Forma wedge-side light issue

[kansaskyle]

I'm curious how many Forma owners experienced the wedge-side light issue like I did where there is a band of lighter blue light and some grey shadowing. The intensity varies based on natural light and the brightness and comfort light settings.

I'm also curious if folks are entering the "panel-lottery" in seeking a replacement, living with it, or just getting a refund.

Click for a full-size image

[Cesca]

Thankfully, my Forma doesn’t have this issue. Purchased mine at Chapters in Canada.

[eeeink]

I guess I'm "living with the issue"? I definitely see it's there, but it doesn't bother me. It's kind of like the shadow in the gutter of a book.

[kansaskyle]

I'm actually undecided at the moment because Walmart is out-of-stock. I have gift card to cover the purchase of another.

I was hopeful to see more folks with a Form that didn't have the light issue.

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by eeeink

I guess I'm "living with the issue"? I definitely see it's there, but it doesn't bother me. It's kind of like the shadow in the gutter of a book.

Same.

[Amiieey]

So I guess I have this issue but the thing is, it only shows up when I put the light to 100% which I never do so I think I can live with it.

And if I try looking for this band of light at different light settings, my eyes seem to play this weird trick on me where the band vanishes for a moment and comes back again, etc to the point where I just don't bother looking for it. When I don't look for it then it's not there.

[Barbara1955]

That could be oils on your finger.

[Nimwe]

I've just sent the e-mail asking for a replacement unit. I tried the KA1 in a market yesterday and I didn't like the added weight. Also I LOVE the Forma's handle, it's just so comfortable. That just convinced me I need to get a working Forma instead of a new KA1.

I would like to ask everyone saying they have no light issue: could you take a picture of the device with 100% white light on in a dark room? Not because I don't believe you, it's just we haven't seen one totally functioning device yet.

This is mine, light issue on the left side:

[Lady Stardust]

I have it and it's visible even with the light set to 2% (which is how I read in dark).
It does bother me, but not enough to start replacement game because I don't believe the next I get will be much better.

[k9reeder]

I am on the verge of asking for a refund. I'll decide on Monday.

- I have the button side imperfection clear as day, as all the other user photos on this forum show.

- I also have, and God so help me I am not that particular (I invented CURB) a lighting gradient issue where the far side is brighter (not by much) than the button side, but that's not a deal breaker, if only for the side imperfection.

- Yesterday, I had a series of failures, one of which is definitely Kobo's fault, and the others probably the result of database corruption caused via Calibre or plugin (or Kobo!).

- Kobo's fault (minor) - When I sync'ed a day ago, my Forma downloaded a cover only of a book I'd long ago archived on Kobo.com, and bumped up the number of books I had in that collection by one even though the phantom book was not on my Kobo;

The rest below I suspect was caused by Calibre and/or plugin:

-Next, and unrelated? after I had transferred a couple of epubs via USB from Calibre (using the KoboTouchExtended plugin to convert to kepub), and properly ejected, the Kobo looked like it was processing as usual, but when done the books weren't on my device. First time that's ever happened using the Forma or my H2O.

-Then I reconnected to Calibre to see if the books would appear on the device in Calibre. Not there. And at some point then the device spontaneously rebooted. I can't remember what in particular I was doing other than browsing with Calibre.

-After that unintended reboot, the Forma had prematurely expired 3 library books, and wiped my Wifi and Overdrive info.

-So looked to me like database corruption. Never had that issue on my H2O. I did a factory reset. (Now my second forced (and by the way did nothing to improve the lighting issues).

-The reset went fine, except that during my own adjustment of settings, I got my first Forma freeze (something others have reported). This occurred, I believe at "Energy saving" when I unchecked "Automatically share." I had not enabled the PIN, another reported problem

-Power off and then on, now the Forma is back to "normal." And I'm really wary of it now, and it's looking at me like I might return it to the dog pound on Monday. (Not because of the database corruption, which I'm indirectly responsible for, using Calibre, but because of the screen imperfections and a random freeze.)

(P.S. Just for the hell of it: the Forma has rarely reported the strength of my WiFi accurately. I'm well down the list of my neighbors, although all my other devices indicate my WiFi is blasting a consistently strong signal.)

All along I have been using the latest Calibre version 3.33.1 (for Forma) and the firmware update 4.11.11911.

Edit - thinking about it, maybe Kobo.com did trigger some kind of cascading database problem. Don't know.

[Calenorn]

Looks like, in a few months, there will be a big pile of refurb Formas on sale, hopefully at a friendly discount!

[squiresque]

Just to offset any suggestion that Canadian stores are immune from the issue, I have the wedge-side light defect on my Kobo Forma, and it was purchased at Indigo Books, Eaton Centre, Toronto this past Tuesday.

[EldRick]

I had one that showed the dreaded grey bar, and called Kobo for a return. The CS rep had me do a factory reset on the Forma, and the artifact was reduced by 80%.
While it was dark enough to be distracting before, after the full restart it is acceptable - slightly there if you look for it, but not enough to be annoying.
I conclude that this may be a calibration issue - has anyone else tried a factory reset?
Here's what I got from CS
===================================

Performing a factory reset
You can perform a factory reset to restore your eReader to
its original settings. After a factory reset, you’ll have to set
up and sync your eReader again.
If you perform a factory reset on your eReader, you'll:
• Remove all books from your eReader. Any books you
purchased from Kobo can be re-downloaded from
the Kobo Cloud after a factory reset.
• Lose any bookmarks and annotations you've made in
your books since you last synced your eReader.
• Sign out of your account on your eReader.
• Reset all of your settings and preferences.
• Return your eReader to its original settings.
1. Go to your Home screen.
2. Tap Home at the top of the screen.
3. Tap Settings.
4. Tap Device information.
5. Tap Factory reset under Advanced.
6. Tap Reset Now

Performing a manual factory reset
If a factory reset didn't solve your problem, you can try a
manual factory reset to restore your eReader to its original
settings. After a manual factory reset, you'll need to set up
and sync your eReader again. Before you start, charge your
eReader for at least 1 hour.
1. Press and hold the power button until you see a
black 'Powered off' screen. Note: If you don't see
the 'Powered off' screen, go to the next step.
2. Press and hold one of the page turn buttons.
64
3. While holding the page turn button, press and hold
the power button.
4. Wait until the screen flashes and starts the reset
process. It usually takes about 30-seconds for the
eReader to start the reset process.

[kobayashi]

Originally Posted by Nimwe

I would like to ask everyone saying they have no light issue: could you take a picture of the device with 100% white light on in a dark room? Not because I don't believe you, it's just we haven't seen one totally functioning device yet.

Don't hold your breath as they're all like that. Some owners just have worse eyesight than others and can't detect the issue.

[k9reeder]

Originally Posted by EldRick

I had one that showed the dreaded grey bar, and called Kobo for a return. The CS rep had me do a factory reset on the Forma, and the artifact was reduced by 80%.
While it was dark enough to be distracting before, after the full restart it is acceptable - slightly there if you look for it, but not enough to be annoying.
I conclude that this may be a calibration issue - has anyone else tried a factory reset?
. . .

I had already done 2 factory resets with no apparent change. Inspired by your post, I just did a manual factory reset, holding down page turn and power button.

Sadly for me, again there is absolutely no change, to my eyes at least. Maybe there's placebo effect for others, or maybe I'm just seeing things. I really wanted to see some improvement. But no joy.

People talk about a "grey bar," but what I see is a grey bar with a white streak going down the middle of it.

Anyway, I have to go back to the CURB method to alleviate the distraction, thankfully it helps. First World Problems...

Link to Kobo Forma help:
https://www.kobo.com/help/en-US/arti...s=Kobo%20Forma