Forma Kobo Forma Acting Strangely

[Thargor]

My Forma is a few years old now and recently it has started glitching.

I plugged it in to transfer a few books from calibre a while back and it was like the whole database got corrupted, everything was gone including about a thousand epubs and all my reading time data (I dont use it for anything else besides epubs).

Did a factory reset and let it update fully, transferred my whole library from calibre again (calibre also fully updated) and it was fine for a month however I just picked it up there and the battery had gone from full to zero in a day and when I charged it there were only 40 random epubs left on the device when there should have been 1000+.

Just thought Id ask if anyone has a fix for this or recognises these glitches or is it just time to bite the bullet and buy a new one? Thanks

[Thargor]

Just plugged it into my laptop there, couldnt connect to Calibre at all, unplugged it and it did the uploading new content thing it does when you add a new book but it took ages and then when it was finished all my books were back, this is very strange. Im going travelling soon and need an ereader I can rely on.

[Thargor]

Hmmm just had a look there and the Libra Colour available on April 30th is very tempting, would be great to have colour on the book covers, I think Ill hold off for now and see the reviews.

[fogice]

Database corruption is a real thing. Some people reboot their Kobo before plugging it into the computer to ensure that all the database stuff is properly closed before connecting to Calibre and transferring new books.

Sudden battery drain can also happen, likely after a new ebook is transferred to it. It even drains in sleep mode. I'm not positive the steps to stop this, but I find that deleting the books I just added, doing some reconversions on them, and reuploading them helps. So might a Kobo reboot.

Neither of these issues have anything to do with the age of your device.

At the moment, I have a personal policy to not add any new books a week before I go on vacation, to ensure that I don't have to deal with sudden issues.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by fogice

At the moment, I have a personal policy to not add any new books a week before I go on vacation, to ensure that I don't have to deal with sudden issues.

There is a Check Database option on Kobo Utilities on Calibre.

[Thargor]

Thanks for that fogice.

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is a Check Database option on Kobo Utilities on Calibre.

How should I use this to prevent this happening again?

[DNSB]

You can't. So far the only solution I've found that keeps me from getting database corruption is to restart my Kobos (especially the Sage which is my main reader) before connecting them to the computer. I also have daily backups of my database set up in the Customize plugin options of the Kobo Utilities plugin. Suspenders and belt rarely hurts.

So far since I started restarting before the initial connect, I haven't seen any instances of database corruption. By initial connect, I mean plugging my Kobo into the computer after using it for reading, etc. When I send books and do the second connection to send the metadata, I haven't needed to do the restart since the .sqlite-wal and .sqlite-shm files are not present when I telnet to my Kobo. Basically, seeing those files says that database is not properly closed and flushed to disk.

[Aleron Ives]

You can also roll back to firmware 4.35 if you don't want to have to reboot all the time.

[Thargor]

Well that sucks doesnt it? I suppose I can do the reboot thing I only add books once a month or so. You'd think this would have been urgently sorted by Kobo though...

Ill keep reading through my backlog and monitoring its behavior so, thanks all.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Thargor

Well that sucks doesnt it? I suppose I can do the reboot thing I only add books once a month or so. You'd think this would have been urgently sorted by Kobo though...

Ill keep reading through my backlog and monitoring its behavior so, thanks all.

From what I've understand, there is code that should ensure the database is closed before the USB connection. For some reason, at random times it does not work. A problem that happens every time is a lot easier to locate and fix than a problem that shows up erratically.

I suspect Kobo has been busy with getting ready for the colour ereaders and starting to move their Kobo and Tolino ereaders to a common code base so this issue has not been given the attention that it might otherwise have received.

[John F]

Originally Posted by DNSB

From what I've understand, there is code that should ensure the database is closed before the USB connection. For some reason, at random times it does not work. A problem that happens every time is a lot easier to locate and fix than a problem that shows up erratically.

...

How erratic is it?

Sadly, my major reason for trying the update was to see if it fixed the database not closed on USB connect issue. Not sure if I want to try the number of connections that the Clara HD needs to trigger error (about 1 in 50 attempts had calibre complaining about a corrupt database while the Sage complained almost every time I connected from reading a book (ePub or kepub).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by John F

How erratic is it?

You did notice the section that you bolded in your quote from one of my posts mentioned almost every time which is not the same as 100% reproducible.

From my point of view, very erratic. I have my Sage able to trigger the error the majority of the time when I connect while my Clara HD, Forma and Aura One ranged from 1 in 50 connects to having me get bored enough to stop my connect, read a couple of pages and reconnect cycles without managing to trigger the error.

Please note that I have never observed this behaviour when using my Kobos to sync purchased/borrowed books, it does seem to require a USB connection with all it's variables.

At one time, I dropped the number of sideloaded books on my Sage to less than 10, removed all the synced books and the database corruption refused to happen. This suggests my keeping a few thousand books on my Sage (currently, 3027 total books) with the required larger database size might have an effect on how often I see the issue. Is this usage normal for the average Kobo user? Very likely not.

[John F]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You did notice the section that you bolded in your quote from one of my posts mentioned almost every time which is not the same as 100% reproducible.

From my point of view, very erratic. I have my Sage able to trigger the error the majority of the time when I connect while my Clara HD, Forma and Aura One ranged from 1 in 50 connects to having me get bored enough to stop my connect, read a couple of pages and reconnect cycles without managing to trigger the error.

...

From trying to solve a bug, having a scenario where you can trigger the bug a majority of the time (and from your previous description, "almost all the time") sounds pretty positive.

How long has Kobo been aware of this problem, Sept 2023, or was it earlier?

IMO.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Please note that I have never observed this behaviour when using my Kobos to sync purchased/borrowed books, it does seem to require a USB connection with all it's variables.

At one time, I dropped the number of sideloaded books on my Sage to less than 10, removed all the synced books and the database corruption refused to happen. This suggests my keeping a few thousand books on my Sage (currently, 3027 total books) with the required larger database size might have an effect on how often I see the issue. Is this usage normal for the average Kobo user? Very likely not.

I have about 7,000 ebooks on the Sage and over 90% are PD. All titles bought from Kobo, or anywhere, are transferred via USB. I also manage a 2nd Sage with over 6,000 ebooks on it.

I've not had the issue since remembering to always go to My Books before connecting USB. I always wait for "Unread" to update with new titles before unplugging and reconnecting USB.


No issue with my Elipsa, Libra or Libra 2 either since adopting this plan.

The two Sage ereaders have "SideloadedMode = true" and one Libra is logged in.


So the issue isn't straightforward. All are on the latest FW before the new ereaders.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by John F

From trying to solve a bug, having a scenario where you can trigger the bug a majority of the time (and from your previous description, "almost all the time") sounds pretty positive.

How long has Kobo been aware of this problem, Sept 2023, or was it earlier?

IMO.

On my Sage, it happens fairly consistently. That does not seem to hold true for some other Sage owners.

As for when Kobo was aware of the issue? Perhaps you could check the 2nd message in the thread created for the release of 4.38.21908 from August, 2023? And perhaps note that the suggestion to drop back to 4.35/4.34 not one of the 4.37 releases.