Clara HD Did memory upgrade, but unsure if Kobo itself is faulty somehow.

[roguexuk]

Hi all,

I've searched & searched on this and can't seem to fine anyone else with the same issue.

I'm one of those people that likes to have a lot of books/fanfics on their device, not all, but a lot.....

I've got a Clara HD, and did the SD card upgrade, I did it the first time with a 128GB Samsung EVO card. But had to log in & out of my Kobo account, and found that once the Kobo OS started to process the books already on the card, it would get to between 7 & 10% through and come up with the empty battery screen (when it's fully charged, I might add).
I would then restart the Clara, where it would show the few books that it had managed to process in my library, and only once I'd connected & disconnected from a computer would it start the old import/processing thing again, only to get stuck on the dead battery screen again.

I tried it again with a different card today Samsung EVO again, 64GB this time, with a clean disc image from @Davidfor.
I wasn't paying close attention when transferring from Calibre & moved too many books over in one go. Which caused the battery screen to come up again. Ironically, good that it happened before I moved over all the books I want on there.

As I said, I've tried looking for a solution online and either no one else has is, or I not searching for the right thing.
But thinking of my good old Aura original, it has the standard internal SD card, and a large one in the external, and on the few times I've had to factory reset it, the Aura does take a while to process the external books, but it does do it with no issues.

I was thinking that maybe my Clara is faulty somehow? Or is it something that Kobo put in place to make us re-think replacing the SD cards in the first place?

What do you think?

Many thanks

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by roguexuk

As I said, I've tried looking for a solution online and either no one else has is, or I not searching for the right thing.
But thinking of my good old Aura original, it has the standard internal SD card, and a large one in the external, and on the few times I've had to factory reset it, the Aura does take a while to process the external books, but it does do it with no issues.

I was thinking that maybe my Clara is faulty somehow? Or is it something that Kobo put in place to make us re-think replacing the SD cards in the first place?

What do you think?

Many thanks

For what it's worth my Clara HD has a 128GB SanDisk μSD card and it seems to be working happily enough.

OTOH, the first two cards I tried, one SanDisk and one Samsung did not work. I then tested the Samsung with the manufacturer's authentication software and the SanDisk by checking the serial number on their site. Both turned out to be counterfeits. In further testing, both were almost certainly re-labeled no-name 16 or 32GB devices.

For the Samsung utility, see Card & UFD Software on their site.

[davidfor]

Have you tried leaving the device plugged in? The import process will use a lot of resources it it reads each book file and updates the database. It should be able to process a couple of thousand books on a full charge, but, it will depend a lot on the books. On the rare occasions that I add a lot of books, I leave it plugged in after the eject or connect it to a charger until it is finished.

[ReaLx3m]

Originally Posted by davidfor

I leave it plugged in after the eject or connect it to a charger until it is finished.

^This

Ive measured an Aura One to pull up to 500mA when fully loaded, and if a task is running that would load it to the max it would deplete the battery in about 2 and a half hours. Clara HD probably isnt too much different.
If that happens lot sooner for you, its a sign of your battery showing its age. As they age they increase internal resistance and have much higher voltage drops with increased current pulled, and it hits the empty voltage threshold lot sooner than it should.
So while it might behave normally under normal use(low draw) it will exibit what youre describing under high draw.

[roguexuk]

Hello,

Thanks for the advice.

I purposely added a lot of books/fics to my reader & once ejected immediately plugged it in to my Samsung phone charger.
I've done it twice now & so far, so good.

Before I've either leave it unplugged after ejecting or, plug it back into the laptop/PC, but the problem still happened.

Silly me, I knew that powering from a computer doesn't give so much power as plugging it into the wall, but my brain didn't put it all together in this case

Thank you all for your help

[roguexuk]

Drat.
Spoke too soon.

Just had to log in & out of Kobo account. Plugged clara into wall straight after ejection - it came up with the low battery screen & that a sync failed at the same time [this popped up over battery screen]



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[John F]

Is this a new Clara?

[ReaLx3m]

If you dont manage to find a solution, it might be time to install koreader. Will probably help with the symptoms, as it doesnt need to process books after you add them. Worth a try.

[roguexuk]

Originally Posted by John F

Is this a new Clara?

No, I bought it new in January

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

[John F]

Originally Posted by roguexuk

No, I bought it new in January

Sent from my SM-G991B using Tapatalk

Then I have no suggestions, sorry.

[roguexuk]

Originally Posted by ReaLx3m

If you dont manage to find a solution, it might be time to install koreader. Will probably help with the symptoms, as it doesnt need to process books after you add them. Worth a try.

Hmm, beyond upgrading the sdcard, I've never tinkered with anything else on a kobo. Never tried kor

ETA: It's annoying at the moment, because currently there is only 1gb of books imported on there & it comes up with this error - you would expect it to come up for 10GB or something.

I am tempted to put the original sdcard back in & load it up to see if the error comes up the same, because if it does, then what's the point in giving people 8gb of space to use, when when people fill it up & have to re-log into their account, it errors out at being filled?

[ReaLx3m]

Originally Posted by roguexuk

Never tried koreader

Pretty easy to install, theres a one click package with pretty simple instructions on this forum.

Originally Posted by roguexuk

what's the point in giving people 8gb of space to use, when when people fill it up & have to re-log into their account, it errors out at being filled?

I dont think its erroring out, but like i mentioned my best guess would be bad battery. Since you already have it opened, to 100% confirm its the battery take a multimeter and touch the probes on the battery contacts, and check if the voltage drops by large ammount when it starts processing the books and when it turns of. Probably would turn off at around 3.0V, full should be about 4.2V.

Or since its fairly new, replace it under warranty.