Aura ONE Kobo Aura One owners thread

[Telemachus]

Should the square LED light glow red while charging?
I've only seen that happen a couple of times when charging, mostly it's not illuminated.

[paulvro]

same here.

[zebradude]

Same with me. My light only "lights" when I power it up.

[Cootey]

My KA1 only lights up if plugged in while asleep. Then the orange square on the front remains orange even hours after it has completed charging. When I wake up the KA1 to see if its charge is full, then put it back to sleep while plugged in, the light changes to green. Mostly useless.

[paulvro]

NEW MISERY....

Last night the Kobo Reader indicated that it's battery was running low. Just like the last time I connected the matching power cord (Kobo was too cheap to also add it's own power converter with the Reader) into one of our i-phone power plugs. But there was one thing new: the reader pretended that it was a computer and asked if it should connect, something I obviously ignored, wondering why it decided this time that my power supply was a computer,

BUT..... after having refueled the accu, it appears that EVERYTHING that I added with Calibre had been erased. And strangely enough that a few books I had erased with Calibre were back. And... that it was no longer possible to go back to the entry screen, the "home symbol" no longer appears at the top left of the screen.

It is possible to read one book but not to get to the list of books or anything else one does from the home page. Attaching it to my computer I see the strangest things, among which that three of the books added under Calibre are listed each with their own directory (I must admit that after using Calibre successfully I never checked where the books were actually situated so this may be correct even though all books showed in one list on the reader itself). Trying to use Calibre I get the following error code:


CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 88, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 511, in _books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 1835, in books
File "c:\cygwin64\home\kovid\sw\build\apsw-3.8.2-r1\src\cursor.c", line 231, in resetcursor
CorruptError: CorruptError: database disk image is malformed


QUESTION: aside from the obvious one (how could this in heaven's name take place when the only thing I did was attach a power supply???)
What should I do next???
Should I try and find a factory reset button and how should I go about this?
Is this a weak point in Calibre?
Is this perhaps the right time to try Koreader that Alan_S recommended?

Or should the reader be returned because it doesn't function as could be expected?

I feel really devastated after having been so joyful seeing that Calibre seemed to have resolved all problems for me. I am totally at a loss as what to do next...

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by paulvro

NEW MISERY....

Last night the Kobo Reader indicated that it's battery was running low. Just like the last time I connected the matching power cord (Kobo was too cheap to also add it's own power converter with the Reader) into one of our i-phone power plugs. But there was one thing new: the reader pretended that it was a computer and asked if it should connect, something I obviously ignored, wondering why it decided this time that my power supply was a computer,

This is not unusual. Some USB chargers work in such a way as that a device can see them as a computer. About half of the USB chargers I have here do, including the one that came with my iPad is.

And I'm glad that Kobo didn't charge me extra for a charger that I really don't need.

BUT..... after having refueled the accu, it appears that EVERYTHING that I added with Calibre had been erased. And strangely enough that a few books I had erased with Calibre were back. And... that it was no longer possible to go back to the entry screen, the "home symbol" no longer appears at the top left of the screen.

It is possible to read one book but not to get to the list of books or anything else one does from the home page. Attaching it to my computer I see the strangest things, among which that three of the books added under Calibre are listed each with their own directory (I must admit that after using Calibre successfully I never checked where the books were actually situated so this may be correct even though all books showed in one list on the reader itself). Trying to use Calibre I get the following error code:


CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 88, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 511, in _books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 1835, in books
File "c:\cygwin64\home\kovid\sw\build\apsw-3.8.2-r1\src\cursor.c", line 231, in resetcursor
CorruptError: CorruptError: database disk image is malformed


QUESTION: aside from the obvious one (how could this in heaven's name take place when the only thing I did was attach a power supply???)
What should I do next???
Should I try and find a factory reset button and how should I go about this?
Is this a weak point in Calibre?
Is this perhaps the right time to try Koreader that Alan_S recommended?

Or should the reader be returned because it doesn't function as could be expected?

I feel really devastated after having been so joyful seeing that Calibre seemed to have resolved all problems for me. I am totally at a loss as what to do next...

All of that means that you have a corrupted database on the device. The device store details about the books in the database. As you read, the status is stored as well. The device reads the database and then works on the in-memory data structures, writing to the database as needed. If the database gets corrupted, the device can keep running for a while but not able to update the database. When something happens to read the database from scratch you get the problems like you are seeing. The most common reason for rereading the database is powering off and on.

Plugging the device into a USB charger is very unlikely to be the cause. While I mainly use my laptop to charge, I have connected my Kobo devices to the various chargers I have to know that isn't a problem. I do usually hit the cancel button, but that's just because I can't ignore the dialog.

The most likely cause of a corrupt database is not safely ejecting the device from the PC. If you unplug at the wrong time when using calibre or the Kobo desktop app, you will damage the database. There must be other reasons as people keep telling me they always do this properly.

There is no way to fix this directly without a backup of the database. But, you don't need to do a factory reset. Signing out of the Kobo account on the device will create a new database when you sign in. This will then reload all the sideloaded books. You will lose the reading status and collections for these books. When you connect to calibre, the collections should be recreated.

If this keeps happening without any obvious cause, then it might be a sign the device is faulty. A few people have seen this happen and then found the internal SD card on their devices were faulty. As the Aura ONE doesn't have removable internal storage, it probably isn't possible to test this, but repeated problems could be a reason to return the device as faulty.

[paulvro]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The most likely cause of a corrupt database is not safely ejecting the device from the PC. If you unplug at the wrong time when using calibre or the Kobo desktop app, you will damage the database. There must be other reasons as people keep telling me they always do this properly.

There is no way to fix this directly without a backup of the database. But, you don't need to do a factory reset. Signing out of the Kobo account on the device will create a new database when you sign in. This will then reload all the sideloaded books. You will lose the reading status and collections for these books. When you connect to calibre, the collections should be recreated.

Thank you very much for this information Davidfor. About the first part: I do always properly the "Safely remove hardware and Eject Media" procedure so I doubt if that could be the cause. What did happen, and perhaps that plays a role, is the fact that when I tried to refuel the batteries and got the "connect" option I also saw no evidence at all that the Reader was actually charging so I went to another electrical socket in the room to try again. I had the distinct memory that at the first time I charged the battery it did show the percentage of power that was left in the Reader. This time, after looking a lot for it I relaized that I needed to tick the little worm on the top right to get that information. But that aside.

Given the fact that my wife has been using the Reader without any problems at all for about 10 days since I worked on it so succesfully with Calibre also seems to indicate that this was something that went radically wrong in the charging procedure.

Could you please tell me how to sign in and out of the Kobo account? And please keep in mind, I do NOT have the little home symbol that one normally sees at the left top of the screen available to me.

At the other hand, I am now being confronted with an entirely different screen than I am used to. Left top there is now the word Home in Italics, and when I select it I get a long list (Home, My books, My collections, My articles, Browse, Recommended, Kobo Plus, Wishlist, Activity, Settings, Help) I do remember someone's response that he had a different home screen and perhaps even mentioning that mine was an older version of it.

Can it be that somehow the Reader revised it's own software? Because now that aspect seems to work again while the only thing I did was attach it to my computer to check what's wrong with it. I didn't make any alterations but they seem to have been made....

PS: after safely removing the Reader from my computer and bringing it back to my wife, of course the first thing that showed was the entirely different home screen from what it was before. But more importantly, the Reader now does show the proper books that were on it before the malheur took place!!! One BIG difference: all books have the indicator "unread" while my wife had read several of them and was in the middle of reading a fourth book. So that information (not important but worth noticing) seems to have been lost permanently.

I just saw an episode of the series "Catweazle" that was shown in memory of Geoffrey Bayldon who died a little over 2 weeks ago. Perhaps you'll understand that somehow I do get some similar feelings to the main character of this series when looking at our Reader.... ;-)

Anyhow, having this new way of going "home" and the reappearance of the books that initially seemed erased (and appearance of a few books that had been erased that now are invisible again!) seems to indicate that perhaps things are alright now. I guess I was in the middle of something that was created (new Kobo software?) during the recharging process and that perhaps got finished while the Reader was attached to my computer. Guesses, guesses, I have no idea if these things are true. I put the phrases in Italics above after I realized that they no longer were valid because of the discoveries I made while writing this. Sorry if it looks a bit chaotic that way.

[Alan_S]

Originally Posted by paulvro

Is this perhaps the right time to try Koreader that Alan_S recommended?

Well, from my perspective, any time is great time to start using koreader.

When I bought my device, I saw nickel, it didn't had many things I wanted it to have so I started to look for alternatives. After I tried koreader I never went back.

But, also, there are ways to sort out problems with database. Also, from what I read, database nickel uses is pretty sensitive to everything and anything as corruption can happen almost for no apparent reason. I don't know that myself as I don't use nickel, but people report problems.

And, if you decide to try koreader, there's one trick that helps you avoid nickel sees books you put on device: Place books on hidden directory. Hidden directories has dot before its name, like: .books

To create this directory in windows, you need to create it by adding dot not only at the beginning, but at the end also, like this: .books. After you create such directory, dot at the end will disappear.

In such way you have directory that nickel doesn't see, doesn't import books in database, but koreader can work with hidden directories (it is an option, not sure if it is selected by default, but you can select it if it isn't).

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by paulvro

Thank you very much for this information Davidfor. About the first part: I do always properly the "Safely remove hardware and Eject Media" procedure so I doubt if that could be the cause. What did happen, and perhaps that plays a role, is the fact that when I tried to refuel the batteries and got the "connect" option I also saw no evidence at all that the Reader was actually charging so I went to another electrical socket in the room to try again. I had the distinct memory that at the first time I charged the battery it did show the percentage of power that was left in the Reader. This time, after looking a lot for it I relaized that I needed to tick the little worm on the top right to get that information. But that aside.

As I said, the only way I know to corrupt the database is a badly timed eject. There has to be other reasons. One possibility is a crash while writing the database. But, there is no way for me to prove this.

Given the fact that my wife has been using the Reader without any problems at all for about 10 days since I worked on it so succesfully with Calibre also seems to indicate that this was something that went radically wrong in the charging procedure.

If you haven't powered the device off and hence forced a reread of the database in those 10 days, there is no way to know when it happened. Once the database is read and the memory structures created, the device can keep going. It just can't save the changes in the database properly.

Could you please tell me how to sign in and out of the Kobo account?

In the setting, the top option is "Accounts". In that, the various accounts are displayed. Select the "Sign out" that is next to your Kobo account.

And please keep in mind, I do NOT have the little home symbol that one normally sees at the left top of the screen available to me.

At the other hand, I am now being confronted with an entirely different screen than I am used to. Left top there is now the word Home in Italics, and when I select it I get a long list (Home, My books, My collections, My articles, Browse, Recommended, Kobo Plus, Wishlist, Activity, Settings, Help) I do remember someone's response that he had a different home screen and perhaps even mentioning that mine was an older version of it.

Which means the device has updated to newer firmware with the new home screen and some other changes to the interface. Now, instead of the home button that returns you to the home screen, there are three lines that when tapped display a menu. This has all the navigation options on it that previously were split between the items at the bottom of the home screen and the menu that was accessed by the top right corner menu icon.

The firmware is now probably version 4.4.9349.

Can it be that somehow the Reader revised it's own software? Because now that aspect seems to work again while the only thing I did was attach it to my computer to check what's wrong with it. I didn't make any alterations but they seem to have been made....

Yes, it can and does. Whenever the device syncs to the Kobo server it looks for an update. If there is one, it downloads it and installs it. If this happens as part of the daily automatic sync (which can be turned off in the settings) the update will be installed and the device restarted. This restart is when the database was reread and the books recently added and status changes disappeared.

If the update is downloaded when you are using the device, you will usually be prompted to install it. At that time, you can postpone the update and it will be installed the next time the device is restarted or connected and disconnected from a PC. The connection and disconnection from the charger might have triggered this.

PS: after safely removing the Reader from my computer and bringing it back to my wife, of course the first thing that showed was the entirely different home screen from what it was before. But more importantly, the Reader now does show the proper books that were on it before the malheur took place!!! One BIG difference: all books have the indicator "unread" while my wife had read several of them and was in the middle of reading a fourth book. So that information (not important but worth noticing) seems to have been lost permanently.

After connecting and disconnecting, the device did the usual processing of any book not known (either in the database or memory structures). Hence all those books that had disappeared were processed and you could see them. And their reading status was set to unread because as far as the device was concerned, they are new books.

I just saw an episode of the series "Catweazle" that was shown in memory of Geoffrey Bayldon who died a little over 2 weeks ago. Perhaps you'll understand that somehow I do get some similar feelings to the main character of this series when looking at our Reader.... ;-)

I was never a fan, but I remember the show and his reactions.

What I would suggest is playing with the device. Tap things and see what happens. And see what a swipe, or a long press on something does. There is very little you can do to damage anything, and nearly all those actions will show a confirmation prompt. You can look at an old post of mine about the UI standards used to see what things might react. That does need to be updated as it doesn't include the three dots or three lines that are used for menus. And the tabbed layout for some of the list screens.

[paulvro]

Thank you Davidfor,

As far as I can guess, what might have happened is that I somehow interrupted the procedure that renewed the software without knowing it. There never was any question to me if I wanted to update the software so I couldn't possibly be aware that I interrupted anything. The moment I saw that the charge-up was completed I unplugged the power supply.

I should perhaps mention something: in my study there is hardly any WiFi signal while in tje living room where I recharged the reader the WiFi signal is very strong. So perhaps that somehow triggered the Reader to update it's software, perhaps my shoving away the question if the Reader should connect to the (not attached) computer did something to activate that update. I have no idea.

Your suggestion to fiddle around a lot with the Reader sounds good, it's the kind of thing I tend to do with any new electronic toy. However, in this case it's not so easy because it's my wife's Reader and she is an avid reader so there's not so much space for me to get my hands on it. And she most certainly would never be convinced to do the fiddling, she is hardly able to use her Windows laptop without asking for my help on an almost daily basis.

You made a misinterpretation of my remark about the power supply. Of course, if I had known that some of them cause that reaction asking if I wanted to connect to the computer while in fact there is none it wouldn't have been such an issue. But the fact that i didn't and that before that reaction did NOT take place the first thing that comes to mind is a fear that I might have used the wrong power supply. I gladly would have paid a few euro's extra to avoid such stressful events. Besides, we happened to get our i-phones only a week before I bought the reader, before that I had no power supplies other than the standard 12V power supplies and in fact the manual of the Reader wasn't terribly clear about what voltage was needed. Considering that even a very simple external harddisk is always sold including a power unit I was amazed that Kobo hadn't bothered. In fact at first I even thought that perhaps there was a packing error.

You asked about the Reader being turned on and off during the last 10 days. I assumed that it was but only based upon the fact that the screen states "sleeping". I haven't found any way to really turn it off, even when "sleeping" the book cover remains visible so I suspect that there must be a way to completely turn it off (?).

I a few minutes I'll be able to rip the reader out of my wife's hands (she'll have finished the book she's reading) and then I'll reconnect it to my PC and check if Calibre now still shows the same error message. If not, the conclusion seems obvious that the error was temporary based on my unknowing interruption of the software update that apparently was in progress. I'll post a follow-up as soon as possible.



PS: As it appears I was too optimistic! Even though the Reader seems to work well again, Calibre insists upon the same error message:

calibre, version 2.85.1
FOUT: Fout: Fout bij communicatie met apparaat

CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 88, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 511, in _books
File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 1835, in books
File "c:\cygwin64\home\kovid\sw\build\apsw-3.8.2-r1\src\cursor.c", line 231, in resetcursor
CorruptError: CorruptError: database disk image is malformed


So I'll follow the advice and try to sign out of the Kobo account.

[robko]

Originally Posted by paulvro

You asked about the Reader being turned on and off during the last 10 days. I assumed that it was but only based upon the fact that the screen states "sleeping". I haven't found any way to really turn it off, even when "sleeping" the book cover remains visible so I suspect that there must be a way to completely turn it off (?).

A quick push on the power button puts it into sleep mode, a longer push and hold will turn it off. When in sleep mode it will wake up and go to your last page read within seconds. If it is powered off, the blue light should show up on the top right then a number of seconds later the screen will start to change and eventually you'll end up on the home page when it's powered up. Depending on your settings, the book cover will show whether it is in sleep mode OR powered down completely. The e-ink screen only uses power when it's changing the screen. A static screen (i.e. the book cover) will stay indefinitely even if you remove the battery completely. The difference between sleep and powered off is that in sleep it will be using a small amount of power to maintain things in the volatile memory (i.e. temporary memory that clears when it has no power). When powered off it has to reload things into the volatile memory which is why it takes longer to start up.

[paulvro]

Thank you Robko, I have first signed out of the Kobo account (thanks Davidfor!) and then followed your instructions. The Reader now shows a black screen with "Powered off". I'll let it rest a while and then power it back up and see if things have been repaired.

I a way it's strange that in it's the "powered off"-state the Reader still keeps showing this text because it seems to indicate that in reality it isn't powered off. After all showing that text must somehow use some power by itself, wouldn't it?

[paulvro]

I have signed out of the Kobo account and then powered off. Putting it back on I see that I must redo my WiFi selection and password. Now my next option is if I want to CREATE a new Kobo account of use an EXISTING account ("sign in with Kobo"). I'm a bit worried that signing in might mean that the errors come back, is it better to create a new account?

[patrik]

Nope, you can safely use the same account.

Good luck

[John F]

...

Originally Posted by paulvro

Thank you Robko, I have first signed out of the Kobo account (thanks Davidfor!) and then followed your instructions. The Reader now shows a black screen with "Powered off". I'll let it rest a while and then power it back up and see if things have been repaired.

I a way it's strange that in it's the "powered off"-state the Reader still keeps showing this text because it seems to indicate that in reality it isn't powered off. After all showing that text must somehow use some power by itself, wouldn't it?

Originally Posted by robko

... The e-ink screen only uses power when it's changing the screen. A static screen (i.e. the book cover) will stay indefinitely even if you remove the battery completely. The difference between sleep and powered off is that in sleep it will be using a small amount of power to maintain things in the volatile memory (i.e. temporary memory that clears when it has no power). When powered off it has to reload things into the volatile memory which is why it takes longer to start up.

...