Libra Colour I fear my Kobo Libra Colour might be broken and I don't know how to fix it

[panicattack]

I'll try to explain things as coherently as possible, so please bear with me.

I got my KLC basically on launch day last year and it has been working fine. I would sideload my books by just dragging and dropping the KEPUB files via file explorer. I did not use Calibre or any Kobo extensions up until few days ago.

Anyway, few days ago, I decided to take the plunge and try to use Calibre to maintain my own library of ebooks and sideload to my Kobo device via KoboTouchExtended plugin.

Things went SO WRONG (which I might try to ask for help in the Calibre section of the forum if I have the strength for it, because I feel at this hour I am 100% done with Calibre) to the point where I've now performed:

- signing in and out of my first/original account
- factory resetting the device 4 or 5 times (I don't remember)
- manually resetting the device 1 time
- logging into the device with a completely new account with no purchased books whatsoever

and the issue still persists, which is why I feel at this point, something is just wrong with the device itself and I don't know how to fix it.

Basically, I remember the first day I sideloaded a single book onto my Kobo device, and safely ejected it, the device would do that whole "importing" screen etc and it would load... on my homescreen, on the bottom left of the screen, I would have a "My Books" section where it would show and say the correct number which at the time was "1 book".

From then point on, I would sideload books and eject and it would update and it would work correctly.

Since trying to figure out Calibre and doing all those steps above, now whenever I sideload a book, that entire section (My Books) on the homescreen is wrong. The books show up on the device, I can open them and read them, but the number is always wrong/not updated properly.

It does that even if I have NO SIDELOADED books and have 1 single legally purchased book through the Kobo store.

It 'fixes' itself if I do a "repair my account" in the device settings, but I feel like it's something wrong if I have to do that EVERY TIME when that was never an issue BEFORE I tried to embark on this journey with Calibre.

So please help, I don't know what to do anymore. Reddit wasn't really helpful.

I'll happily send over screenshots of my kobo file directory if needed.

Thank you to anyone who tries to guide me through this. I just want my device working as intended back.

[pdurrant]

So the only problem is that the number of books is wrong on the screen?

[panicattack]

Yes? I mean, it seems like the device is not recognizing these files 'as books' so for example, if I have an empty device and sideload 3 books onto it, the books will show up on the homescreen under "My Books" section but the number will say zero.

If I do a regular sync, nothing happens. If I repair my account in settings, the number gets corrected from zero to the correct number (which is 3, in the example).

I don't know if maybe Windows 11 messed up my KLC because while I was trying to figure out Calibre and the plugins while my device was connected, at some point, Windows popped up with a notification that something was wrong or corrupt with the Kobo device/driver and that it needed fixing which I then followed the steps and got it "fixed".

But anyway, after that Windows 11 fiasco, and quitting on Calibre, and me performing factory resets and manual resets etc... the device isn't working as properly as it did when it came out the box up until I literally started to use "send to device" via Calibre and KoboTouchExtended plugin.

Does that make sense? ;_;

[pdurrant]

I expect some Kobo experts will be along shortly to sort out your problem. I'm sure it's nothing serious.

[JSWolf]

I don't know if this will work or not as I've never had this problem.

Install NickelMenu and in the config file in the .adds\nm directory, all the following line.

menu_item :main :Import books       :nickel_misc        :rescan_books_full

From the NickelMenu menu, execute this and see if that helps.

Another thing to try is in calibre, make sure you have Kobo Utilities installed. Then use that to check if the database is corrupt.

What firmware version are you running?

[panicattack]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What firmware version are you running?

Okay, I'll try the NickelMenu thing even though the installation/setup intimidates me.
And I'll try with KoboUtilities as much as I can't really look at Calibre right now. I'm determined to get this fixed.

Honestly, I don't know what's real device behaviour anymore and what isn't, because I feel like in all this frenzy I confused myself with the sync part. I found out that if I sideload books, the issue persists but normal syncing solves "the problem".

I don't know if I convinced myself that maybe somehow during the import phase, a sync happens on the device during or immediately afterwards where it basically causes the display to show the number of books correctly 'in real time' and maybe now that isn't happening anymore????

Keep in mind that I'm not really a tech person so I genuinely don't know the actual ins and outs of this device's computer/tech processes, I'm just trying to describe how it looks to my naked eye. Lol ;_;

Also my current software version is: 4.41.23145 (637199291b, 10/29/24)
And my firmware information is as follows:

Waveform: 570_VSK014_HT0301_EC070KH2C1_SC1452-GOC_TC
Kernel Version: 4.9.77 #1 SMP PREEMPT 8f1503187-20240617T162448-B0617163842
Touch Firmware: 64c8 /3934
Status Code: 0
VCOM: -1470mV

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. If I make any progress or find out more, I will make sure to keep you all updated.

[panicattack]

Alright, I've installed KoboUtilities in Calibre, connected my KLC to my PC which successfully connected to Calibre as well (it didn't give me some sort of error where basically it ended with "disk image malformed" stuff that happened...during last night's Calibre chaos)

and I pressed 'check the device database' under the KoboUtilities dropdown menu > database.

This was the result:

Result of running 'PRAGMA integrity_check' on database on the Kobo device:


ok

[DNSB]

Hmmm... if the database on the Kobo is okay which is what KoboUtilities is reporting, it could be your database was so corrupted, that it was removed and rebuilt by the Kobo firmware last evening.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by panicattack

Okay, I'll try the NickelMenu thing even though the installation/setup intimidates me.
And I'll try with KoboUtilities as much as I can't really look at Calibre right now. I'm determined to get this fixed.

Honestly, I don't know what's real device behaviour anymore and what isn't, because I feel like in all this frenzy I confused myself with the sync part. I found out that if I sideload books, the issue persists but normal syncing solves "the problem".

I don't know if I convinced myself that maybe somehow during the import phase, a sync happens on the device during or immediately afterwards where it basically causes the display to show the number of books correctly 'in real time' and maybe now that isn't happening anymore????

Keep in mind that I'm not really a tech person so I genuinely don't know the actual ins and outs of this device's computer/tech processes, I'm just trying to describe how it looks to my naked eye. Lol ;_;

Also my current software version is: 4.41.23145 (637199291b, 10/29/24)
And my firmware information is as follows:

Waveform: 570_VSK014_HT0301_EC070KH2C1_SC1452-GOC_TC
Kernel Version: 4.9.77 #1 SMP PREEMPT 8f1503187-20240617T162448-B0617163842
Touch Firmware: 64c8 /3934
Status Code: 0
VCOM: -1470mV

Thank you to everyone who has replied so far. If I make any progress or find out more, I will make sure to keep you all updated.

OK, you have two options.

1. You can roll back to the previous firmware and do not sync or eventually you will get the same firmware you have now.
2. You can reboot your Libra Colour before you connect it to the computer. No need to go back a firmware version.

[panicattack]

I don't know, I suppose?

I guess that could be it, maybe that's why that Windows 11 warning popped up that my Kobo device/driver needed fixing.

I never really had that specific issue pop up before until I tried to figure out Calibre and KoboTouchExtended where I'd end up with the "disk image malformed" etc which I googled and results were that maybe the Calibre library itself is in need of repair or it can simply be fixed by just logging in and out of your kobo account on the device and connecting to the pc again (which I did and it seemed to have helped? briefly?) but then afterwards, being connected to Calibre, Calibre would show me that some books weren't on the device when they were on the device itself OR books that were not on the device anymore were shown as being on device etc.

Then I know at some point, I connected my device and Calibre recognized it but I got a pop up in Calibre that was saying like "books with same titles as the following already exist in Calibre. select which books you want added anyway?" with the book being in EPUB format.

And I'm not entirely sure how that exactly happened, because I wasn't adding any books to the Library at all, all my files on my KLC are kepubs and that literally popped up upon device connection.

Anyway, I feel like at this point this is so Calibre heavy that I might try to ask in the Calibre subforum for proper set up of Calibre and KTE if I ever wanna bother with that again. I don't wanna go too off-topic here with Calibre here.

My dad has a KLC that he doesn't really use so his device is as pure as it gets, so I might connect his to my PC and visually see if anything's different in the file explorer or sideload some books and see how his device behaves.

At this point, I feel kinda dumb and maybe I hallucinated the whole problem?

[panicattack]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

OK, you have two options.

1. You can roll back to the previous firmware and do not sync or eventually you will get the same firmware you have now.
2. You can reboot your Libra Colour before you connect it to the computer. No need to go back a firmware version.

Okay, I'll try those two things. Thank you.

[JSWolf]

There is a bug in the current KLC firmware where sometimes the database is not closed properly and when you connect to the computer, the database becomes corrupt.

Rebooting will make sure the database is closed properly. The bug does not seem to be in the previous firmware. But if you sync, you will eventually get the firmware you have now.

[panicattack]

Alright, well.. I tried sideloading some KEPUBs via file explorer on my dad's KLC and the same issue happens but it's 'fixed' once I press sync again. Otherwise the files can be opened normally and be read and interacted with on the device.

So I guess this is just some sort of bug (like it was mentioned in the previous reply in this thread) that I'll have to live with.

To be honest, I don't even remember when was the last time I sideloaded my books before last night, so it's possible this same bug happened to me months ago but I just synced and forgot about it, and then this time.. well yeah. What happened, happened.

At least some things feel a bit clearer now and I feel like I can rest more.

Thank you everyone who replied and for help. It makes me feel better about this whole ordeal.

Now I'll catch you all in the Calibre/plugins subforums because I'd really want to be able to set that up and get it to work with Nickelseries lol.

Cheers.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by panicattack

Now I'll catch you all in the Calibre/plugins subforums because I'd really want to be able to set that up and get it to work with Nickelseries lol.

Cheers.

If you are using calibre, you don't really need NickelSeries. A second connection to calibre once the books have been imported will update the metadata that NickelSeries does and quite a bit that NickelSeries does not handle. I use a USB Connect option in NickelMenu so I do not need to physically unplug between the two connects.

[panicattack]

Originally Posted by DNSB

If you are using calibre, you don't really need NickelSeries. A second connection to calibre once the books have been imported will update the metadata that NickelSeries does and quite a bit that NickelSeries does not handle. I use a USB Connect option in NickelMenu so I do not need to physically unplug between the two connects.

Oh I know! But I'm not that much of a heavy user with Calibre (I keep it simple for myself so for example I don't use collections, and the metadata is just kept to title, author, publisher, short blurb, and series where applicable for example, otherwise if I try to really get into it I overwhelm myself and then end up doing nothing), so I found that NickelSeries with one time connection works for me.

It may be weird haha, but I like it that way.

Thank you though