[OFFICIAL] Why did Kobo change the Sleep/Power Off behaviour?

[Kashirigi]

Originally Posted by anidel

Indeed. I had a similar issue (battery drained too quickly) and it didn't happen again.

You're lucky. I'm on my third Kobo now, and they all did it. There's nothing quite like charging something for four hours, reading it half an hour before going to bed and finding your Kobo dead by morning.

I just tried a factory reset to stop this from happening. Luckily I store everything on an SD card because I no longer have any faith in the the technology.

I was told by the Kobo customer care people that my ticket was being escalated to a supervisor, but I have not heard back as yet.

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by Kashirigi

You're lucky. I'm on my third Kobo now, and they all did it. There's nothing quite like charging something for four hours, reading it half an hour before going to bed and finding your Kobo dead by morning.

I just tried a factory reset to stop this from happening. Luckily I store everything on an SD card because I no longer have any faith in the the technology.

I was told by the Kobo customer care people that my ticket was being escalated to a supervisor, but I have not heard back as yet.

Hey Kashirigi, please send me your ticket number, I will find out what's going on.

[p_a_smith]

Originally Posted by Kashirigi

You're lucky. I'm on my third Kobo now, and they all did it. There's nothing quite like charging something for four hours, reading it half an hour before going to bed and finding your Kobo dead by morning.

I just tried a factory reset to stop this from happening. Luckily I store everything on an SD card because I no longer have any faith in the the technology.

My Kobo locked up like that a couple of times (powering down from sleep mode) once completely draining the battery. Now most of the time I skip sleep mode altogether by holding the power button for the three seconds to get the unit to completely power down.

I'm starting to wonder if there is some connection between having an SD card inserted and this problem. I used my Kobo for a week with no problems and then I inserted an SD card and started noticing my frequent need for a paperclip to restart my unit. I'm back to an empty slot and the Kobo seems more stable.

[ninicraftone]

I'm starting to wonder if there is some connection between having an SD card inserted and this problem.

Yes, I think the same.... I have started to pack a paperclip to travel with my Kobo and I get the feeling that the instability and freezing up is related to the SD card. The Kobo works better with no SD card inserted but I like having my books on removable media and was glad I did when I had to trade in my original Kobo after it bricked during the first firmware update.

I'm looking forward to the next firmware, hoping that along with the changes mentioned in this thread that there will be stability improvements so I can leave my paperclips at home.


Does anyone else notice that the Kobo seems to have freezing-up problems when there's an SD card in the slot?

[plaid]

I too had strange power issues with my last kobo, and sd card issues as well. At the very end it would not boot with the card inserted. With my new replacement kobo that I've had for about 3 weeks, I decided to not use the card at all and everything has been much more stable - could be the new device or it could be from not using a card, not sure. I have a friend who also has a Kobo and has been having issues with it freezing up quite often. I told him to try using it without the card. I haven't heard if he has tried this yet - I'll ask and see if he's been having better luck without the card.

[Kashirigi]

I finally had to return Kobo no.3 because it became unusable, and now I'm on Kobo no.4. Less than a week into my tenure, the same problem is arising.

I find it hard to believe that something this prevalent went undiscovered by the "quality assurance" people.

Also, despite forwarding my ticket number to SameerH I still have heard nothing from Kobo.

I'm getting really tired of returning my Kobos. I hope a firmware update can solve this problem, because otherwise the Kobo has nothing whatever to recommend it.

[PeterT]

Kash; not meaning to be a doubting Thomas, but... is there a possibility that there is something wrong with your procedure? After all, if you are on a 4th unit with the same problem, this starts to point to something in how you are using the unit.

I know that I have found my motherboard does not appear to charge the unit at all well, and that I get far better charging from an external USB power adapter.

[Zog]

I also found that not all computer USB ports are created equal. I couldn't get the Kobo to hold a charge that would last more that two days of reading when using my main computer. Then I tried plugging it into the USB port in my xbox 360 and that charge that lasts for a week or more. I wish Kobo had included a power adapter with the correct specifications to charge the device or at least had it as an option. I think many of the "battery troubles" people are having may be due to this. It is certainly not the first device I've had that has an issue like this. My blackberry will only charge properly from the adapter that came with it. Having a custom adapter that would let you plug the Kobo into the wall to charge it up and still let you use the device to read would be fantastic.

[M3NTAL]

Originally Posted by Zog

I also found that not all computer USB ports are created equal. I couldn't get the Kobo to hold a charge that would last more that two days of reading when using my main computer. Then I tried plugging it into the USB port in my xbox 360 and that charge that lasts for a week or more. I wish Kobo had included a power adapter with the correct specifications to charge the device or at least had it as an option. I think many of the "battery troubles" people are having may be due to this. It is certainly not the first device I've had that has an issue like this. My blackberry will only charge properly from the adapter that came with it. Having a custom adapter that would let you plug the Kobo into the wall to charge it up and still let you use the device to read would be fantastic.

Well, a good starting point is to look at the kobo's USB port where you'll find the power requirements: DC 5V 700mA. This coincides very well a Blackberry charging adapter - mine is also 5V 700mA.

I have a number of other adapters that are 5V but range from 500mA to 1.0A. I'm not sure what the repercussions of using them would be, but I can say that I have successfully used my Blackberry adapter to this point.

[JPenguin]

Any USB charger should be 5V so that should never be an issue, the Kobo technically wants 700mA, any lower will almost certainly charge slower if it charges at all. Any higher than 700mA is perfectly safe, the Kobo will only draw as much current as it needs.

And Kobo have unofficially stated that the BlackBerry chargers work without issues.

The problem with USB ports on PCs is quite possible unfortunately, I believe the original USB standard was a max 500mA current so that wouldn't be enough for the Kobo. These days with the popularity of USB devices which use the USB port to charge I think most computers will supply over 500mA (and AFAIK current/new standards have current negotiation built in).

[Ghoda]

Originally Posted by M3NTAL

Well, a good starting point is to look at the kobo's USB port where you'll find the power requirements: DC 5V 700mA. This coincides very well a Blackberry charging adapter - mine is also 5V 700mA.

I have a number of other adapters that are 5V but range from 500mA to 1.0A. I'm not sure what the repercussions of using them would be, but I can say that I have successfully used my Blackberry adapter to this point.

There were a number of threads about this a while back - bottom line is that the Kobo will only draw what it needs from the adapter. If you use a 2.0A @ 5V adapter the Kobo will only draw the 700mA @ 5V it needs. If you use a 500mA @ 5V adapter the Kobo will simply take longer to charge. (I use both 350mA and 1.0A adapters with no ill effects). It's the 5V rating on the adapter/device that is the most important, don't ever mix your voltages!

[3d0g]

Originally Posted by Ghoda

There were a number of threads about this a while back - bottom line is that the Kobo will only draw what it needs from the adapter. If you use a 2.0A @ 5V adapter the Kobo will only draw the 700mA @ 5V it needs. If you use a 500mA @ 5V adapter the Kobo will simply take longer to charge. (I use both 350mA and 1.0A adapters with no ill effects). It's the 5V rating on the adapter/device that is the most important, don't ever mix your voltages!

Using an under-powered charger (350mA for example) could be quite bad for the charger, but the kobo will be fine. Depends on the quality and design of the charger.

[Kashirigi]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Kash; not meaning to be a doubting Thomas, but... is there a possibility that there is something wrong with your procedure? After all, if you are on a 4th unit with the same problem, this starts to point to something in how you are using the unit.

I know that I have found my motherboard does not appear to charge the unit at all well, and that I get far better charging from an external USB power adapter.

My Kobo is charged from a 1000mA 5V USB charger. Charging is not the issue. Crashing and burning through the charge is.

Perhaps you can point out the user error in this sequence:
1. Turn on Kobo
2. Open [any] book by pressing the big button
3. Leave Kobo unattended for four hours
At this stage the Kobo is dead because it has crashed and has no battery power left.

Wait! I see the error! I performed my ritual sacrifices to the Machine-God in the incorrect order!

I'm perfectly aware that I can mitigate the behaviour by powering off the Kobo manually and reduce the incidence of crashing by not using the SD card slot. In fact, I do power off my Kobo when I can.

But here's the thing -- I shouldn't have to.

The device is not functioning the way it's supposed to. Everyone else I know who has a Kobo (and there's quite a few, because I stupidly raved about it in the beginning) has reported the same problem when they use SD cards. Once the problem starts it doesn't seem to matter if there's a card in the slot anymore, which kind of points to a firmware problem. Blaming problems on "user error" is disingenuous, especially on a device that has so few inputs as to make it essentially idiot-proof.

[PeterT]

Sorry Kashirigi; if you had posted all those details previously, I had overlooked them

Let me see what my experience is (with of couse an SD card in place).

Now what size SD card is it and are all the books on the SD card?

[Kashirigi]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Sorry Kashirigi; if you had posted all those details previously, I had overlooked them

Let me see what my experience is (with of couse an SD card in place).

Now what size SD card is it and are all the books on the SD card?

It's a 1GB SD card, and all the books are on the card. I've also used a 1GB microSD with adapter, but switched once the problem started because it added too many variables to the equation.

The thing with this problem is that it seems to develop over time. Things work fine (usually) for a week or so (or in one case three weeks). Then the problem starts with one crash, then it's a geometric progression until it crashes every time.

Even a hard reset doesn't help once it starts happening.