UTF-8 Decode Error with Kobo Elipsa 2E, Calibre 7.3.0, Win 11

[RockBracken]

Hello all!

I've been using my Kobo Elipsa 2E with Calibre for a while with success on my Windows 11 laptop (Windows 11 Home, 22H2), however today I tried adding a new series to my Kobo, and noticed that it wasn't updating the series metadata, so they didn't have the numbering and title, and each time I reconnected the Kobo, Calibre was showing the books as not being in the library. After a couple times, eventually I was presented with the error below. I started on Calibre 7.2.0, tried updating to 7.3.0, and then even reinstalling Calibre, all to no avail. Would resetting my Kobo fix this by chance, or is there something with a specific driver plugin I can try?

Thank you all!

calibre, version 7.3.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 21: invalid start byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre\gui2\device.py", line 104, in run
  File "calibre\gui2\device.py", line 558, in _books
  File "calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 2028, in books
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 21: invalid start byte

[RockBracken]

I should also note, every once in a while I'll also receive the below error as well:

calibre, version 7.3.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre\gui2\device.py", line 104, in run
  File "calibre\gui2\device.py", line 558, in _books
  File "calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 2028, in books
  File "C:\t\t\apsw-42s16m2x\src\cursor.c", line 240, in resetcursor
apsw.CorruptError: CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

[DNSB]

That would suggest that one or both of the databases on your Kobo are corrupted. You can use calibre with the Kobo Utilities plugin to check the database or use an external SQLite program (SQLite Expert Personal or equivalent) to check the database.

If you have a backup of your Kobo database which the Kobo Utilities can automate, you can try restoring that. Otherwise, you can try a logout/login, first level factory reset and finally either a manual factory reset or factory reset from the Developer menu. Those are in order of how destructive they are. The first option is under Accounts => Kobo => Sign out, the second is under Device Information => Factory reset your eReader and the third is under Device Information => Developer Options => Factory reset your eReader or follow the procedure from Manual reset your Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Nia, Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Clara 2E, Kobo Elipsa 2E.

[RockBracken]

Originally Posted by DNSB

That would suggest that one or both of the databases on your Kobo are corrupted. You can use calibre with the Kobo Utilities plugin to check the database or use an external SQLite program (SQLite Expert Personal or equivalent) to check the database.

If you have a backup of your Kobo database which the Kobo Utilities can automate, you can try restoring that. Otherwise, you can try a logout/login, first level factory reset and finally either a manual factory reset or factory reset from the Developer menu. Those are in order of how destructive they are. The first option is under Accounts => Kobo => Sign out, the second is under Device Information => Factory reset your eReader and the third is under Device Information => Developer Options => Factory reset your eReader or follow the procedure from Manual reset your Kobo Clara HD, Kobo Nia, Kobo Elipsa, Kobo Clara 2E, Kobo Elipsa 2E.

The sign in actually proved effective, thank you! I think one of the books I was trying to import may have gotten caught, or didn't successfully import, or something along those lines, but it all seems to be working now, thank you very much! I'll start keeping backups of the database through that utility plugin, that's extremely handy and I wasn't aware of that before. I appreciate your help!