Kobo Glo HD stuck on white screen with black flashing

[aaton]

Hello,

I haven't used my Kobo Glo HD (2015) in quite some time. I've charged it and tried to turn it back on. But it doesn't work : the screen stays white.

I tried powering it on / off with the main button, it turns up a red light on the button then the screen has two black flashs then stays white.

I tried manual reset with the paper clip : same two black flashs.

When I connect it to a wall charger it sometimes does the two black flashs.

How can I solve this ?

I read this thread ( https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=300044 ) but I don't understand the "tap the corners" method and couldn't find any more information about it.

Thanks a lot for your help.

[NiMa]

Originally Posted by aaton

Hello,

I haven't used my Kobo Glo HD (2015) in quite some time. I've charged it and tried to turn it back on. But it doesn't work : the screen stays white.

I tried powering it on / off with the main button, it turns up a red light on the button then the screen has two black flashs then stays white.

I tried manual reset with the paper clip : same two black flashs.

When I connect it to a wall charger it sometimes does the two black flashs.

How can I solve this ?

I read this thread ( https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=300044 ) but I don't understand the "tap the corners" method and couldn't find any more information about it.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Reimage the SD card. Probably the best way to bring it back to life.
EDIT: if you try to plug it in, does the red light show up? Does it blink?

[aaton]

Originally Posted by NiMa

Reimage the SD card. Probably the best way to bring it back to life.
EDIT: if you try to plug it in, does the red light show up? Does it blink?

Ah too bad. I need to follow the instructions on this thread right ? https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=209122

Thanks

[aaton]

Originally Posted by NiMa

Reimage the SD card. Probably the best way to bring it back to life.
EDIT: if you try to plug it in, does the red light show up? Does it blink?

I had trouble with the micro USB charger for quite some time (common issue with this item) so I need to hold the cable in a certain position for the reader to charge. I check it with a powerbank. But I don't believe the red light shows up when I plug the cable to the powerbank. Would it be a good sign?

[davidfor]

@aaton: The "tap the corners" method is a way to do a factory reset. The instructions are at https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kob...ing_squares.22.

Leave it charging for a while. And also try to start it while connected to power. Depending on how long since it was used and charged, the battery might be dead.

Otherwise the reimaging the card is what is needed. I have sent you a PM with the link.

[NiMa]

Originally Posted by aaton

I had trouble with the micro USB charger for quite some time (common issue with this item) so I need to hold the cable in a certain position for the reader to charge. I check it with a powerbank. But I don't believe the red light shows up when I plug the cable to the powerbank. Would it be a good sign?

Is it powered on? If so, power it off and retry. The light should show up if powered off. If not, read what I wrote below.
Hmm I don't think so. Let me check... No, it's not good I think. I removed the internal SD card and the red light still shows up when pluggin in the cable.
Power issue I think. Maybe the battery holds enough power to refresh the screen but then the Kobo shuts down because it doesn't have enough.
Try again with the charger and be gentle with the Micro-USB port, things like that can only get worse (and I talk from experience)

good luck!
(also, the link you provided was for the Glo, not the Glo HD. You should check for the Glo HD. But essentially, it's not that difficult. You remove the cover with a knife or something thin, and there you are, with access to the SD card)

[aaton]

Originally Posted by davidfor

@aaton: The "tap the corners" method is a way to do a factory reset. The instructions are at https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kob...ing_squares.22.

Leave it charging for a while. And also try to start it while connected to power. Depending on how long since it was used and charged, the battery might be dead.

Otherwise the reimaging the card is what is needed. I have sent you a PM with the link.

I've charged it for around 10 hours using a 10000 mAH powerbank - which lost 37% of its capacity. I've tried a reset, red light turned on, two black flashes and now the red light is on but the screen stays white. If I press the power button, it shuts down the red light. If I press again the power button for a few secondes, the red light turns on but only for a second and there are no black flashs.

Originally Posted by NiMa

Is it powered on? If so, power it off and retry. The light should show up if powered off. If not, read what I wrote below.
Hmm I don't think so. Let me check... No, it's not good I think. I removed the internal SD card and the red light still shows up when pluggin in the cable.
Power issue I think. Maybe the battery holds enough power to refresh the screen but then the Kobo shuts down because it doesn't have enough.
Try again with the charger and be gentle with the Micro-USB port, things like that can only get worse (and I talk from experience)

good luck!
(also, the link you provided was for the Glo, not the Glo HD. You should check for the Glo HD. But essentially, it's not that difficult. You remove the cover with a knife or something thin, and there you are, with access to the SD card)

Ok I just removed the cover, I'll trying reimaging the card and update.

Could I change the battery with some cheap one found on Aliexpress ? (I might want to change the Micro USB one day too...)

Thanks to you both

[aaton]

Well I followed the instructions here ( https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=209122 ) and put a new microSD 32Gb and it worked :-)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by aaton

Well I followed the instructions here ( https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=209122 ) and put a new microSD 32Gb and it worked :-)

Congratulations on reviving your Glo HD and upping the storage.

[aaton]

It isn't fully revived yet !
I have the language screen but the WiFi setup doesn't work (I can connect to several networks, get the correct time but then it shows an error message) neither does the Kobo Desktop setup (device isn't recognized by my PC), it stays on the black screen with kobosetup.com laptop

[NiMa]

Originally Posted by aaton

It isn't fully revived yet !
I have the language screen but the WiFi setup doesn't work (I can connect to several networks, get the correct time but then it shows an error message) neither does the Kobo Desktop setup (device isn't recognized by my PC), it stays on the black screen with kobosetup.com laptop

https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/30/kobo-rego.html
This will solve your problem. It is for the Clara but it works also on my Glo HD with the stock firmware. If you don't absolutely need WiFi, it is perfectly usable when you sideload your ePubs/kePubs books in the device via USB.

[aaton]

Originally Posted by NiMa

https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/30/kobo-rego.html
This will solve your problem. It is for the Clara but it works also on my Glo HD with the stock firmware. If you don't absolutely need WiFi, it is perfectly usable when you sideload your ePubs/kePubs books in the device via USB.

Thank you. I found another workaround. I updated to the latest firmware (found here https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html)

Now it can connect to WiFi.

I'm stuck with the faulty micro-USB port though : it can charge ok but it requires to be put in a certain position. But I can't connect it to my Windows 10 PC : it just doesn't show up in Calibre or in the devices... It says "connected and charging" but that's all. If I disconnect the cable from the PC, it goes back to the home screen. I tried several USB cables, rebooting the ereader or the PC but so far no luck. I had the issue before the white screen problem. Is there any way to sync my Calibre library with the Glo HD through WiFi ?

[NiMa]

Originally Posted by aaton

Thank you. I found another workaround. I updated to the latest firmware (found here https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html)

Now it can connect to WiFi.

I'm stuck with the faulty micro-USB port though : it can charge ok but it requires to be put in a certain position. But I can't connect it to my Windows 10 PC : it just doesn't show up in Calibre or in the devices... It says "connected and charging" but that's all. If I disconnect the cable from the PC, it goes back to the home screen. I tried several USB cables, rebooting the ereader or the PC but so far no luck. I had the issue before the white screen problem. Is there any way to sync my Calibre library with the Glo HD through WiFi ?

But... how did you manage to upgrade the firmware if it couldn't show up in your PC? You did the upgrade manually after extracting the SD card from the Kobo, I guess...?
For books management, you could install this on your Kobo and SSH on it with PuTTY (if you're running Windows). You could then transfer files on it with SCP and read books again on your Kobo.
Otherwise, you could (that takes a longer time though) open your Kobo and transplant the books directly on the KOBOeReader partition. Or, set up an HTTP server to get the books from your Kobo's web browser.

Good luck

[Fionn]

I've got the same problem and it seems reimaging the card worked for the OP. Any chance of the same DM? Thanks in advance.

[DNSB]

If you want a firmware image, please request it in the Kobo µSD Card Image Requests thread.