Calibre not seeing Kobo in Windows 10 Preview builds - Page 10

DAAVIID · 08-09-2016, 03:44 PM

Restarts appears updating, the screen flashes and stays dark. You must restart with pencil, still it works in Windows 8, but Windows 10 want to format. No clown appears.
Kobo Touch N905

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Hi, thanks for your feedback.

Can you confirm some thing for me: the mod installed fine? the kobo rebooted? it did display a fat clown (the one in the attachment)? it rebooted afterwards? not factory resetting in between? And Win10 still wants to format it?

If so there goes that theory

Any others?

frostschutz · 08-09-2016, 04:12 PM

@DAAVIID, that's odd. No idea what's going on there. I just tested it on a N905C (two thirds of display broken, one third functional) and the clown (feet only) appeared. It took a good while longer than on the H2O and failed to boot properly afterwards. Removing the SD card, the fatpatch was applied, but the Kobo eReader.conf and the database file was corrupt, maybe the mod is killing off nickel too quickly so there is some kind of race condition.

I will update the mod to use a longer delay before killing nickel. (I shouldn't let nickel start in the first place but I am lazy ...)

edit: updated to v2, back to this post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786

If that's not it then I'm clueless too, sorry.

You DID extract the ZIP to get the TGZ file, and didn't rename the ZIP to TGZ, right? [Sorry for asking this question, just trying to cover all bases]

Also thanks to @all other people who reported back!

DAAVIID · 08-09-2016, 04:56 PM

Waiting for restart.
It correctly extracted the zip.

Not start the second time. the screen turns off after 15 minutes. I will do hard reset, update and test again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

@DAAVIID, that's odd. No idea what's going on there. I just tested it on a N905C (two thirds of display broken, one third functional) and the clown (feet only) appeared. It took a good while longer than on the H2O and failed to boot properly afterwards. Removing the SD card, the fatpatch was applied, but the Kobo eReader.conf and the database file was corrupt, maybe the mod is killing off nickel too quickly so there is some kind of race condition.

I will update the mod to use a longer delay before killing nickel. (I shouldn't let nickel start in the first place but I am lazy ...)

edit: updated to v2, back to this post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786

If that's not it then I'm clueless too, sorry.

You DID extract the ZIP to get the TGZ file, and didn't rename the ZIP to TGZ, right? [Sorry for asking this question, just trying to cover all bases]

Also thanks to @all other people who reported back!

frostschutz · 08-09-2016, 05:42 PM

Oh, there may be a problem...

On my N905C the boot sector copy is not sector 6, but sector 3. Doing some more testing this seems to be unique to busybox mkfs.vfat, dosfstools mkfs.vfat sticks to 6 no matter what. Seriously - what the heck?!

My mod blindly assumes sector 6. So for filesystems where it's in sector 3, it ends up blindly writing into sector 6 anyway. It does check if it's still mountable afterwards and reverts if that isn't the case, but depending what the filesystem driver does when it encounters corrupt data the device might also crash [didn't do so for me, but...].

Guess I'll have to teach it to read the correct sector value from the FAT32 header. What's the point of a backup sector, if you need the original sector to tell you where the backup sector is?

I only noticed the problem while trying to write a Windows app that performs the same change, and I checked for presence of FAT32 header there so it won't patch your NTFS disks... only for the N905C the FAT32 backup header just wasn't there...

DAAVIID · 08-09-2016, 06:00 PM

OK thanks. Waiting, the moment synchronize with a portable gauge windows 8.1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Oh, there may be a problem...

On my N905C the boot sector copy is not sector 6, but sector 3. Doing some more testing this seems to be unique to busybox mkfs.vfat, dosfstools mkfs.vfat sticks to 6 no matter what. Seriously - what the heck?!

My mod blindly assumes sector 6. So for filesystems where it's in sector 3, it ends up blindly writing into sector 6 anyway. It does check if it's still mountable afterwards and reverts if that isn't the case, but depending what the filesystem driver does when it encounters corrupt data the device might also crash [didn't do so for me, but...].

Guess I'll have to teach it to read the correct sector value from the FAT32 header. What's the point of a backup sector, if you need the original sector to tell you where the backup sector is?

I only noticed the problem while trying to write a Windows app that performs the same change, and I checked for presence of FAT32 header there so it won't patch your NTFS disks... only for the N905C the FAT32 backup header just wasn't there...

frostschutz · 08-09-2016, 06:11 PM

Updated to v3 (again in the original post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786), now checks for valid FAT32 header for both original and backup sectors (and tries the first 8 sectors of the disk).

Still working on a Windows program, won't finish with it today.

Hypernova · 08-09-2016, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Updated to v3 (again in the original post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786), now checks for valid FAT32 header for both original and backup sectors (and tries the first 8 sectors of the disk).

I'm on firmware 3.19.5613, and v2 works for me! Some difficulty though. It seems to take forever to start doing something. So after many tries without success, I just start the process and store my reader away. After an hour or so it seems to work now. Also, having an microSD card insert may interfere with the process, but I could be wrong.

frostschutz · 08-09-2016, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypernova

It seems to take forever to start doing something.

Yeah I added a delay before because there were some corrupt files when testing with a Kobo Touch, but that problem might have been with the nonstandard backup sector location and the mod writing to the wrong place.

I reduced the delay a little in v3.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypernova

After an hour or so it seems to work now.

Strange, even with the delay in v2, it should be around 2-3 minutes, not hour.

Quote:

Also, having an microSD card insert may interfere with the process, but I could be wrong.

External SD is ignored by the mod for now... if there's someone who doesn't get their External SD recognized, I can make a v4 that also patches this one... but Kobo only messes with the internal one so external should not be affected by the Win10 problem at all... in theory

Hypernova · 08-09-2016, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Strange, even with the delay in v2, it should be around 2-3 minutes, not hour.

It certainly doesn't take an hour, but for some reasons it stuck on the fat clown for me. I think I waited up to 5 minutes but nothing seems to change so I start poking around and/or restart, but Windows 10 still doesn't recognize the internal storage. So eventually I decided to try again and go do something else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

External SD is ignored by the mod for now... if there's someone who doesn't get their External SD recognized, I can make a v4 that also patches this one... but Kobo only messes with the internal one so external should not be affected by the Win10 problem at all... in theory

I don't think anyone have problem with the external SD, so you're correct to ignore them. It just that my first couple tries I have mine inserted, so I mentioned it just in case.

frostschutz · 08-09-2016, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypernova

It certainly doesn't take an hour, but for some reasons it stuck on the fat clown for me.

The clown changes color, white/black to black/white. If it gets stuck on one color for a long time, something went wrong. I just don't have any idea what.

If it does get stuck it's more likely to get stuck on a black background. Initial delay aside where you get white-black-white flashes, the white clown only appears when something worked so if the clown stays black the mod is in cuckoo land, trying to undo damages. Give it 2-3 minutes before you reset.

Yeah, I have to find a method to actually display some text on the screen instead of evil clowns and whatnot.

freekobo · 08-09-2016, 07:34 PM

I like how everyone pulled together here and was all like 'a bug on my kobo what? I don't think so! we have fix this now!' and came up with these great workarounds to solve the problem. It's a shame Kobo and Microsoft Developer's didn't work with such speed and dedication! Good work all!

davidfor · 08-09-2016, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freekobo

I like how everyone pulled together here and was all like 'a bug on my kobo what? I don't think so! we have fix this now!' and came up with these great workarounds to solve the problem. It's a shame Kobo and Microsoft Developer's didn't work with such speed and dedication! Good work all!

What on earth makes you thing that Kobo is not working on this? There is a difference in what they can do versus some random bloke on a forum. Anything Kobo releases has to work for the millions of devices they have sold and be simple enough for the average user to do. It has to be built into a firmware release or application update. It also has to not break the device for non-Windows users. And people who haven't updated Windows.

What frostschutz has done is brilliant and very clever. But everyone who uses it does so at their own risk. He can't promise to fix your device for you if it screws up or you do while applying the fix.

Hypernova · 08-09-2016, 10:57 PM

I noticed a setback--I lose the "current progress" on the screensaver. Now, I don't remember if this was default or one of the tweak that has to be installed, but before apply frostschutz hack my screensaver is the full cover image of the book I'm reading with a textbox in the lower left corner that say "Sleeping" and show the book's % read. Now it just say "Sleeping" without nothing else. Can someone remind me if this is a default or a mod? And since now I lose it, where can I install it again?

JSWolf · 08-09-2016, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypernova

I noticed a setback--I lose the "current progress" on the screensaver. Now, I don't remember if this was default or one of the tweak that has to be installed, but before apply frostschutz hack my screensaver is the full cover image of the book I'm reading with a textbox in the lower left corner that say "Sleeping" and show the book's % read. Now it just say "Sleeping" without nothing else. Can someone remind me if this is a default or a mod? And since now I lose it, where can I install it again?

Have you tired a different book to see if the % comes back?

grahamch · 08-09-2016, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frostschutz

I've created a mod that performs the changes I described above on the Kobo. If successful it should make Kobo <-> Win10 compatible without formatting/losing any files.

Hi Frostschutz

Thank you indeed for supplying your fix. Here is some feedback. I applied v3 to both my Kobo Touch eReaders, models N905B and N905C, but with mixed results. Both of them failed to do the second restart and istead remained on the black (inverse) clown.

I tried it 4 times times on the N905B. Interestingly, the second time it worked - stayed on the black clown but when I rebooted it after waiting several minutes and then mounted it on my Windows 10 build 10393, it worked and I was able to browse files on the eReader. However I then tried running the Kobo Windows app, but that displayed an error attempting to sync with the device. Thereafter I was not able to mount it successfully on Windows 10 build 10393, even after repeating applying the patch.

I applied the latest firmware 3.19.5761 to the N905B from Linux and then tried your patch again. Firmware upgrade was fine, but same result with your patch - black clown, can't mount on Windows 10 build 10393, mounts fine on Linux.

I can mount both readers fine and read their contents from Linux.

I look forward to your next fix, and thanks again for your efforts.

08-09-2016, 04:12 PM	#137
frostschutz Linux User Posts: 2,282 Karma: 6123806 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Device: none	@DAAVIID, that's odd. No idea what's going on there. I just tested it on a N905C (two thirds of display broken, one third functional) and the clown (feet only) appeared. It took a good while longer than on the H2O and failed to boot properly afterwards. Removing the SD card, the fatpatch was applied, but the Kobo eReader.conf and the database file was corrupt, maybe the mod is killing off nickel too quickly so there is some kind of race condition. I will update the mod to use a longer delay before killing nickel. (I shouldn't let nickel start in the first place but I am lazy ...) edit: updated to v2, back to this post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786 If that's not it then I'm clueless too, sorry. You DID extract the ZIP to get the TGZ file, and didn't rename the ZIP to TGZ, right? [Sorry for asking this question, just trying to cover all bases] Also thanks to @all other people who reported back! Last edited by frostschutz; 08-09-2016 at 04:23 PM.

08-09-2016, 06:11 PM	#141
frostschutz Linux User Posts: 2,282 Karma: 6123806 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Device: none	Updated to v3 (again in the original post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...86#post3367786), now checks for valid FAT32 header for both original and backup sectors (and tries the first 8 sectors of the disk). Still working on a Windows program, won't finish with it today. Last edited by frostschutz; 08-09-2016 at 06:15 PM.

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08-09-2016, 05:42 PM	#139
frostschutz Linux User Posts: 2,282 Karma: 6123806 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Device: none	Oh, there may be a problem... On my N905C the boot sector copy is not sector 6, but sector 3. Doing some more testing this seems to be unique to busybox mkfs.vfat, dosfstools mkfs.vfat sticks to 6 no matter what. Seriously - what the heck?! My mod blindly assumes sector 6. So for filesystems where it's in sector 3, it ends up blindly writing into sector 6 anyway. It does check if it's still mountable afterwards and reverts if that isn't the case, but depending what the filesystem driver does when it encounters corrupt data the device might also crash [didn't do so for me, but...]. Guess I'll have to teach it to read the correct sector value from the FAT32 header. What's the point of a backup sector, if you need the original sector to tell you where the backup sector is? I only noticed the problem while trying to write a Windows app that performs the same change, and I checked for presence of FAT32 header there so it won't patch your NTFS disks... only for the N905C the FAT32 backup header just wasn't there...

08-09-2016, 07:34 PM	#146
freekobo Addict Posts: 250 Karma: 2731310 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: Kobo Aura	I like how everyone pulled together here and was all like 'a bug on my kobo what? I don't think so! we have fix this now!' and came up with these great workarounds to solve the problem. It's a shame Kobo and Microsoft Developer's didn't work with such speed and dedication! Good work all!

08-09-2016, 10:57 PM	#148
Hypernova Hyperreader Posts: 130 Karma: 28678 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: Current: Boox Leaf2 (broken) Past: H2O, Kindle PW1, DXG;Pocketbook 360	I noticed a setback--I lose the "current progress" on the screensaver. Now, I don't remember if this was default or one of the tweak that has to be installed, but before apply frostschutz hack my screensaver is the full cover image of the book I'm reading with a textbox in the lower left corner that say "Sleeping" and show the book's % read. Now it just say "Sleeping" without nothing else. Can someone remind me if this is a default or a mod? And since now I lose it, where can I install it again?