Clara HD Is there hope of fixing my Kobo Clara HD rev. A?

Dueros · 11-03-2025, 03:42 PM

Hi everyone, I just found my old Kobo Clara HD after two years. The battery was completely dead, but the screen still showed the last book cover. When I powered it on, it only displayed artifacts. I suspected a bad SD card, so I tried InktBox and later the original image from DNSB on multiple cards, following the tutorial carefully, but no luck. Is there still hope for my Clara HD, or should I give up on it?

DNSB · 11-03-2025, 08:07 PM

I would say your Clara HD is toast. Look at the curved line in the bottom part of the image attached below (inside the yellow ellipse). A classic example of a broken substrate.

Dueros · 11-04-2025, 07:19 AM

Thanks. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping it would still work since the screen looked fine when I found it, and I thought the artifacts were just from corrupted software.

JSWolf · 11-04-2025, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dueros

Thanks. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping it would still work since the screen looked fine when I found it, and I thought the artifacts were just from corrupted software.

It's time to buy a Clara BW as the screen is broken.

Dueros · 11-04-2025, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's time to buy a Clara BW as the screen is broken.

Maybe I will but it feels a bit expensive. Maybe I will look for some alternatives for Kobo. It worked great but I never liked how much Kobo was advertising their products on my ebook. I prefer a clean look without ads

PHughes · 11-04-2025, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dueros

Maybe I will but it feels a bit expensive. Maybe I will look for some alternatives for Kobo. It worked great but I never liked how much Kobo was advertising their products on my ebook. I prefer a clean look without ads

What ads are you referring to? I don't see any. Kobo Clara BW

Dueros · 11-04-2025, 02:18 PM

Maybe ads is the wrong word, but I remember that always when I turned my Kobo on, then on the homepage, there were a lot of propositions of books from Kobo. I would just prefer them not to be there

Aleron Ives · 11-04-2025, 04:49 PM

You can enable sideload mode to remove the home screen and the associated book recommendations. Of course, this means you lose the convenience of syncing your books directly to the device, so YMMV.

PeterT · 11-04-2025, 05:22 PM

There is also a patch available "Remove recommendations (row1col2) from home screen:"

DNSB · 11-04-2025, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dueros

Maybe ads is the wrong word, but I remember that always when I turned my Kobo on, then on the homepage, there were a lot of propositions of books from Kobo. I would just prefer them not to be there

Considering how little time I spend looking at the home page, the contents don't matter to me.

Currently my home page shows the 4 most recent books cover thumbnails and reading status in the top row, the second row has My Books where I see the 3 most recently added books cover thumbnails and the last 3 items from my Finished collection. The third row shows Find your next great read and Get started with Audiobooks on your eReader. Neither of these two has any images and the Get started item is the only one that has changed in over a year.

The 3rd row can be removed with the Remove footer (row3) on new home screen patch but has never seemed worthwhile to me (see little time comment).

Dueros · 11-05-2025, 07:29 AM

Honestly, I probably disremember it, and maybe it wasn't as annoying as I think it was, for some reason. Will try the new Kobo and see how I like it.

PHughes · 11-05-2025, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dueros

Honestly, I probably disremember it, and maybe it wasn't as annoying as I think it was, for some reason. Will try the new Kobo and see how I like it.

I so rarely go to the home page, I had to look at it. I don't see any book recommendations on mine. The books I see are all books I have loaded. Below those there are two text recommendations, one to borrow books from my library, and the other suggesting a Kobo Plus subscription. I don't see those two text suggestions as intrusive. Of course I really never see the home scree anyway, I am usually in a book, or in My Books.

Quoth · 11-05-2025, 04:08 PM

My "home page" is "My Books", which can be like the old home page that only had titles opened.
SideloadedMode=true

I don't sync and I download any ebooks bought from Kobo.

11-03-2025, 03:42 PM	#1
Dueros Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Location: The Neterlands Device: Kobo ClaraHD N249	Is there hope of fixing my Kobo Clara HD rev. A? Hi everyone, I just found my old Kobo Clara HD after two years. The battery was completely dead, but the screen still showed the last book cover. When I powered it on, it only displayed artifacts. I suspected a bad SD card, so I tried InktBox and later the original image from DNSB on multiple cards, following the tutorial carefully, but no luck. Is there still hope for my Clara HD, or should I give up on it? Last edited by issybird; 11-05-2025 at 03:28 PM. Reason: Oversize image deleted. See post below.

11-03-2025, 08:07 PM	#2
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 48,276 Karma: 174315444 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	I would say your Clara HD is toast. Look at the curved line in the bottom part of the image attached below (inside the yellow ellipse). A classic example of a broken substrate. Attached Thumbnails

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11-04-2025, 07:19 AM	#3
Dueros Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Location: The Neterlands Device: Kobo ClaraHD N249	Thanks. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping it would still work since the screen looked fine when I found it, and I thought the artifacts were just from corrupted software.

11-04-2025, 02:18 PM	#7
Dueros Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Location: The Neterlands Device: Kobo ClaraHD N249	Maybe ads is the wrong word, but I remember that always when I turned my Kobo on, then on the homepage, there were a lot of propositions of books from Kobo. I would just prefer them not to be there

11-04-2025, 04:49 PM	#8
Aleron Ives Wizard Posts: 1,779 Karma: 16319690 Join Date: Sep 2022 Device: Kobo Libra 2	You can enable sideload mode to remove the home screen and the associated book recommendations. Of course, this means you lose the convenience of syncing your books directly to the device, so YMMV.

11-04-2025, 05:22 PM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,702 Karma: 79983758 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	There is also a patch available "Remove recommendations (row1col2) from home screen:"

11-05-2025, 07:29 AM	#11
Dueros Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2025 Location: The Neterlands Device: Kobo ClaraHD N249	Honestly, I probably disremember it, and maybe it wasn't as annoying as I think it was, for some reason. Will try the new Kobo and see how I like it.

11-05-2025, 04:08 PM	#13
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,032 Karma: 111111255 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	My "home page" is "My Books", which can be like the old home page that only had titles opened. SideloadedMode=true I don't sync and I download any ebooks bought from Kobo.

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