How to bypass new Kobo setup screen?

[pghaworth]

I got it setup. Calibre sees it just fine.

I think I was just too ill or Kobo had issues last night.

here's the crazy part, the usb is loose on this one too! I don't get it. only place I could find it was on amazon and it said used-like-new but unopened box. was there a batch of defective port devices sent out for 3rd party vendors to sell?

how hard would it be to open one of these and fix/change the usb port? probably better just sending it back.

[John F]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

I got it setup. Calibre sees it just fine.

I think I was just too ill or Kobo had issues last night.

here's the crazy part, the usb is loose on this one too! I don't get it. only place I could find it was on amazon and it said used-like-new but unopened box. was there a batch of defective port devices sent out for 3rd party vendors to sell?

how hard would it be to open one of these and fix/change the usb port? probably better just sending it back.

Just a thought, maybe it is a loose cable and not the Kobos?

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by John F

Just a thought, maybe it is a loose cable and not the Kobos?

thanks!

I know, right. I have researched that to death and my vision is so poor that I am afraid to bork the reader with my attempts to fix the cord, if that is in fact the issue. thing is, all my cords work this way with the readers and I have several to choose from so it doesn't make sense to me for all my cords to be bad.

my two original kobos were fine until recently and then progressively got looser despite my great care when plugging and unplugging.

I test ordered a Clara 2E even though I prefer black ereaders and all I can get is the deep blue. I also don't care for the larger bottom portion and the power button the back. less intuitive for me. I do change well but perhaps in this instance it might be possible.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

There is no longer any need to do this. Now all you need is add the following line to the configuration file:
SideloadedMode=true
under [ApplicationPreferences]

This is the way to configure a Kobo to be able to use it without registering. Fake registering is one day going to BREAK!

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This is the way to configure a Kobo to be able to use it without registering. Fake registering is one day going to BREAK!

I ended up registering. I mainly wanted to see if this one would work since one of mine is failing, besides the port issue, which I now think is related to expansion and contraction. the temp here is all over the place.

[pghaworth]

Originally Posted by John F

Just a thought, maybe it is a loose cable and not the Kobos?

I now think is related to expansion and contraction. the temp here is all over the place.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by pghaworth

there was no non-wifi setup offered per se. there was something about "no wifi?", I think.

when I tried to use the option it gave me an option to use the kobo desktop or something like that. that worried me so I either didn't try it or it gave me a code to use online which didn't work.

The no WiFi option allows you to connect your Kobo to your computer to use the Kobo Desktop app but that connection also exposes the user partition for editing files, copying new firmware files, etc.

Originally Posted by pghaworth

note: I am in very poor health atm so some things are muddled due to my health issues. please excuse errors.

Sorry to hear that. Getting older sucks though not as bad as the alternative.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by mfashby

I did that once I had WiFi, all the books I had uploaded from my laptop were still present. Not sure what 'everything' means in this context.

If this is no longer a reasonable way to operate the device offline, thanks for highlighting it hopefully future readers will check these follow up posts.

I don't know about reasonable/unreasonable, but it is no longer necessary. (But good knowledge to keep available, in case Kobo decides to discontinue the equally unsupported sideloaded mode.). JSWolf's "lose everything" in this context equates to needing to do it again after a hypothetical firmware update, (which you have to install yourself,) and loosing your bookmarks. This problem has never occurred using the SQL statement discussed here, (regardless of the frantic claims to the contrary here.). But is always a possibility with the way Kobo reader operates, for a variety of reasons. (including, but not limited too, someone pressing the "Log out" button in the Kobo settins to see what happens.)

Currently, sideload mode is a much easier and overall better experience.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rashkae

This problem has never occurred using the SQL statement discussed here, (regardless of the frantic claims to the contrary here.). But is always a possibility with the way Kobo reader operates, for a variety of reasons. (including, but not limited too, someone pressing the "Log out" button in the Kobo settins to see what happens.)

Currently, sideload mode is a much easier and overall better experience.

Oddly, my memory of events does not match yours. There was a Kobo firmware update where the SQL statement required to fake register changed. If you had the old fake registration in place when you updated the firmware, it triggered a factory reset. When this was reported, I was able to duplicate it.

And yes, sideload mode is unsupported but at least Kobo is aware of it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly, my memory of events does not match yours. There was a Kobo firmware update where the SQL statement required to fake register changed. If you had the old fake registration in place when you updated the firmware, it triggered a factory reset. When this was reported, I was able to duplicate it.

And yes, sideload mode is unsupported but at least Kobo is aware of it.

I thought the issue with a fake registration happened twice. But it did happen and could happen again. And because most people properly register, you may not hear about it right away.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly, my memory of events does not match yours. There was a Kobo firmware update where the SQL statement required to fake register changed. If you had the old fake registration in place when you updated the firmware, it triggered a factory reset. When this was reported, I was able to duplicate it.

And yes, sideload mode is unsupported but at least Kobo is aware of it.

Yes, I was there, *i* was the one who reported it. (The fake registration that caused the issue was the one that was included with the Nickelmenu add-on.)

The SQL line posted here, however, works on all versions of Kobo firmware, and has never caused a problem. I've tested it on every firmware versions update since. (err, that is, until sideload mode became available).

And as I've already said, the *worse* case scenario is a database reset, that happens to kobo *all* the time. It is almost a 1st troubleshooting step people suggest here for any number of weird problems that crop up. It's a very silly thing to get hysteric about. If you care about your Kobo database, regular backups required regardless.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Yes, I was there, *i* was the one who reported it. (The fake registration that caused the issue was the one that was included with the Nickelmenu add-on.)

I may have missed it but I went back through my NickelMenu install bits and bobs back to May, 2020. Perhaps you could let me know which NickelMenu release included the database user modification?

Originally Posted by rashkae

And as I've already said, the *worse* case scenario is a database reset, that happens to kobo *all* the time. It is almost a 1st troubleshooting step people suggest here for any number of weird problems that crop up. It's a very silly thing to get hysteric about. If you care about your Kobo database, regular backups required regardless.

In my test, the firmware update triggered a full factory reset with the firmware reset to the factory release version and all user content erased. Slightly more damaging than a database reset.

Nor do I find that I get database resets all the time. Even with 4.38.21908 and the database not being properly closed on a USB connect, my restart before USB connect has kept me from seeing the issue. Before this firmware version, I had seen very few database corruption issues, most of which were ones that I triggered when mucking with the database which I find hard to blame Kobo for.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by DNSB

In my test, the firmware update triggered a full factory reset with the firmware reset to the factory release version and all user content erased. Slightly more damaging than a database reset.

Certainly would love to know the details on how you reproduced *that*

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I may have missed it but I went back through my NickelMenu install bits and bobs back to May, 2020. Perhaps you could let me know which NickelMenu release included the database user modification?

My searchable post history on this forum only goes back to Sept of 2018 (500 messages) and the problem preceeded that. So, the details are lost to history, and probably not relevant to anyone anymore.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Certainly would love to know the details on how you reproduced *that*

Basically? Factory reset a Kobo Glo and fake registered it using the SQL kludge. Safely ejected and checked it seemed to be working okay. Reconnected, copied 20 or so books over from calibre, safely ejected, let them import, reconnected and let calibre update the metadata. Checked and looked okay. Reconnected to my computer, copied the newest at that time firmware version, safely ejected, appeared to complete the update, rebooted, popped up an error message and factory reset itself.