Glo Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Gregre

Hi! Can I use the original microSD and rewrite it? Or do I need to get a new one?
If I can rewrite the original, should I use another procedure or is this ok?

I have a KOBO N905C

Don't use the original microSD card in case something is wrong with it. Get a larger one. Maybe a 16GB or 32GB card.

[nicoletbn]

I'm in the same situation as Daemos. I have a booting, functional kobo libre 2 now (yay) but it's stuck on this very old firmware (boo) despite trying multiple different manual firmware updates dragged into .kobo. It says it's updating, but then seemingly fails, and boots back into 4.32.19501

[nicoletbn]

Originally Posted by nicoletbn

I'm in the same situation as Daemos. I have a booting, functional kobo libre 2 now (yay) but it's stuck on this very old firmware (boo) despite trying multiple different manual firmware updates dragged into .kobo. It says it's updating, but then seemingly fails, and boots back into 4.32.19501

Switched from the "e" board image to the "g" board image and it seems to work now, in case anyone else has this issue.

[CatNeedsSleep]

Bless you nerds on the internet. 2 of my bricked eReaders are back.
Not sure if other people had this issue, my Glo HD kept having issues connecting to the internet during set up (even after manually joining the network), and when I tried setting up via PC sync gets cut at "updating annotations, the issue exactly as described in the patch notes that should have been fixed.

Finally have a fully functioning Glo HD after multiple attempts trouble shooting. What changed: Signed out of the Kobo Desktop app, then set up the eReader as instructed.

[Giragast]

A little unbricking/upgrade adventure story for people, some of you might find it helpful

I had a bricked Kobo Libra 2, the flashing white light variety.

Followed the steps here to:
- remove the SD card
- copy the image somewhere safe using USB Duplicator Image Creator
- start to overwrite the card with an image using USB Duplicator Image Writer

But!

The writer would error after 26 seconds - maybe the card is damaged?

I made use of an old Raspberry PI to:
- Delete everything
- Write zeroes to the boot sector
- Partition resizes and fsck's

But for some reason, all the changes wouldn't apply. They would succeed, but when I checked the card all the data was still there.

After a bit of research, it turns out that when an SD card reaches end-of-life it becomes read-only. Apparently so you can copy data off it before doing any more damage to it. The read-only bit can be undone in some cases, but I don't have the patience for that.

So, the card is now worthless - time to buy a new one!

I read somewhere else here that someone had size problems cloning between two 32GB cards, which meant I bought a (slightly cheaper somehow) 64GB card.

After that I:
- copied the original image back onto the new card using USB Duplicator Image Writer
- used gparted on the Raspberry PI to resize the book partition to use up the extra space on the card
- popped it back in the Libra 2

And it works! No need to use the base images or make any firmware changes or hex edits.

Hopefully all that helps someone with their own bricked reader

[group5e]

For anyone receiving write errors when using USB Image Duplicator, switching to another USB writer seems to solve the problem. In my case, I used ImageUSB and those issues went away. I was also using Windows 11.

[lolotgv63]

bonjour un peu novice : quand on crée l'image de la sd .
il faut sélectionner les 3 disques ou seulement un disque ou les faires un par un ??

un tuto disponible ?

[PeterT]

There is only one SD card. You are using a program like BalenaEtcher to write the supplied IMG file to theone SD card. This writes the entire SD card including the partition table.

Likewise if you're trying to back up the SD card you select the card and back-it-up, not one of the partitions on the card.

[Rkob]

Hi nicoletbn,

Originally Posted by nicoletbn

Switched from the "e" board image to the "g" board image and it seems to work now, in case anyone else has this issue.

I guess you initially flashed the "E" image because you have a rev. E board on your Libra 2, right?
Do you confirm that the "G" image you flashed has been working fine with a rev. E board?

Regards,
Rkob

[pjayala]

Originally Posted by Rkob

Hi nicoletbn,







I guess you initially flashed the "E" image because you have a rev. E board on your Libra 2, right?

Do you confirm that the "G" image you flashed has been working fine with a rev. E board?



Regards,

Rkob

I can confirm that the "G" image works perfectly fine on a rev. E board (Kobo Libra 2).
With the G version:

I was able to sign in to my Kobo account without any issue.

The device now saves WiFi settings correctly.

Over-the-air updates are working as expected.


In contrast, when using the "E" image, I experienced the typical problems described earlier in this thread:
WiFi was not saved, and the device couldn't update or register properly.

So yes — flashing the G image is a reliable fix even on rev. E hardware.

Enviado desde mi CPH2307 mediante Tapatalk

[-HonestMistake]

I recently purchased and received a used Kobo Mini from eBay. The description on the listing stated it freezes when updating the firmware. Received it, tried updating the firmware and it does indeed just stay on that update screen and does nothing else. I've factory reset the Kobo Mini by pressing the tiny button in the back to no avail.

Ive been doing tons of research and I kind of know how to go about this, but the issue that im running into is that I cannot clone the original 2GB microSD card. I've tried using balenaEtcher (Mac) and also tried using the USB Image Tool on windows.

When I connect the microSD card to my Mac, I get two drives. KOBOeReader and X. I guess that means it's partitioned into two? (sorry I dont know the correct terms for these things but ill upload pics) But I also dont see any "G" or "E" image on the drive.

I'm a little stumped on how to move forward. Im wondering if the original owner tried messing with these things and just somehow really messed it up. I've also tried to update the firmware to the latest Kobo Glo (not the HD firmware) and tried adding it to the microSD, but there's not enough space it says.

When I try to clone the original card on BalenaEtcher and click on "select target" there are no options other than my computer hard harddrives.

So, how to I move forward with this? Is it possible to completely start from scratch with a new empty microSD card? Any help or advice would be appreciated. You guys are amazing.

[DNSB]

I see you already posted in the firmware request thread. I'm going to PM you the link to the Mini N705 images. I'd suggest using BalenaEtcher to write the image on a Mac.