Libra Colour Do I need a new Kobo model, or a different brand entirely?

[MsWoodhouse]

I currently have a Kobo Libra Colour. I bought it in September of last year, so I've only had it about 7 months, and it's been nothing but a headache. Worth noting: this unit is my second Kobo, it's predecessor lasted 6 years and was totally problem-free.

It randomly resets the current book I'm reading, to either the first or last page, losing wherever my place was. It has had multiple database errors requiring a full factory reset. It will turn on with the cover closed. It randomly loses my link to Pocket and can't get it back until I reset.

Every time I reset, I lose all the annotations, highlights, and notes, since none of that stuff actually downloads to Calibre and stays with the epub file itself (why it works this way, I will never understand). I read mostly nonfiction so the loss of these annotations is a huge problem. The folks in this thread helped me figure out how to use Kobo Utilities to grab highlights, but I hadn't downloaded all of them before the next thing happened....

Last night was the final straw. I had dozens of annotations in a new book from hours spend reading yesterday morning. Notes, too. I was going to bed, noticed that the Kobo, where I'd set it down between myself and my spouse, was flashing, like it was on with the cover closed again. A few minutes later I picked it up, opened the cover, and it asked me which language I wanted to use - it had done a full reset by itself. Lost ALL the annotations. All my books were now out of recent read order and alphabetized. All my font and reading settings, blown away.

I'm done. I can't keep doing fighting this stupid thing. It's ruining my enjoyment of reading and ereaders.

My questions for folks here:

1. Are these known issues? Does the Colour just suck? My previous Kobo was a DREAM, it was rock solid. I reset it only a couple times in 6 years of use. When it finally bricked itself, I almost didn't blame it, it had served me so faithfully for so long. What is going on with the Colour?

2. Could this possibly be a problem with Kobo Utilities? I started using that plugin only with this Kobo, so part of me wonders is there is just something weird happening between that plugin and the device?

3. Would it help to buy a new one, but a different model? I'm thinking the Sage maybe? As in, is it accurate to think the Colours might be bad but a different model might be okay, or are the differences slight enough that it's not safe to assume that? (Maybe overall Kobo quality is just deteriorating now?)

[Sirtel]

Neither my Sage nor my Libra 2 have the issues you described. They've never lost my place or spontaneously reset themselves, and I've not had any database corruptions either.

And I do use the Kobo Utilities plugin for various things, so it's not that either.

Maybe it's the cover? Have you tried using your Libra without it?

[MsWoodhouse]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Maybe it's the cover? Have you tried using your Libra without it?

I don't know how the mechanism of that could work, doesn't the cover just turn it on and off? I can definitely try that and see. It's good to know other folks have Kobos without these issues. Maybe mine is a dud.

[DNSB]

For what it may be worth, my Libra Colour does not exhibit those issues. We did have a couple of posters who had cover issues where the Wake up device with page turn button setting was enabled and their cover was hitting the button so their LC was being woken up and buttons being held while it was supposed to be sleeping. I managed to duplicate that on my LC by pushing on the edge of the cover while closing it so the buttons weren't in the indents and I have left that setting unchecked since.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MsWoodhouse

I currently have a Kobo Libra Colour. I bought it in September of last year, so I've only had it about 7 months, and it's been nothing but a headache. Worth noting: this unit is my second Kobo, it's predecessor lasted 6 years and was totally problem-free.

It randomly resets the current book I'm reading, to either the first or last page, losing wherever my place was. It has had multiple database errors requiring a full factory reset. It will turn on with the cover closed. It randomly loses my link to Pocket and can't get it back until I reset.

The most likely reason for the page reset is the option to wake on button press. The button can be pressed and it wakes up your Kobo and then more pressing changes the page you are on. So in options, turn of wake on page button press (or whatever it's called).

Every time I reset, I lose all the annotations, highlights, and notes, since none of that stuff actually downloads to Calibre and stays with the epub file itself (why it works this way, I will never understand). I read mostly nonfiction so the loss of these annotations is a huge problem. The folks in this thread helped me figure out how to use Kobo Utilities to grab highlights, but I hadn't downloaded all of them before the next thing happened....

Use Kobo Utilities to make backups of your database when you plug you Kobo to your library. Also, if you do reset, make a copy of all of the books on your Kobo. Then after the reset, copy the books back along with the last database backup and then reboot your Kobo.

Last night was the final straw. I had dozens of annotations in a new book from hours spend reading yesterday morning. Notes, too. I was going to bed, noticed that the Kobo, where I'd set it down between myself and my spouse, was flashing, like it was on with the cover closed again. A few minutes later I picked it up, opened the cover, and it asked me which language I wanted to use - it had done a full reset by itself. Lost ALL the annotations. All my books were now out of recent read order and alphabetized. All my font and reading settings, blown away.

Again, that could maybe be an issue with the button waking up from sleep. And again, turn off that option. Also, if you use Kobo Utilities to backup your database, you'd have a fairly recent backup to restore.


I've not read of anyone else with these issues with the Libra Colour.

[MsWoodhouse]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For what it may be worth, my Libra Colour does not exhibit those issues. We did have a couple of posters who had cover issues where the Wake up device with page turn button setting was enabled and their cover was hitting the button so their LC was being woken up and buttons being held while it was supposed to be sleeping. I managed to duplicate that on my LC by pushing on the edge of the cover while closing it so the buttons weren't in the indents and I have left that setting unchecked since.

Oh hey! Mine has that turned on! For the life of me I can't figure out how to turn it off. It isn't in Reading settings....it isn't anywhere else I can find....but I'm pretty sure at some point I remember turning this on, and as we know I am unfortunately a bit blind to the obvious (from my last Kobo Utilities question, heh).

Okay, I'm going to keep looking until I find that setting, turn it off, and also remove the device from the case and just get a bumper case for it. Maybe that'll fix things! I'm glad no one thinks it's a Kobo Utilities issue, I love that plugin now. I'd be so sad to lose that.

EDIT: Found the setting! It was in energy savings. Huzzah!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MsWoodhouse

Oh hey! Mine has that turned on! For the life of me I can't figure out how to turn it off. It isn't in Reading settings....it isn't anywhere else I can find....but I'm pretty sure at some point I remember turning this on, and as we know I am unfortunately a bit blind to the obvious (from my last Kobo Utilities question, heh).

Okay, I'm going to keep looking until I find that setting, turn it off, and also remove the device from the case and just get a bumper case for it. Maybe that'll fix things! I'm glad no one thinks it's a Kobo Utilities issue, I love that plugin now. I'd be so sad to lose that.

EDIT: Found the setting! It was in energy savings. Huzzah!

Don't remove the case. The case is not the issue. The issue was the setting to wake on button press.

[MsWoodhouse]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Don't remove the case. The case is not the issue. The issue was the setting to wake on button press.

I understand the thinking here but I actually really disliked the case. So even apart from that possibly being an issue, I'm happy to try life without it for awhile.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MsWoodhouse

I understand the thinking here but I actually really disliked the case. So even apart from that possibly being an issue, I'm happy to try life without it for awhile.

Just remember, you'll have no protection for the screen with a bumper. That means no carrying around in your purse or any other bag.

[Aleron Ives]

Your problems sound more severe than just simple sleep cover bugs. If your Kobo is factory resetting itself for no apparent reason, my guess would be that the internal memory is faulty. IMO you should exchange it for a replacement, because it sounds like you got a faulty unit. My Libra 2 has never spontaneously reset itself. It's definitely not normal at all.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Your problems sound more severe than just simple sleep cover bugs. If your Kobo is factory resetting itself for no apparent reason, my guess would be that the internal memory is faulty. IMO you should exchange it for a replacement, because it sounds like you got a faulty unit. My Libra 2 has never spontaneously reset itself. It's definitely not normal at all.

I agree.

[aha]

No chance the power button and page turn button got accidentally pressed at the same time somehow, right?

But with the database errors combined with everything else it does sound like a faulty unit.