Kobo Bug thread

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

It's a EPUB reader software thing on Kobos. The KEPUB reader is far more accurate.

Am using kepubs.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Have you restarted the device since these problems occurred? There is a fair chance that something in the background has crashed or hung and is preventing the rendering or dictionary lookup.

Yes, it made no difference.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Muttly

Yes, it made no difference.

I was hoping that would fix thing. For the dictionary, have you tried removing it and adding it again? For the font, I'd check that all the versions of the font are still in place.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by davidfor

For the dictionary, have you tried removing it and adding it again?

I did, but as it doesn't take any notice of the change until you press 'save' it hadn't done it.

When I did that it demanded a wifi connection and download it again.

I have to say I'm seriously unimpressed that it would spontaneously lose a dictionary after a few day's use.

For the font, I'd check that all the versions of the font are still in place.

Will do that when I next connect (for some reason it won't connect to my main W10 machine [Windows problem, I think]).

Really, though, a device like this should not just be randomly deleting fonts and dictionaries for no good reason.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Muttly

I did, but as it doesn't take any notice of the change until you press 'save' it hadn't done it.

When I did that it demanded a wifi connection and download it again.

I have to say I'm seriously unimpressed that it would spontaneously lose a dictionary after a few day's use.



Will do that when I next connect (for some reason it won't connect to my main W10 machine [Windows problem, I think]).

Really, though, a device like this should not just be randomly deleting fonts and dictionaries for no good reason.

Neither of these is normal. I haven't see problems like this with any version of the Kobo firmware. The simplest reason for the files disappearing is if something happened to the file system and a check cleaned them up because they were corrupt. But, at this point, it's probably to late to work out what happened.

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Neither of these is normal. I haven't see problems like this with any version of the Kobo firmware. The simplest reason for the files disappearing is if something happened to the file system and a check cleaned them up because they were corrupt. But, at this point, it's probably to late to work out what happened.

Don't forget this is an Aura One, and the firmware is extremely buggy.

Yesterday I actually suffered a hang whilst reading and had to restart the device.

My experience with the Kobo, so far, make me appreciate just how rock solid the Kindle software is.


ETA: 'Something happened to the file system' is also a pretty damning indictment of the software. (The Bookerly disappearance happened between ending one book and immediately starting another, without the device being connected to another computer or wifi being turned on. Files should not just disappear in those circumstances. And a hardware fault in an SSD would be most unlikely to cause such selective errors).

[doubleshuffle]

I think the point davidfor was trying to make is that your experience is in no way typical, not even for the buggy new Aura One firmware. Otherwise this forum would be flooded with reports like yours. With your device, something must have gone wrong which is beyond the standard bugs.

My Aura HD has been rock solid for three and a half years now, through several firmware updates.

[John F]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

I think the point davidfor was trying to make is that your experience is in no way typical, not even for the buggy new Aura One firmware. Otherwise this forum would be flooded with reports like yours. With your device, something must have gone wrong which is beyond the standard bugs.

My Aura HD has been rock solid for three and a half years now, through several firmware updates.

I guess it depends on the definition of "rock solid".

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Yep, happens for me too. One of those cute minor "oh this is so Kobo!" bugs I haven't bothered to mention here.

Simple workaround:
1) Open search in book window.
2) If it shows the previous book in the grey box near the top where it says "Book: ...", close the search window.
3) Open the search window again. Hey presto - correct book will be searched.

I have no idea what triggers this bug. I just tried it, and it gave me the correct book at the first attempt. Then I closed that book and opened another - and promptly the bug was there...

from this thread:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...66#post3341366, post #703

Sorry for picking on you doubleshuffle. I only mention this because it seems another urban legend, like "only people who have problems post".

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Muttly

Don't forget this is an Aura One, and the firmware is extremely buggy.

doubleshift is partly right. No-one else has reported anything like this. Including me. I have run exactly the same firmware on four different devices with no issues with the dictionary (I use the supplied fonts), that makes me wonder what happened on your device.

And this firmware is NOT extremely buggy. It is no worse than any of the previous versions that it follows on from. And I'm reasonably confident there haven't been any recent changes in these two areas.

Yesterday I actually suffered a hang whilst reading and had to restart the device.

My experience with the Kobo, so far, make me appreciate just how rock solid the Kindle software is.


ETA: 'Something happened to the file system' is also a pretty damning indictment of the software. (The Bookerly disappearance happened between ending one book and immediately starting another, without the device being connected to another computer or wifi being turned on. Files should not just disappear in those circumstances. And a hardware fault in an SSD would be most unlikely to cause such selective errors).

You didn't say when you lost the files or what happened immediately before. If you had connected to PC and were not careful to eject, of if you forced a restart, then the file system could be dirty and if a scan was triggered, files might not be recovered. Also, you haven't mentioned if you patch the firmware, use KSM or any of the other hacks. If you do, they might be the culprit. And if you are adding your own dictionaries...

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by John F

I guess it depends on the definition of "rock solid".

Indeed. So let me define rock solid: I've never had a malfunction that prevented me from reading the book I wanted in the font I wanted, in the font-weight I wanted, with the line-spacing I wanted, at the light-setting I wanted. Rock solid in the sense of stable and reliable.

That there are quite a few things to be desired in Kobo's firmware: d'oh, everybody here is only too well aware of that. I sure wish they'd fix the rather recent bug that only shows chapters correctly if they have their own separate file. And it would also be great if the position of annotations was shown correctly...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

That there are quite a few things to be desired in Kobo's firmware: d'oh, everybody here is only too well aware of that. I sure wish they'd fix the rather recent bug that only shows chapters correctly if they have their own separate file.

The only problem I can think of with this is the ToC shows the first chapter in the file selected rather than where you are up to. Is there something else?

And it would also be great if the position of annotations was shown correctly...

You mean in the annotations list for epubs? Kobo don't seem to want to fix that, and I can sort of see why. But, there are several ways to avoid it.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The only problem I can think of with this is the ToC shows the first chapter in the file selected rather than where you are up to. Is there something else?

No, that's what I meant.

Originally Posted by davidfor

You mean in the annotations list for epubs? Kobo don't seem to want to fix that, and I can sort of see why. But, there are several ways to avoid it.

Really? How does on avoid that?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

No, that's what I meant.

OK. It hasn't bugged me much as I have very few books built in that way.

Really? How does on avoid that?

The ways you can do it are:

• Don't reopen the book. That's when the positions get messed up.
• Put all the epubs on the external SD card.
• Before reopening the book, delete the annotations file that is in the directory "Digital Editions/Annotations". The rest of the path matches the path for the book and the extension is "annot". My Kobo Utilities plugin has a function to do this.
• Delete the directory "Annotations" in "Digital Editions" and create a directory of the same name. This prevents the above file from being created.

The bug is that when an epub is reopened, the contents of the annotations file is merged with the annotations in the database. This messes up the locations that are displayed in the list. This file is produced by the RMSDK and Kobo might not be able to prevent its production or reuse. It is only produced for epubs on the main storage.

[doubleshuffle]

Thanks a lot.

Stupid question: If the annotations file is deleted or not created at all (methods 3 and 4), won't the annotations be gone as well?

[Muttly]

Originally Posted by davidfor

doubleshift is partly right. No-one else has reported anything like this. Including me. I have run exactly the same firmware on four different devices with no issues with the dictionary (I use the supplied fonts), that makes me wonder what happened on your device.

And this firmware is NOT extremely buggy. It is no worse than any of the previous versions that it follows on from.

LOL!

Well, yes, that's as may be but I'm comparing to the Kindles I've used for years that just worked. Every time, every book, with no problems whatsoever.

Just because something's not particularly buggy compared to something (a previous Kobo) that's quite buggy itself doesn't mean it's not extremely buggy.

You didn't say when you lost the files or what happened immediately before.

Actually, I did (post #741). At least as far as the font files were concerned. (It turns out they have not disappeared. The Kobo just refuses to use the standard font, insisting on using the bold.)

If you had connected to PC and were not careful to eject,

Definitely not!

of if you forced a restart, then the file system could be dirty and if a scan was triggered, files might not be recovered.

The Kobo software knows if the file system is in a stable state. If it processes a shut down request when the file system is unstable, then that is a bug. Even Windows gets that right!

Also, you haven't mentioned if you patch the firmware, use KSM or any of the other hacks. If you do, they might be the culprit. And if you are adding your own dictionaries...

None of the above.

Sorry to harp on about it, but I'm used to the Kindle that just works straight out of the box. No patching or kludging required.