Windows 10 Kobo Crash

[jdta09]

There's lots of talk about problems with Kobo drivers and Windows so apologies for adding to it but I wondered if anyone could summarise it?

For me, I have a Kobo Aura Edition 2 and Windows 10. Whenever I plug in the Kobo, windows says There's a problem with this drive. It then continues to show me the drive in Windows Explorer ok and I can copy books onto it.

However I use Calibre for my library and as soon as I start Calibre and it sees the Kobo, Windows crashes with a blue screen.

Since I want use various features of Calibre, I need a way round this?

What do other people do?

Thanks

[davidfor]

I don't think I have heard of anything similar with a Kobo device. It is not happening here with any of mine.

What is the problem that Windows is reporting? My guess would be whatever that is is the real problem and causing the later crash. And if it isn't, then it needs to be eliminated as the cause. If the problem is that Windows wants to run a check on the disk, do it. It probably won't find any problems, but if it does, this might be the solution.

Other things to try or answer:

• Has it ever worked?
• Have you tried a different USB port or cable? Or another computer?
• Have you restarted the computer and device?
• Have you tried the Kobo desktop?
• What firmware version is on the Kobo?
• What version of calibre? 32bit or 64bit?
• Are you up to date with the Windows fixes?
• When does it crash? Straight away or after a bit of time? Can you see which of the connect jobs are running?

There is a fair chance that a factory reset on the device will be needed. If you do this, you lose the reading status for sideloaded books, and have to reload them. You can also copy all the files on the device when connected and restore them after the factory reset and checking things are working.

[theducks]

W7 and W10 always gripped at me when moving a SD card between thos an another (or lesser version) OS.
Even if I always 'Safe ejected'

Are yo using alternating OS?

WAITING until 'safe'?

[JSWolf]

Is your Windows 10 fully up-to-date as in are all the Windows Update patches applied?

[jdta09]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I had a Kobo Glo up til a couple of months ago and that didn't do the same. The Aura is about 6 weeks old and has always had the issue, though I seemed to get it to work at one point but it broke again a week or two ago after some Windows patches and a Kobo update.

I have tried different cables and ports.

I have restarted the Kobo and the PC.

I downloaded the Kobo desktop and this worked ok and it synced.

Kobo version 4.2.8283

I have the latest Calibre version

The Windows 10 is completely up to date with fixes.

Windows crashes as soon as the device is detected. IS there anyway to see in more details what it's doing?

I'm prepared to reset the Kobo if necessary.

I haven't connected the Kobo to any other computer.

[JSWolf]

Did it crash with Calibre prior to the current version of Calibre?

[jdta09]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Did it crash with Calibre prior to the current version of Calibre?

I think so. I guess I could try that?

[kiwik]

EDIT 2018:
I now have a new Lenovo laptop (also with only USB3 ports), and the problem is gone. So whether it was Intel chipset specific, or just resolved, I couldn't say.

---

Here's a bit more of a detailed writeup:

Windows 10 Professional (latest updates)
Calibre 2.77 (problem has existed with all older versions too)
Kobo Aura One (latest updates)
Dell Latitude E7450

--

Accessing the Kobo via USB without Calibre running works perfectly. I can browse the file structure, copy on new files, delete files etc. I can leave it connected indefinitely without any issues.

Using the Kobo Windows app also works without issues.

When I run Calibre with Kobo connected (and without any other apps open), after 30 seconds or less I get a blue screen of death with this error:

FAT_FILE_SYSTEM (fastfat.sys)

This happens whether I have Calibre running first and then connect Kobo, or if I open Calibre after the Kobo is connected.

This laptop only has USB 3.0 ports so I cannot test it on USB 2. It happens with all three ports, and with any USB cable that I've tried.

Again, the connection works perfectly without any issues using Windows Explorer. It's only after Calibre opens that the blue screen happens.

I also have a Kindle Paperwhite Gen 3 which does NOT exhibit the problem on the same laptop. It seems to be Kobo/Calibre specific.

I have reset the Kobo to factory settings twice, but it didn't help.

To work around the problem I am closing Calibre before I want to copy books across, and dragging-and-dropping manually in Windows Explorer.

[BetterRed]

@kiwik - something is broken (e.g. fastfat.sys). Something that calibre uses when its accessing the Kobo, which is not used by Explorer, Kobo app, and Calibre when accessing a Kindle PW.

Have you tried doing a system file check - 'sfc /scannow'. It the first thing to try if Windows is crashing.

BR

[JSWolf]

Before running Calibre, open a command prompt and run the command chkdsk /r on the Kobo and see what happens.

A fastfat.sys error can be caused by an error on the Kobo.

Also, I've read that some with this error solved it by switching from a USB 2 port to a USB 3 port.

[jdta09]

Originally Posted by kiwik

Here's a bit more of a detailed writeup:

Windows 10 Professional (latest updates)
Calibre 2.77 (problem has existed with all older versions too)
Kobo Aura One (latest updates)
Dell Latitude E7450

--

Accessing the Kobo via USB without Calibre running works perfectly. I can browse the file structure, copy on new files, delete files etc. I can leave it connected indefinitely without any issues.

Using the Kobo Windows app also works without issues.

When I run Calibre with Kobo connected (and without any other apps open), after 30 seconds or less I get a blue screen of death with this error:

FAT_FILE_SYSTEM (fastfat.sys)

This happens whether I have Calibre running first and then connect Kobo, or if I open Calibre after the Kobo is connected.

This laptop only has USB 3.0 ports so I cannot test it on USB 2. It happens with all three ports, and with any USB cable that I've tried.

Again, the connection works perfectly without any issues using Windows Explorer. It's only after Calibre opens that the blue screen happens.

I also have a Kindle Paperwhite Gen 3 which does NOT exhibit the problem on the same laptop. It seems to be Kobo/Calibre specific.

I have reset the Kobo to factory settings twice, but it didn't help.

To work around the problem I am closing Calibre before I want to copy books across, and dragging-and-dropping manually in Windows Explorer.

This is exactly the same that happens to me. I reset the Kobo and the first time I plugged it in and started Calibre it blue screened again. However after a couple of restarts it has now managed to work. i think that happened before but then broke again once the next Kobo update came out.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jdta09

This is exactly the same that happens to me. I reset the Kobo and the first time I plugged it in and started Calibre it blue screened again. However after a couple of restarts it has now managed to work. i think that happened before but then broke again once the next Kobo update came out.

Did you try the suggestions I recently posted?

[kiwik]

Running sfc /scannow returns no issues.

Running chkdsk /r D: returns:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>chkdsk /r d:
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Cannot read boot sector.

It then makes the device unrecognisable until a restart:



So to summarise:

• 3 month old laptop, fresh Win 10 install
• USB 3.0 ports only
• Brand new Kobo Aura One
• No issues with Windows + Kobo in terms of daily usage
• Blue screens with Win + Kobo + Calibre
• Factory resets do not help
• sfc /scannow doesn't help

Can someone else with a Kobo One confirm the chkdsk issue?

[JSWolf]

Have you done all the Windows Updates for Windows 10? The Anniversary Edition has some glitches that caused Kobo not to be recognized properly and has since been fixed.

Also, is your Aura One firmware the latest?

[kiwik]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have you done all the Windows Updates for Windows 10? The Anniversary Edition has some glitches that caused Kobo not to be recognized properly and has since been fixed.

Also, is your Aura One firmware the latest?

Yes, absolutely to both questions.

With the last test, I did a factory reset and then an update before doing any testing.