Kobo database version not supported

[RonaldP]

I just today got a notification from Kobo that I needed to upgrade the version as in future most features won't be supported. So I decided not to wait until the last moment and did that today. Successfully. Most recent version is installed on the Kobo Aura I use.

I noted from the desktop Kobo app that I was woefully short of memory, and probably won't be able to add any new books. So I fired up Calibre and selected a bunch of high-size items and tried to delete from device. No dice.

The error message was to the effect that the current Calibre version didn't support the current Kobo database version. So I upgraded the Calibre version to the current one. Still no dice. Still reporting that it can't delete items because the database version on the Kobo was not supported.

Current Kobo Version is 4.35.20400. Current Calibre version is 6.15.1

Presumably I'll have to wait for a new version of Calibre, right? When might that happen?

R.

[theducks]

Your message is woefully thin
What version of Calibre? On what OS?
(latest Calibre knows about newer FW. This is an issue for those stuck on old OS that can't run newer Calibre)

Aura1 or Aura2? Is the Aura FW updated? In Calibre, the driver has a tickbox to 'support newer FW'. in most cases this works (but updating is still the best)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RonaldP

I just today got a notification from Kobo that I needed to upgrade the version as in future most features won't be supported. So I decided not to wait until the last moment and did that today. Successfully. Most recent version is installed on the Kobo Aura I use.

I noted from the desktop Kobo app that I was woefully short of memory, and probably won't be able to add any new books. So I fired up Calibre and selected a bunch of high-size items and tried to delete from device. No dice.

The error message was to the effect that the current Calibre version didn't support the current Kobo database version. So I upgraded the Calibre version to the current one. Still no dice. Still reporting that it can't delete items because the database version on the Kobo was not supported.

Current Kobo Version is 4.35.20400. Current Calibre version is 6.15.1

Presumably I'll have to wait for a new version of Calibre, right? When might that happen?

R.

4.35.20400 is supported by Calibre 6.15.1. If you are using the KoboTouchExtended go to the Metadata tab and check Attempt to support newer firmware.

If you are using the KoboTouch driver, same thing.

[kovidgoyal]

calibre 6.15 supports firmware upto 4.35.20400 so you cant be getting that error if you are actually running 6.15

[arantar05]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre 6.15 supports firmware upto 4.35.20400 so you cant be getting that error if you are actually running 6.15

Hi, I get kobo elipsa 2e today
It force update to new version
Current Kobo Version is 4.36.21095
Current Calibre version is 6.15.1

It can't connect device now : (

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by arantar05

Current Kobo Version is 4.36.21095
Current Calibre version is 6.15.1

It can't connect device now : (

Follow @JSWolf's advice in his message.

[innerspaced]

Morning all. I also have Elipsa 2e running latest firmware. Thank you for update to calibre, elipsa now connects. However after following advice above I’m still having issues with database not supported and calibre having trouble connecting to device when transferring books

[innerspaced]

quick follow up i changed driver in kobo utilities to kobotouch, whilst i still get unsupported database i am able to download my library to elipsa.cheers chaps

[kovidgoyal]

Somebody with an elipsa is going to need to check the database version it uses and submit a patch for the kobo driver. I cant do that without access to the hardware.

[RonaldP]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre 6.15 supports firmware upto 4.35.20400 so you cant be getting that error if you are actually running 6.15

I was indeed running 6.15, as well as the current Kobo software, and got the message I said, despite what Kovid said. But today I saw that there was a new version of Calibre, 6.16, and thought that would solve the problem.

Sadly not. I am unable to do things like delete books from my device from Calibre, anything that involves the database. Please see the attached screenshot.

Ron

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by RonaldP

I was indeed running 6.15, as well as the current Kobo software, and got the message I said, despite what Kovid said. But today I saw that there was a new version of Calibre, 6.16, and thought that would solve the problem.

Sadly not. I am unable to do things like delete books from my device from Calibre, anything that involves the database. Please see the attached screenshot.

Ron

Follow the advice given in the popup whose image you posted. Go into the configuration for the KoboTouch and/or KoboTouchExtended driver and under the Metadata tab, click on the Attempt to support newer firmware. In my testing, I have not found any issues with doing this with an Elipsa 2E

As to how/why you are getting this error with 4.35.20400 is a rather interesting question unless there has been an regression error in calibre.

Edit: I took a look at four of my Kobo's that are running 4.34.20400 and in their KoboReader.sqlite databases, the DbVersion was shown as 171 while @RonaldP shows his system as reporting 174.

[kovidgoyal]

I could bump the version number to 174 in the driver, but I have no way of knowing if there are actual changes in the database that could break things. Ideally someone with this firmware needs to test things thoroughly with the attempt to support newer firmware option enabled.

Since @DNSB says things seem to work, I will go ahead and bump it for the next calibre release.

[DNSB]

Actually, this is getting very odd. I updated my Clara HD to 4.36.21095 and the database version was bumped to 174. I then downgraded to 4.35.20400 and, as expected, the database version remained at 174. This leaves me wondering if @RonaldP manually updated to 4.36.21095 and then downgraded to 4.35.20400.

Kovid: please bump the version number in the driver since @PeterT hasn't been around MobileRead for quite a while.

[JDesat]

Not sure if this will help at all, but since the topic is still being discussed...

I've had a couple issues with books being slow to load in the last few weeks, and I saw the Calibre update today that mentioned new firmware for the new Kobo device. I wondered if my firmware might need to be updated, so loaded the Kobo desktop app (with Calibre not running). The Kobo app was having issues and giving me a '500 error' and wasn't connecting to either the Kobo store or the Kobo device properly. Because of this I downloaded and manually installed the 4.35.20400 firmware that the site says was released in December 2022 (until that point I had been running 4.33.19759 that the site says is from July).

Long story short, after letting the Kobo update, I connected it to my laptop again with Calibre running, and while the device was detected fine, I got the same error RonaldP mentions. Checking 'Attempt to support newer firmware' worked with no problems though. I was able to remove and send books to the Kobo fine and everything works. I'm not sure about the database version number mentioned in some earlier posts since I don't know how to check that, but I just wanted to let you know that it has worked fine for me, so I think the bump mentioned would be safe enough. Of course, while I'm not computer illiterate, I am not very tech focused myself, so I could be completely wrong.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JDesat

Not sure if this will help at all, but since the topic is still being discussed...

The database version would be in the error message that popped up.

This is getting very interesting (for certain values of interesting ) since none of my devices on 4.35.20400 are showing 174 as the database version yet we now have at least two cases where that has been the case after a recent update to 4.35.20400. There would probably be more cases except for the probability that quite a few people have checked Attempt to support newer firmware and never unchecked it.