Touch red flashing light after Kobo Touch upgrade to 2.0

sven · 07-12-2012, 08:13 AM

Hi there,

Yesterday I tried to upgrade my Kobo Touch to firmware 2.0, but the upgrade got stucked at the restarting screen (for more than an hour or so). After turning off and on nothing happened. The blue light went on, but the screen still diplayed "Restarting" ...
Then I tried to do a factory reset as I already did several times. Now I have a Kobo with a green light (for charging) and a flashing red light (not a white twinkling light as during reset procedure in the past).

Has anybody an idea, what this flashing red light does mean, and how to get my Kobo running again?

Thanks,

Sven

MDK · 07-12-2012, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sven

Hi there,

Yesterday I tried to upgrade my Kobo Touch to firmware 2.0, but the upgrade got stucked at the restarting screen (for more than an hour or so). After turning off and on nothing happened. The blue light went on, but the screen still diplayed "Restarting" ...
Then I tried to do a factory reset as I already did several times. Now I have a Kobo with a green light (for charging) and a flashing red light (not a white twinkling light as during reset procedure in the past).

Has anybody an idea, what this flashing red light does mean, and how to get my Kobo running again?

Thanks,

Sven

If you have an SD card, try removing it before the reset.

sven · 07-12-2012, 02:11 PM

MDK,

Thank you for the answer, but I do not have a SD card in the slot.

What I realized in addition is that if I keep the Home button pressed for a while during switching on the Kobo the LED starts to flashing blue.

If I switch the Kobo on without pressing Home button or through Paper Pin hole the blue light stays permanently on.

If I press through Paper Pin hole and switch on, nothings happens.

To sum up, I have the Kobo in a least 3 different states:

1. permanently blue light
2. flashing blue light
3. flashing red light

Are state 2 and 3 maybe some kind of boot modes for the Kobo or the IMX508? I suppose the permanently light is when the Kobo is running but the kernel stopped somewhere during start up.

Any sugesstion would be appreciated (since you are a Kobo Developer

)

Sven

MDK · 07-12-2012, 03:19 PM

Try doing a pin reset (on the back) while holding the home button. This will do a factory reset, then try the upgrade from a clean state.

sven · 07-13-2012, 06:03 AM

I did following procedure:

1. Kobo is off, no SD card inserted.
2. switch on the Kobo -> permanent blue light
3. press HOME button
4. do PIN reset -> red flashing light

After more than 30 minutes the light is still flashing red. I don't think that a factory reset takes that long.

Pressing HOME button and doing PIN reset switches between red flashing light and blue flashing light and back again.

Is there a procedure to put the Kobo in USB boot mode? It seems that for the Kindle touch (also based on IMX508) such a procedure exists.

Thanks,

Sven

murg · 07-13-2012, 06:13 AM

Try this:

Disconnect from USB
Power off
Press the HOME button while sliding the power switch and keep pressing the Home button until the white flashing starts, then release the Home button.

You may have to do the paperclip thing between steps 2 and 3.

Before the white flashing starts, you may get two Red winks.

sven · 07-13-2012, 06:44 AM

murg,

I followed your procedure (seems to be the same reset procedure I followed in the past -> see my first post). But unlike getting a white flashing, I see two blue flashes and then the Kobo seems to power off again.
If I keep pressing PIN reset before pressing HOME and sliding POWER nothing happens until I release PIN reset.

Regards,

Sven

murg · 07-13-2012, 10:22 AM

I was getting two blue winks and then a green blink. Which wasn't anything useful.

If using the paperclip, nothing happens until it is released.

I was pretty much trying everything I could think of. The procedure in my post works for me, several times now. Maybe you have a different problem.

sven · 07-13-2012, 04:47 PM

Thank you for your efforts. I developed a state chart of my Kobo. Four states

1. Off
2. On/permanent blue light
3. Flashing red light
4. Flashing blue light

and several combinations of pressing HOME, POWER and PIN reset to change between the states. Does the flashing light indicate that the device/processor is in a "special" mode?

I found several threads and tutorials to unbrick a Kindle Touch. This device is also based on the IMX508. It seems to be quite easy to put the Kindle into an USB bootstrap mode (a IMX508 feature according to the processor reference manual). In this mode one can load a boot image with some software tools provided by Freescale onto the device, start the system and fix the problems.

Unfortunately, I was not able to activate the USB mode on my Kobo in a similar way.

I am wondering whether the Kobo Touch has also such a USB bootstrap mode or alike (booting from SD card), or whether the Kobo engineers disabled these modes after flashing the image to the device.

Maybe one of the Kobo engineers following this forum can give me or the community some hints.

taming · 07-13-2012, 09:41 PM

Sven, please write to KOBOExecutiveCare@kobo.com and point them to this thread. These are very helpful and knowledgeable folks.

sven · 07-14-2012, 05:42 PM

Thank you taming, I followed your suggestion and sent an E-Mail to the support team.

I will keep the community in the loop ....

TonyToews · 07-21-2012, 06:16 PM

I have trouble seeing the difference between some shades of green and blue also depending on lighting situations. I don't see any difference between the blinking green and blue light on startup. Ion other words it doesn't blink for me but is solid.

sven · 07-26-2012, 03:53 PM

The Kobo support had no different solution than the ones I already tried. But on Tuesday I received a new one from Kobo support for replacement.

The following upgrade to FW 2.0 went smoothly without any problems.

07-12-2012, 08:13 AM	#1
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	red flashing light after Kobo Touch upgrade to 2.0 Hi there, Yesterday I tried to upgrade my Kobo Touch to firmware 2.0, but the upgrade got stucked at the restarting screen (for more than an hour or so). After turning off and on nothing happened. The blue light went on, but the screen still diplayed "Restarting" ... Then I tried to do a factory reset as I already did several times. Now I have a Kobo with a green light (for charging) and a flashing red light (not a white twinkling light as during reset procedure in the past). Has anybody an idea, what this flashing red light does mean, and how to get my Kobo running again? Thanks, Sven

07-13-2012, 06:13 AM	#6
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	Try this: Disconnect from USB Power off Press the HOME button while sliding the power switch and keep pressing the Home button until the white flashing starts, then release the Home button. You may have to do the paperclip thing between steps 2 and 3. Before the white flashing starts, you may get two Red winks.

07-26-2012, 03:53 PM	#13
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	The Kobo support had no different solution than the ones I already tried. But on Tuesday I received a new one from Kobo support for replacement. The following upgrade to FW 2.0 went smoothly without any problems. Last edited by sven; 07-26-2012 at 04:21 PM.

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07-12-2012, 02:11 PM	#3
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	MDK, Thank you for the answer, but I do not have a SD card in the slot. What I realized in addition is that if I keep the Home button pressed for a while during switching on the Kobo the LED starts to flashing blue. If I switch the Kobo on without pressing Home button or through Paper Pin hole the blue light stays permanently on. If I press through Paper Pin hole and switch on, nothings happens. To sum up, I have the Kobo in a least 3 different states: 1. permanently blue light 2. flashing blue light 3. flashing red light Are state 2 and 3 maybe some kind of boot modes for the Kobo or the IMX508? I suppose the permanently light is when the Kobo is running but the kernel stopped somewhere during start up. Any sugesstion would be appreciated (since you are a Kobo Developer ) Sven

07-12-2012, 03:19 PM	#4
MDK Kobo Developer Posts: 76 Karma: 164028 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kobo Aura, Glo, Mini	Try doing a pin reset (on the back) while holding the home button. This will do a factory reset, then try the upgrade from a clean state.

07-13-2012, 06:03 AM	#5
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	I did following procedure: 1. Kobo is off, no SD card inserted. 2. switch on the Kobo -> permanent blue light 3. press HOME button 4. do PIN reset -> red flashing light After more than 30 minutes the light is still flashing red. I don't think that a factory reset takes that long. Pressing HOME button and doing PIN reset switches between red flashing light and blue flashing light and back again. Is there a procedure to put the Kobo in USB boot mode? It seems that for the Kindle touch (also based on IMX508) such a procedure exists. Thanks, Sven

07-13-2012, 06:44 AM	#7
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	murg, I followed your procedure (seems to be the same reset procedure I followed in the past -> see my first post). But unlike getting a white flashing, I see two blue flashes and then the Kobo seems to power off again. If I keep pressing PIN reset before pressing HOME and sliding POWER nothing happens until I release PIN reset. Regards, Sven

07-13-2012, 10:22 AM	#8
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	I was getting two blue winks and then a green blink. Which wasn't anything useful. If using the paperclip, nothing happens until it is released. I was pretty much trying everything I could think of. The procedure in my post works for me, several times now. Maybe you have a different problem.

07-13-2012, 04:47 PM	#9
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	Thank you for your efforts. I developed a state chart of my Kobo. Four states 1. Off 2. On/permanent blue light 3. Flashing red light 4. Flashing blue light and several combinations of pressing HOME, POWER and PIN reset to change between the states. Does the flashing light indicate that the device/processor is in a "special" mode? I found several threads and tutorials to unbrick a Kindle Touch. This device is also based on the IMX508. It seems to be quite easy to put the Kindle into an USB bootstrap mode (a IMX508 feature according to the processor reference manual). In this mode one can load a boot image with some software tools provided by Freescale onto the device, start the system and fix the problems. Unfortunately, I was not able to activate the USB mode on my Kobo in a similar way. I am wondering whether the Kobo Touch has also such a USB bootstrap mode or alike (booting from SD card), or whether the Kobo engineers disabled these modes after flashing the image to the device. Maybe one of the Kobo engineers following this forum can give me or the community some hints.

07-13-2012, 09:41 PM	#10
taming Trying for calm & polite Posts: 4,012 Karma: 9455193 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Mostly in Canada Device: kobo original, WiFI, Touch, Glo, and Aura	Sven, please write to KOBOExecutiveCare@kobo.com and point them to this thread. These are very helpful and knowledgeable folks.

07-14-2012, 05:42 PM	#11
sven Enthusiast Posts: 39 Karma: 454 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Brussels Device: Kobo Touch	Thank you taming, I followed your suggestion and sent an E-Mail to the support team. I will keep the community in the loop ....

07-21-2012, 06:16 PM	#12
TonyToews Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 351398 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Vox and Glo	I have trouble seeing the difference between some shades of green and blue also depending on lighting situations. I don't see any difference between the blinking green and blue light on startup. Ion other words it doesn't blink for me but is solid.