Forma Kobo Forma unable to connect to OpenWrt Wifi configuration

[pie000]

Hi everyone.

I have been trying to connect the Forma I just bought to my wireless access point, and I haven't been able to make any progress.

For whatever reason, the only time I am able to see the wireless access point/connect to my access point is when the device is factory reset. And it is also only able to connect to my 2 GHz access point. After it connects, downloads the update, and restarts, I am no longer able to see this access point and I can not connect to it manually. None of my other devices have an issue connecting/recognizing my access point

All this is to say, is there a known subset of wireless access point configurations that the Kobo line supports?

[davidfor]

Firstly, all of the Kobo WiFi devices only do 2.4GHz. If you have a 5GHz only access point, they won't see them.

Other than that, to the best of my knowledge, the Kobo devices can connect to all 11n access points. I have connected mine to a few over the years, with no real issues. I don't use OpenWRT, so I don't know about them.

[Quoth]

I've had an OpenWRT work with Kindle & Kobo H2O original no problem.

Perhaps you've configured your access point wrong. You do need 2.4GHz.

[pie000]

Thank you for you feedback. Unfortunately, I believe my issue is due to a driver bug in the mwlwifi Marvell 88W8x64 chips (Linksys WRT devices). https://github.com/kaloz/mwlwifi/issues/278

Unfortunately, the workaround for disabling WMM did not work. If anyone knows any other workarounds, or the specific chip for the Kobo Forma please let me know.

[kevinm]

I ran into the same issue on a Kobo Clara HD with a Linksys WRT1200AC running OpenWrt 18.06.2. The Kobo saw and connected to the network on the first power-up out of the box, and used the network to download an update. After installing the update and rebooting, the Kobo was unable to see my network at all, but listed other networks on the same channel. I also tried a factory reset, but the network still didn't appear in Kobo's network list. When connected to a different access point, it did not try to update again, though, so I suspect the factory reset only cleared settings rather than reverting the update, and the problem was introduced by the update. Currently on 4.15.12920, no idea what the factory firmware version was.

So I used Wireshark in monitor mode to compare the beacon packets between the access point in question and another access point that was visible to Kobo, tweaking the OpenWrt config to try to make them as similar as possible. I discovered that the difference that mattered was in the "Supported Rates" element, where the access point not seen by Kobo had the value "1(B), 2(B), 5.5(B), 11(B), 22, 6, 9, 12", and the working access point had "1(B), 2(B), 5.5(B), 11(B), 6, 9, 12, 18" (higher rates are in a separate "extended supported rates" element).

Editing OpenWrt's /etc/config/wireless to add the following lines under the `config wifi-device 'radio1'` section corresponding to the 2.4GHz network fixed this issue for me:

list 'supported_rates' '1000 2000 5500 11000 6000 9000 12000 18000 24000 36000 48000 54000'
list 'basic_rate' '1000 2000 5500 11000'

[fifonik]

Thanks kevinm!
This is exactly the issue I have with our new Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 and OpenWRT based Gargoyle 1.11.0 router installed on Linksys WRT1200AC.
Adding two these lines fixed the issue. I wish I know how to get default supported/basic rates to minimise changes.

I still hope it would be fixed in future version on Kobo FW.

[fifonik]

UPDATE:
- Did manual reset to factory defaults (for my Aura H2O Edition 2 the procedure is: connect cable, switch off reader and then press hold power button for 30 seconds) and original FW 4.7.10733 was restored. It works just fine with unchanged router's FW.
- Contacted support, explained the issue and asked them to pass the info for developers.

Will try to find exact FW version when this issue is started from.

Is it possible to prevent the reader to auto-update to new FW?

[ps67]

Originally Posted by fifonik

UPDATE:


Is it possible to prevent the reader to auto-update to new FW?

Yes there are two patches. But the simplest solution I know (at Your own risk, because it worked for me but it is not documented anywhere) is to change Your affiliation in something that does not exist.

in the .kobo hidden directory of kobo there is a file: affiliate.conf where You can change Your affiliation. Change from

[General]
affiliate=Kobo

(or Walmart or what it is)
into a word that it is not a possible affiliation

The affiliation change generally is used for the opposite purpose: to get new firmware before the normal distribution by Kobo for Your affiliation; so I wondered what happens if I would write a not existent affiliation and I found that the firmware will not update at all.

[fifonik]

Another update:
Upgraded FW from 4.7.10733 to 4.12.12111 yesterday and disabled auto update by changing affiliate value (thanks for advice how to do this). WiFi works fine with unchanged router's FW.

[fifonik]

The issue still exists with firmware 4.18.13737.

[Bassthang]

Wow, thanks kevinm, the supported_rate change fixed it immediately!

I Found the "supported rates" field in WIreshark, but had no idea what to change.

Still a problem for Kobo Clara HD 4.18.13737

[fgnn]

I had this same issue and am glad someone figured this out, because I definitely would not have. For reference, I have Kobo Libra H2O firmware 4.19.14123 and a Linksys WRT1900ACS with OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.05.1.

[fifonik]

Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2 we have had died so I do not know if the issue was fixed in new versions of firmware.

However, new Kobo Libra H2O that we bought as replacement does not have the issue with firmware 4.20.xyz and the same OpenWRT based Linksys WRT1200AC router with unmodified /etc/config/wireless.

[karlkruzer]

Hello I just bought a Libra h20 ,
being reading the thread but last post saying it is fixed ?
do you think I can upgrade the firmware out the box?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by karlkruzer

Hello I just bought a Libra h20 ,
being reading the thread but last post saying it is fixed ?
do you think I can upgrade the firmware out the box?

Yes.

Dummy text to make reply at least 5 characters.