New F/W: 4.43.23418 + 4.38.23429

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by akadaedalus

Fellow libra 2 fuck-up here.

Sadly I'm not able to figure out how to factory reset it despite following the few instructions on this board and Kobo's site. I believe I configured it to not show the "Powered off" screen so I can't tell what state it is in when holding the power buttons.

I wonder if I can get Kobo to pay for a repair since it's their stupid firmware bricking my device. I didn't even need the new feature.

Don't worry about the power off screen. If the ereader is stuck on the boot screen, etc., you won't get the Power off screen. Just hold the power button for 20 or so seconds.

As for the manual factory reset procedure? I assume you are talking about the one located at Manual reset your Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Forma or Kobo Libra H2O? Basically, the procedure amounts to:

• Plug your Libra 2 in to allow it to charge for 1 hour or more.
  
• Press and hold the power button until you see the Powered off screen or 20 seconds whichever comes first.
  
• Leave the power cord plugged in.
  
• Press and hold a page turn button.
  
• Continuing to hold the page turn button, press and hold the power button.
  
• Wait for the reset procedure to start and release both buttons.

[akadaedalus]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Don't worry about the power off screen. If the ereader is stuck on the boot screen, etc., you won't get the Power off screen. Just hold the power button for 20 or so seconds.

As for the manual factory reset procedure? I assume you are talking about the one located at Manual reset your Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Forma or Kobo Libra H2O? Basically, the procedure amounts to:

• Plug your Libra 2 in to allow it to charge for 1 hour or more.
  
• Press and hold the power button until you see the Powered off screen or 20 seconds whichever comes first.
  
• Leave the power cord plugged in.
  
• Press and hold a page turn button.
  
• Continuing to hold the page turn button, press and hold the power button.
  
• Wait for the reset procedure to start and release both buttons.

I feel like I've done all that a few times today. I will try again though.

What's your perspective of the "reset procedure" when the screen displays nothing but the three dots? I see it flash black two times quickly then I let go. Should I be waiting a little longer? If I do, it goes for a little while then flashes black again about 15 seconds later like it's cycling through a power off/on process.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by akadaedalus

I feel like I've done all that a few times today. I will try again though.

What's your perspective of the "reset procedure" when the screen displays nothing but the three dots? I see it flash black two times quickly then I let go. Should I be waiting a little longer? If I do, it goes for a little while then flashes black again about 15 seconds later like it's cycling through a power off/on process.

I'd wait a bit longer.

[Apollyon202]

Originally Posted by DNSB

There seems to be an issue with the N236 Aura Edition 2 and the newest firmware. So far, I haven't seen a increase in issues with any other model—measuring that by the number of requests for images of removable internal storage for various models.

There are a lot of after-update bootlooping kobo devices on reddit as well. Kobo really messed it up this time. Hopefully even the non-tech people can solve it eventually.

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by DNSB

There seems to be an issue with the N236 Aura Edition 2 and the newest firmware.

This applies at least for the Aura Ed2 v1 (as I found out myself) Not sure whether the Aura Ed2 v2 is also affected. Anyone?

[Brianrh]

I hadn't realised there was a version 2 I must admit. How can you tell the difference?

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by Brianrh

I hadn't realised there was a version 2 I must admit. How can you tell the difference?

Locate the serial-number (Settings > Device Info)
It has the format N236 YYYYYYYYY
If you have in the serial number YYYYYYYYY, a 2 in the 7th character position, it indicates V2 hardware. If it is a 1, then it is a version 1.

[akadaedalus]

My Libra 2 never came out of boot loop, and now it doesn't take a charge or power on. I think it boot looped itself right into a completely over-drained battery.

I'm chatting with Kobo support. They are clearly busy helping many people with this as they are slow to respond. I told them what happened and they didn't argue. I'm getting a "replacement" of a different model.

Should I scrub the sd card or don't bother? I'll at least remove the personal information I had on there (nickelmenu stuff, background images)

[Plastivore]

Fellow Libra 2 Boot Loop of death here. I didn't ask for the update but woke up to a bricked Kobo yesterday morning, so I guess it attempted to apply it overnight.

I tried to do a factory reset but even keeping the page turn and power buttons pressed for more than a minute doesn't do anything (well, it doesn't seem to register that I'm pressing the page turn button, so it keeps turning on and off every 10-15 seconds.

I'm not sure yet if the data is corrupted or if the SD card just gave in (device is 3 years old). I'll try to flash the SD card (I really struggled to get that thing out of its port, the waterproof coating seems more to be an excuse for us not to attempt to change the SD card) and see…

I wonder how many of us are impacted and if having installed something third party (NickelMenu and KOReader) is one of the causes for this.

I'm not really impressed, though. It's the second Kobo I've had bricked by a Firmware update. My old Kobo Touch was one of the early ones which didn't have an SD card yet, so that was it then. It was kind of my fault for attempting an update with very low battery, but now this… I really like the Kobo ecosystem, but I'm not sure I'll buy another one if I can't revive my Libra 2.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Plastivore

I wonder how many of us are impacted and if having installed something third party (NickelMenu and KOReader) is one of the causes for this.

Well, mine are permanently offline, so no updates are ever auto-installed.

But yeah, Kobo updates have been really buggy for several years now. I wonder who runs their software department.

[xyzzy_foo]

My Kobo Sage had the latest NickelMenu from the GitHub Actions artifacts, but luckily I never experienced a brick.

[akadaedalus]

Originally Posted by Plastivore

Fellow Libra 2 Boot Loop of death here. I didn't ask for the update but woke up to a bricked Kobo yesterday morning, so I guess it attempted to apply it overnight.

I tried to do a factory reset but even keeping the page turn and power buttons pressed for more than a minute doesn't do anything (well, it doesn't seem to register that I'm pressing the page turn button, so it keeps turning on and off every 10-15 seconds.

I'm not sure yet if the data is corrupted or if the SD card just gave in (device is 3 years old). I'll try to flash the SD card (I really struggled to get that thing out of its port, the waterproof coating seems more to be an excuse for us not to attempt to change the SD card) and see…

I wonder how many of us are impacted and if having installed something third party (NickelMenu and KOReader) is one of the causes for this.

I'm not really impressed, though. It's the second Kobo I've had bricked by a Firmware update. My old Kobo Touch was one of the early ones which didn't have an SD card yet, so that was it then. It was kind of my fault for attempting an update with very low battery, but now this… I really like the Kobo ecosystem, but I'm not sure I'll buy another one if I can't revive my Libra 2.

I'll be curious if you can revive yours via sd card. I did take mine out to fsck the filesystem and it did stop charging right after, but I am not convinced it's related. At any rate seeing how many people were impacted, I figured it would be best to get a replacement from Kobo. Looks like they'll send me a refurb Libra 2 but whatever.

[ihazcat]

do they removed the latest update or im just blind?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ihazcat

do they removed the latest update or im just blind?

The new firmware has not been removed.

[ihazcat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The new firmware has not been removed.

kinda strange. i just checked geek1011's site and now i see only the may 2025 update.