lit upon this forum after fruitless searching of the Kobo help pages...

I have an elderly Kobo Touch (N905) which decided this afternoon to do a factory reset. When I eventually powered it up again, it prodded me to set it up by connecting it to my PC. I dutifully did so, having installed the Kobo desktop application on my wife's (Windows 10) PC (my PC runs Linux Mint); Windows recognised the internal storage of the Kobo and the SD card which I plugged into the Kobo not long after I bought it. The Kobo displayed a screen telling me that it was connected and charged, and prompting me to use my computer to visit www.kobosetup.com. I worked my way through the menus to find the instructions to register the ereader, and the critical step seems to be missing from the behaviour of my ereader: after I've chosen the language (English) I *don't* get the question "Don't have a WiFi network?" - it went straight to the screen "Please Setup Your eReader". I also noted that if I went to the Wireless connection option in the settings menu and chose "Edit Wireless Networks" it informed me that the eReader has no known networks (not a great surprise), *but it didn't admit to being able to detect any networks*, despite it being less than a metre away from the nearest wireless access point.

Can anyone suggest a way out of this hole, please? If the reader is really dead, I shan't bother to get a replacement - I have the Kobo application installed on my (Android) smartphone and tablet, so I have access to all the books in my library...

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Ian

[DNSB]

You might want to download the newer firmware for the N905 Touch (see Kobo Firmware Downloads, extract the downloaded .zip file into the .kobo directory, safely eject and see what happens after the firmware update completes.

Double check your Touch to see if it is a N905, N905B or N905C (the N905 is often referred to as the N905A) so you download the correct firmware.

[davidfor]

I have a working N905 Touch, and it has a lot of trouble connecting to my WiFi network. Somewhere along the way I asked Kobo about this, and it basically comes down to an older device, changing networking protocols and issues keeping the WiFi support in the software they use. The device works, but, it usually takes two or three tries to connect and sync.

But, you will also hit another issue. And might already have hit it. The factory reset put the device back to a 1.9.x firmware version. This does not have support for the current networking security protocols. The older protocols were removed from the Kobo servers early last year as they are no longer considered to be secure. The Kobo desktop application still supports the Touch, so you can use that do the setup. Or, you can manually install an update and then do the setup. If you do this, you should use at least a 3.19.x firmware version.

[RainKap]

Thank you for the recommendations, @DNSB and @davidfor. After a judicious poke with a paperclip through the little hole in the back, I managed to persuade my N905 to accept a wired connection to my wife's PC running the Kobo desktop application, and restored it to sanity. It now works with all three wireless access points in our house (why we have three is a *long* story!).

Interestingly enough, I haven't been able to find anything in the "Device information" screen which tells me the model number; fortunately I still have the box that it came in when I bought it, and that indicates that it's an N905-KDN-S. The "Device information" screen *does* give me the software version: 4.21.15015 (dbef21c40c, 5/13/20), so pretty recent...

If I have a similar problem in the future, I'll follow the course suggested by @DNSB, and connect the Kobo to my Linux desktop PC to transfer the latest software version. At the moment, it ain't broke so I won't try to fix it!

Thanks, both

Ian

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by RainKap

Thank you for the recommendations, @DNSB and @davidfor. After a judicious poke with a paperclip through the little hole in the back, I managed to persuade my N905 to accept a wired connection to my wife's PC running the Kobo desktop application, and restored it to sanity. It now works with all three wireless access points in our house (why we have three is a *long* story!).

Good to here it is working.

And three access points don't sound to many to me. I'm down to only one, but that's because I don't have any "G" or older devices running. And the one I am running has dual radios in it, so it is effectively two.

Interestingly enough, I haven't been able to find anything in the "Device information" screen which tells me the model number; fortunately I still have the box that it came in when I bought it, and that indicates that it's an N905-KDN-S. The "Device information" screen *does* give me the software version: 4.21.15015 (dbef21c40c, 5/13/20), so pretty recent...

The serial number is the only thing that gives a hint as to the model number in the firmware. For most of the devices, it starts with the model number. The N905 and N905B didn't and I'm not sure of the N905C. The model number is on the end of the device with the USB port. But, I know that it gets worn off with use. Otherwise, it is somewhere on the PCB inside.

[RainKap]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Good to here it is working.

And three access points don't sound to many to me. I'm down to only one, but that's because I don't have any "G" or older devices running. And the one I am running has dual radios in it, so it is effectively two.

The serial number is the only thing that gives a hint as to the model number in the firmware. For most of the devices, it starts with the model number. The N905 and N905B didn't and I'm not sure of the N905C. The model number is on the end of the device with the USB port. But, I know that it gets worn off with use. Otherwise, it is somewhere on the PCB inside.

Ah, I have to admit I didn't think to look at the bottom edge - most of the time the Kobo lives in a cover, which obscures most of the lettering on the bottom edge. When I took it out of the cover and examined it, I saw that yes, it *does* have the N905 model number there :-)

Ian