Glo Kobo help please

[ilovereading.com]

Hi all

I have an original Kobo Glo which still reads fine but the USB port (although still charges) doesn't connect to my laptop. Because of this I have had to mess around with the device a number of times in the last year or so to get my books sideloaded from calibre. Sometimes I use the extra SD card but this can be tempremental and other times I use the Calibre Content Server feature but this is a lot more long winded than it should be (see below)...

1. Is it possible to get a shortcut to the web browser on my home page (like I used to have a number of updates ago)? and
   
2. How do I set a homepage on the web browser (so I can set it to my calibre content server ip address also like I used to have)? When I set this originally, the option to set homepage I think was quite obvious but this just seems to have disappeared off the screen now.

I don't use the browser for any other purpose as it really is just too slow and draggy.

Any ideas are welcome.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ilovereading.com

Sometimes I use the extra SD card but this can be tempremental

I have never had any real issues with the external SD card in my Glo. About the only problem is that I sometime manage to insert it so that it doesn't stay in.

and other times I use the Calibre Content Server feature but this is a lot more long winded than it should be (see below)...
[LIST=1][*]Is it possible to get a shortcut to the web browser on my home page (like I used to have a number of updates ago)? and

Not with the current home screen.

[*]How do I set a homepage on the web browser (so I can set it to my calibre content server ip address also like I used to have)? When I set this originally, the option to set homepage I think was quite obvious but this just seems to have disappeared off the screen now.

In the browser, tap the three dots in the bottom right corner to see the menu. The last item "Set Page as Home".

[RobertJSawyer]

Some people have had trouble connecting their Kobos via USB to Surface tablets; the solution there is to connect a USB hub to the tablet and the Kobo to the hub. You might try something similar with your laptop and see if that solves that problem.

[Liesse]

I had the same problem with my glo original. The USB port just flat out broke just shy of two years after I bought it.

I ended up getting a H2o to replace it. Fingers crosses that seems more robust and is still going strong.

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

[ilovereading.com]

Originally Posted by davidfor

... In the browser, tap the three dots in the bottom right corner to see the menu. The last item "Set Page as Home".

I thought this might be it, but when I tap there it does nothing. SO frustrating.

[ilovereading.com]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Some people have had trouble connecting their Kobos via USB to Surface tablets; the solution there is to connect a USB hub to the tablet and the Kobo to the hub. You might try something similar with your laptop and see if that solves that problem.

That sounds odd but I'll try a get hold of a chep one to see if it works for me.

[ilovereading.com]

Originally Posted by Liesse

I had the same problem with my glo original. The USB port just flat out broke just shy of two years after I bought it.

I ended up getting a H2o to replace it. Fingers crosses that seems more robust and is still going strong.

Sent from my MI 5s using Tapatalk

I know that I'll end up with a new one eventually, just can't afford to yet. And it's so hard to make the descision to scrap it as it does hold books and lets me read... but I suppose it may be of some use to someone for parts at that point.

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ilovereading.com

I thought this might be it, but when I tap there it does nothing. SO frustrating.

What do you mean by "nothing"? No menu or no option to set the home screen? Do the other controls work? Does the menu open when you try to open the menu from the same place when reading?

[ilovereading.com]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What do you mean by "nothing"? No menu or no option to set the home screen? Do the other controls work? Does the menu open when you try to open the menu from the same place when reading?

A belated hi again... and I mean literally nothing, nada, no menu pops up, no error message, nothing. It's like the device doesn't know those dots are there, let alone as a menu option. Everything else touch wise is fine even in the same place on the device ie, reading options, text options, viewing chapters. The backlight, the screen swipes when it should, I can input and delete text where I should etc. Again it's SO frustrating, when the reading function still works but other vital functions don't grrrrrr.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ilovereading.com

A belated hi again... and I mean literally nothing, nada, no menu pops up, no error message, nothing. It's like the device doesn't know those dots are there, let alone as a menu option. Everything else touch wise is fine even in the same place on the device ie, reading options, text options, viewing chapters. The backlight, the screen swipes when it should, I can input and delete text where I should etc. Again it's SO frustrating, when the reading function still works but other vital functions don't grrrrrr.

That's weird. I haven't heard of something like that before. My two thoughts to try and fix it are:

Firstly, open the config file and remove the browser sections. These are the sections starting with "[BROWSER_FAVOURITES_GROUP]" and "[Browser]".

The other is to manually reinstall the firmware. This is just in case something weird happened during the last firmware upgrade and some file wasn't replace. It shouldn't work, but has solved weird problems for other people.

If this doesn't work, this is the home page setting line from the browser section from config file.

[Browser]
homePage=http://10.1.225.111/mobile

That sets the home page to my calibre library. Adding the homepage line to your config file should at least open it to something other than google.

[ilovereading.com]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That's weird. I haven't heard of something like that before. My two thoughts to try and fix it are:

Firstly, open the config file and remove the browser sections. These are the sections starting with "[BROWSER_FAVOURITES_GROUP]" and "[Browser]".

The other is to manually reinstall the firmware. This is just in case something weird happened during the last firmware upgrade and some file wasn't replace. It shouldn't work, but has solved weird problems for other people.

If this doesn't work, this is the home page setting line from the browser section from config file.

[Browser]
homePage=http://10.1.225.111/mobile

That sets the home page to my calibre library. Adding the homepage line to your config file should at least open it to something other than google.

It's bloody frustrating is what it is!

Where do I find the config file? How do I manually reinstall the firmware? Do you mean on the device or the laptop? How do I do this without being able to hook it up to my laptop?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ilovereading.com

It's bloody frustrating is what it is!

Where do I find the config file? How do I manually reinstall the firmware? Do you mean on the device or the laptop? How do I do this without being able to hook it up to my laptop?

To find the config file, connect your Kobo to your PC (whatever flavour) and look for a directory in the root of the exposed partition named .kobo (if you are using a Linux or Mac computer, the leading '.' makes the directory hidden so you will have to jump through the appropriate hoop to make it visible). Inside the .kobo directory, you will see a Kobo directory. Inside the Kobo directory, you'll see a file called "Kobo eReader.conf" (without the quotes). Edit the file with an editor that respects Linux end of line (I use Notepad++ on my Windows box, for Linux or Mac, any text editor should work)

To manually reinstall the firmware, check the Kobo Firmware Releases wiki. Locate the release you want and download the correct version for your Kobo. Open the .zip file (I use 7-Zip on my Windows box), copy the two files and one directory into the .kobo directory and then safely eject/remove the Kobo. After a few seconds, if all is done right, it will go into it's firmware update.

And as you said, if you can't connect to your laptop, it's going to be a pain. Have you tried connecting to another computer? And likely very little chance you have installed an SSH package. Have you tried using USBDeview v2.75 ? You can use it to remove Unknown Devices (right click and run as administrator) and then retry connecting your Kobo.

If the WiFi is working, you can do a factory reset and as part of the post-reset setup, the latest firmware Kobo servers think (using think very loosely) should be on your ereader will be downloaded and installed.