New H2O - Format Disc error with Calibre

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by cybmole

i agree with all the folk saying get it replaced.

but so that we understand. the area that windows says is corrupt is the area where kobo stores the books & the database stuff. the firmware is on a different partition? and is also in a protected area on the device from where it it restored at factory reset ?

so
1> formatting the drive followed by factory reset is a possible repair route, valid say for an out of warranty device. Sometimes when a drive is formatted and disc-checked, the bad sectors are flagged & the rest of the drive is useable.
2> it is likely that there IS drive corruption ( windows does not usually lie about these things) but its not yet affecting the part of the drive which Kobo is currently using, because the OP can still download & read books ?
3> any such drive shoudl be formatted to what - FAT32 ? or NTFS ?

Tbh I have no idea what part is corrupt. I can do a wifi sync that loads books on to the H20 from my kobo account. I haven't tried to read any but it all looks okay. But when I connect it to the Pc I get the 'You must Format the Disc before you can use it' message.

If I select the Kobo as a hard drive under the Computer section I either get the format message, or this morning when I last tried it I got 'Please Insert Disc into Kobo E' , although it appeared to load drivers and I got the windows message that I always get when I add a new device to the USB.

A factory reset doesn't change any thing and a Kobo ereader that can can't be seen or used by my pc is useless to me.

[meeera]

Josieb1: sorry if I've missed it, but I can't see anything saying that you've tried plugging it in to a different computer. (You've tried a different cable I think, haven't you?) It would be very much worth doing that, to narrow it down to device vs PC issues.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by meeera

Josieb1: sorry if I've missed it, but I can't see anything saying that you've tried plugging it in to a different computer. (You've tried a different cable I think, haven't you?) It would be very much worth doing that, to narrow it down to device vs PC issues.

I just tried that as I hadn't before, it said it was installing drivers, but then immediately a 'Format Disc message' popped up.

It's wrapped up really for collection now. I've wrapped and unwrapped it so many times now but go no avail.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by meeera

Josieb1: sorry if I've missed it, but I can't see anything saying that you've tried plugging it in to a different computer. (You've tried a different cable I think, haven't you?) It would be very much worth doing that, to narrow it down to device vs PC issues.

good point - if the PC decides to apply the wrong USB driver....

I think you can check that by connecting the kobo then looking in device manager to see what is being used

I still think he's right to return it though. one should bot have to jump through all these hoops in order to get a new out-of-the box device to work properly.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by cybmole

i agree with all the folk saying get it replaced.

but so that we understand. the area that windows says is corrupt is the area where kobo stores the books & the database stuff. the firmware is on a different partition? and is also in a protected area on the device from where it it restored at factory reset ?

The Kobo devices have three partitions. One holds the OS, the next is the recovery partition and the last has the books. The last is the only partition presented to the PC when you connect.

so
1> formatting the drive followed by factory reset is a possible repair route, valid say for an out of warranty device. Sometimes when a drive is formatted and disc-checked, the bad sectors are flagged & the rest of the drive is useable.

Yes, formatting it might mark the bad sectors so they don't get used. Though I don't know how this type of memory works.

2> it is likely that there IS drive corruption ( windows does not usually lie about these things) but its not yet affecting the part of the drive which Kobo is currently using, because the OP can still download & read books ?

I think Windows is a bit more strict on this. There have been other reports of no problems using the device or connecting to a Linux PC or a MAC. But, Windows complains like this.

3> any such drive shoudl be formatted to what - FAT32 ? or NTFS ?

FAT32. You can change a file in the firmware and use EXT3 or EXT4 if you want, but I don't think that NTFS support is installed.

[cybmole]

I don't understand " a bit more strict"
- that's like " a little bit pregnant" ?

either a drive is formatted in compliance with a given spec, or it's isn't, surely ?
& FAT32 has been around for years, there's surely nothing ambiguous about it ?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I don't understand " a bit more strict"
- that's like " a little bit pregnant" ?

either a drive is formatted in compliance with a given spec, or it's isn't, surely ?
& FAT32 has been around for years, there's surely nothing ambiguous about it ?

Maybe I should have said the others were less strict. It shouldn't be ambiguous, though I don't know if there is an official published spec. What I do know, is that people have reported that Windows will complain but the device is happy and Linux or a Mac are happy as well.

[Josieb1]

My 3rd H20 has arrived. It has a nice white strip running up the screen from the bottom, its not as yellow as the first one, but its dirty compare to my second one which has the format disc error.

I've arranged for a collection tomorrow and a refund. I've given up for now. I'll wait for WHSmith to get them and see how their demo model looks. If I like the look of it I might get one from them but by then the Voyage will be out so who knows

I just don't understand why I've had such bad luck.

[soulfuldog]

Feel for you Josieb1. How frustrating.

Get your refund, wait for your Voyage to come and if you are not completely happy with it, return it and then try the H20 again? WH Smith will have stock by then, you could even go in store and demand to be allowed to open them all up and inspect them until you get one that is exactly as it should be!

I remember when there were issues with the original Paperwhite, some people were lucky enough to get a good one straight away, others tried 5 or 6 times and still weren't happy.

[cybmole]

redund is what I'd have gone for also.

so they sent you a used/refurbished one ? dirty as in screen/casing not cleaned after previous use?

& that "nice white strip" ? were you being complimentary or sarcastic - was there a screen fault ?

did oyu get as far as connecting ot your PC to see if the format error had gone away.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by cybmole

redund is what I'd have gone for also.

so they sent you a used/refurbished one ? dirty as in screen/casing not cleaned after previous use?

& that "nice white strip" ? were you being complimentary or sarcastic - was there a screen fault ?

did oyu get as far as connecting ot your PC to see if the format error had gone away.

No it looked a new one, it was sealed with the film on the front, I gently lifted it up to see if the film was causing the stripe but it wasn't. It looked like a screen fault, like one of the leds was brighter than the others. In fact I actually had two lighter stripes, working from either side one was at 1/4 the other at 3/4's of the screen, it had to be the LEDs. The stripes were the same colour as the whole screen of the format disc one, the rest of the screen was a dirty off white.

I spotted it immediately and I wondered if I could live with it for a moment, but it shouldn't have to, not for a device costing £140.

What I want is one that looked like the format disc error one. As an aside I tried to do that when I compared the two side by so but windows wouldn't format the device after all anyway

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by soulfuldog

Feel for you Josieb1. How frustrating.

Get your refund, wait for your Voyage to come and if you are not completely happy with it, return it and then try the H20 again? WH Smith will have stock by then, you could even go in store and demand to be allowed to open them all up and inspect them until you get one that is exactly as it should be!

I remember when there were issues with the original Paperwhite, some people were lucky enough to get a good one straight away, others tried 5 or 6 times and still weren't happy.

With WHSmith they should have demo models, so in theory all I need to do is find a store with a demo model I like and buy one there, at least that way if I get one that doesn't look like the demo model I can argue it's not acceptable.

I'm not sure if they would let me open them up, it seems the brightness is set very low as default, it's around 30%, you can't raise the brightness until it's set up.

[Lyn2012]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

My 3rd H20 has arrived. It has a nice white strip running up the screen from the bottom, its not as yellow as the first one, but its dirty compare to my second one which has the format disc error.

I've arranged for a collection tomorrow and a refund. I've given up for now. I'll wait for WHSmith to get them and see how their demo model looks. If I like the look of it I might get one from them but by then the Voyage will be out so who knows

I just don't understand why I've had such bad luck.

I can't believe you have yet another faulty H2O, this is crazy. I don't blame you for deciding to wait, see the Voyage and then maybe the H2O in WH Smiths. I do hope you have better luck with the Voyage ... and the 4th H2O when/if you decide to go for it.

[Josieb1]

I think if someone had never had an ereader before both the first one and the 3rd one would have been acceptable, as they had nothing to compare it with, but I do, I have four ereaders in this house. PW1 and PW2 plus a Nook Glow and a Kobo Aura so I do have other devices.

They are selling the HD and H20 as premium ereaders and if your marketing at that level you must accept your target buyer has other devices. It appears the quality control just isn't good enough. I would have happily accepted number 2, that's the screen quality I expected and what I've seen online.

I shouldn't have to take pot luck on the quality of the screen I get, not for the price they are charging.

[Haesslich]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I think if someone had never had an ereader before both the first one and the 3rd one would have been acceptable, as they had nothing to compare it with, but I do, I have four ereaders in this house. PW1 and PW2 plus a Nook Glow and a Kobo Aura so I do have other devices.

They are selling the HD and H20 as premium ereaders and if your marketing at that level you must accept your target buyer has other devices. It appears the quality control just isn't good enough. I would have happily accepted number 2, that's the screen quality I expected and what I've seen online.

I shouldn't have to take pot luck on the quality of the screen I get, not for the price they are charging.

Now you ARE cursed or something - I've seen two H2O's in store, and neither had the issues you've reported. My first Glo was perfect, ditto the Kobo Mini. The first HD had a good screen, but I had a fault with it that required an exchange bathe second HD had a few pinpoints, but was otherwise fine.

Either that, or some Amazon guy infiltrated that store to make sure all your H2O's came pre-broken...