Firmware 4.31.19086

[rashkae]

With regards to the Kobo filesystem not being cleanly unmounted before connecting to PC, I just realized, there is one variable to my Kobo that is non-standard and I did not test against.

I have, in the past, installed the hak to auto fill series data when books are imported. It's a subtle thing and persists across firmware upgrades.

When I have time later, I will factory reset a Clara HD and test 4.31 from a clean factor install, and if the error does not present itself, will try install that code again and see if it makes a difference.

[Lusephur]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Or, and this is the far more likely scenario, given that no one has been able to 100% replicate the issues reliably and repeatedly it’s far harder for them to track down the actual problem.

Sure they can come round to me and I'll physically show them the issue happening again and again and again. Absolutely no worries it being 100% repeatable.

[rashkae]

My idea was bust,,, upgrading from a Factory Reset did not make the situation any better... and indded.. it is incredibly easy to reproduce...

Edit: So far, the only way to avoid a connecting a dirty filesystem is to reboot the Kobo and *not* open a book before connecting to pc. Kepub or epub, doesn't matter, nor does it matter if I'm reading the book or exit back to "My Books" list before connecting, the resulting FAT filesystem is marked dirty

PS: I'm testing from a linux system, which makes it much easier to see what is happening in the dmesg log, without having to wait for Windows to pop up the filesystem error messages, or the database to actually get clobbered.

[gbm]

I rolled back to 4.30.18838, did not feel like messing with it any more.

bernie

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Edit: So far, the only way to avoid a connecting a dirty filesystem is to reboot the Kobo and *not* open a book before connecting to pc. Kepub or epub, doesn't matter, nor does it matter if I'm reading the book or exit back to "My Books" list before connecting, the resulting FAT filesystem is marked dirty

When my Kobo screwed up, I had rebooted, not opened a book and connected to PC.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

When my Kobo screwed up, I had rebooted, not opened a book and connected to PC.

We have to be careful when people are piling on problem reports that different problems/causes can cause similar symptoms. What I'm reporting here is directly related to 4.31 and so far, 100% reproduceable on two different kobo devices.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Hey, a broken clock is right twice a day.

Just downgrade to 4.30.

What are the advantages of staying on 4.31? Especially when it requires "keep your toes pointed to the north, not the northeast," "when ejecting, don't think of a polar bear" and soforth. Any advise given is only guesswork right now.

The defenses given here:

"Kobo is obviously not seeing problems from most users"
Fine. But this thread is rife with people experiencing issues, plus comments in other threads where the user didn't post here.

Threads on previous firmware versions had nowhere near the volume of issues reported as what has been seen of 4.31.

"It only impacts people who sideload, not the vast majority of users"
Which is why I am making that suggestion here.

That also ignores Robert's comments that he uses the Kobo as intended and still has issues.

It would be different if 4.31 added major new features or somehow vastly changed/improved user experience. But right now, 4.31 is an incremental upgrade that carries a real risk with it and isn't worth the update, at least for folks here that do use their Kobos differently.

Very well said. I could not have said it any better.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Don't overlook compurandom's opinion that the problem occurred in previous firmwares, just less frequently. So the question is valid, even when using 4.30: What user actions minimize the risk of a corrupt database.

I've had my Libra 2 for 4 months and I've been on 4.30 since I registered. I have no had a single issue of database corruption, reboots, or lockups due to 4.30.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've had my Libra 2 for 4 months and I've been on 4.30 since I registered. I have no had a single issue of database corruption, reboots, or lockups due to 4.30.

Meaningless.

I've had my current kobo for nearly 2 years, and ilt corrupted itself the very first day I had it when I transferred in ~3k books in batches of 100.

After it reset itself on me, I started loading in batches of 200-300 once a day and then I went for nearly a year before it tried to reset itself again (at which point I interrupted it and just copied the database from backup).

All this time I thought I had done something wrong and maybe forgotten to eject before yanking, but now I'm not so sure, especially since I'm usually very careful about that.

[Calenorn]

Originally Posted by compurandom

corrupted itself the very first day I had it when I transferred in ~3k books in batches of 100.

After it reset itself on me, I started loading in batches of 200-300 once a day

This approaches the question I have. Once per day was relatively safe. Repeated connection to transfer batches of books caused corruption.

So what's a reasonable time to wait between connections? Would an hour be sufficient? Does it depend on the size of the batch last transferred? Or the overall size of the entire side-loaded collection?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

So what's a reasonable time to wait between connections? Would an hour be sufficient? Does it depend on the size of the batch last transferred? Or the overall size of the entire side-loaded collection?

When my Kobo crapped itself and reset it didn't lose the books, but collections were all blank. So I deleted all the books and reloaded them. I deleted and reloaded 4,000+ books within a two day period.

I loaded them in batches of 200-400 at a go. I would eject the device, let it import and then plug it right back in and load the next batch. The only reason it took me two days is because I was also working at the same time.

When I got my first Kobo years ago, the software was known for being buggy. But it's been stable for the last few years. Before installing 4.31, my Clara never crashed or gave me any issues. And I've had it for three years.

[compurandom]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

This approaches the question I have. Once per day was relatively safe. Repeated connection to transfer batches of books caused corruption.

I think it is more like, waiting at least 5 minutes between batches OR rebooting between batches isn't so much safe, more like it dramatically reduces the chances of corruption.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Lusephur

Sure they can come round to me and I'll physically show them the issue happening again and again and again. Absolutely no worries it being 100% repeatable.

I'm gonna guess that it would be the same here. Had three corrupted database incidents just using my usual workflow (yes I always eject properly etc), was thinking something was badly wrong with my new Libra 2, then read the threads here and realised what was wrong.

Rolled back, and zero problems ever since.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by compurandom

Meaningless.

I've had my current kobo for nearly 2 years, and ilt corrupted itself the very first day I had it when I transferred in ~3k books in batches of 100.

After it reset itself on me, I started loading in batches of 200-300 once a day and then I went for nearly a year before it tried to reset itself again (at which point I interrupted it and just copied the database from backup).

All this time I thought I had done something wrong and maybe forgotten to eject before yanking, but now I'm not so sure, especially since I'm usually very careful about that.

One reason I don't transfer like that is because most problems on Readers is due to eBooks with errors.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm gonna guess that it would be the same here. Had three corrupted database incidents just using my usual workflow (yes I always eject properly etc), was thinking something was badly wrong with my new Libra 2, then read the threads here and realised what was wrong.

Rolled back, and zero problems ever since.

I usually wait until I can read about any gotchas on a new firmware. This time I never went forward but am staying at 4.30 for now.