Glo How to revive my 2014 Kobo Glo?

[cakepuller]

Trying my luck to see if anyone here knows how to revive my 2014 Kobo Glo.

• Last night (in the dark), I inadvertently pressed some buttons on the Glo and it went into RESET mode. (Doh!)
• It showed the "RESTORING..." message before ending up prompting me to plug in my Kobo Glo into the computer for setup.
• My USB port is dead so I can't plug in, so I turn to WIRELESS setup instead. (I mean it's dead for data connections but charging is fine.)
• Kobo Glo scans and finds my wifi.
• Kobo Glo connects successfully after I enter the password.
• Kobo Glo says something like "Please wait while we update your ereader... Checking for updates...". This message shows for only 1 second before saying "NETWORK ERROR. Oops something happened to your internet connection and we couldn't finish our update. Please check your connection and try again."
• But I'm 100% sure there's nothing wrong with my network as all other devices can access the net just fine. So the error message above is totally baffling. Can't be a Kobo wifi module fault because it could detect the router and connect successfully.
• I even tried entering a wrong Wifi password and Kobo Glo did say it couldn't connect. With the correct password, Kobo said "Successfully connected".
• I did the above about a million times (okay, maybe 6 times) with the same result.
• I followed the procedure from here: https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017605274

What are my options (other than a funeral for my Kobo)? Is there another lesser known trick I can use to reset it successfully? One would think a factory reset shouldn't require any network connection.

My firmware is 4.something (updated maybe in Jan 2020). I can't remember the exact version and can't check...

[davidfor]

It sounds like you managed to do a full factory reset. That means that the device is back to the stock firmware it left the factory in. Which is probably the problem.

Early last year, Kobo had to remove support on their servers for older security protocols. This is because they are no longer considered secure. The problem with this is that the older firmware only has support for these protocols, not the newer ones that Kobo still supports. And it means that for the older devices, when they are factory reset, they cannot connect to Kobo's servers over WiFi to do the setup.

Kobo still supports these devices using the desktop application, so it is normally possible to do the setup that way. Or, to manually install an updated firmware before doing the setup. Unfortunately, both of these need a working USB port.

You could try to take the SD card out and put the firmware update on the card directly. If you use a MAC or Linux, this will be fairly easy. Either of these will allow you to mount the books partition and access it. Windows is a problem. It doesn't like removable media with multiple partitions on it. I don't know if there is a way to mount the partition that allows you to update it. You can use a Linux live boot USB stick to run Linux and use that to access the card.

[Elektron]

Maybe a full sd image

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Elektron

Maybe a full sd image

Any images available are taken after a factory reset. So, exactly the same status as @cakepuller's device is in.

[Elektron]

Ah.
...That could be a problem.
Maybe the recovery partition got corrupted?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Elektron

Ah.
...That could be a problem.
Maybe the recovery partition got corrupted?

I would suggest that you read all of my post.

[meeera]

My first question is how do you know your USB port is dead for data transfer? Have you tried other cables?

[cakepuller]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It sounds like you managed to do a full factory reset. That means that the device is back to the stock firmware it left the factory in. Which is probably the problem.
...
Early last year, Kobo had to remove support on their servers for older security protocols. This is because they are no longer considered secure. The problem with this is that the older firmware only has support for these protocols, not the newer ones that Kobo still supports. And it means that for the older devices, when they are factory reset, they cannot connect to Kobo's servers over WiFi to do the setup.

Kobo still supports these devices using the desktop application, so it is normally possible to do the setup that way. Or, to manually install an updated firmware before doing the setup. Unfortunately, both of these need a working USB port.

You could try to take the SD card out and put the firmware update on the card directly. If you use a MAC or Linux, this will be fairly easy. Either of these will allow you to mount the books partition and access it. Windows is a problem. It doesn't like removable media with multiple partitions on it. I don't know if there is a way to mount the partition that allows you to update it. You can use a Linux live boot USB stick to run Linux and use that to access the card.

Many thanks, Davidfor, for the useful info and excellent suggestions.
Perversely, this sounds exciting to me, having to pry open my Kobo Glo, for the first time. But first, to find a microSD card reader/adapter, and a Linux OS...

(meeera, my usb port for data is dead for sure. See https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ght=cakepuller)

[Elektron]

I have just tried with a Chromebok, looks like they can also read all partitions.

[MustardOrMayo]

Originally Posted by cakepuller

My USB port is dead so I can't plug in, so I turn to WIRELESS setup instead. (I mean it's dead for data connections but charging is fine.)

Did you try using a different USB cable?

I accidentally reset my first Aura when I got it, and thought the USB port was dead for data connections, until I tried a different USB cable, then it turned out that the first cable I tried had damaged data lines.

[Sunham]

Hello,

I encounter the exact same problem, same device.

The Kobo Glo image shared by some from Sydney did not help. I think maybe because :

Originally Posted by davidfor

Any images available are taken after a factory reset..

So, Before that, I tried to put the (latest) firmware* in the original SD Card (with yellow dot, 4GB) Using Linux. At that point in time I could access the partitions of the SD Card on the computer. (Not any more)

anyway, it did not work

So I did flash another SD Card with the given image, and the problem was the same.
But the original SD Card is not recognized any more ?

The Kobo Desktop App doesn't see the e-reader, whether in Linux or in Windows for that matter.

I would like to try with a earlier update, from 2012 (as the time showed in the setup is 2012) ..but I cannot access either SD Card now.

Could someone help me ? Or does anyone have suggestions ?
Would be much appreciated.

[Sunham]

Actually I could access the new SD Card on Windows. So I put a 2013 firmware (2.5.0) on it (instead of latest 4.x.) Like this :

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...81&postcount=3

And it updated !

Also, still does not work (but message changed, and I am not asked to setup the date, time area, and time)

Going for the next firmware (and the next, and the next ...)

I skipped a few and by 3.8.0 it connected to wifi, set the correct time/date by itself and FINALLY prepared an (automatic) update OVER Wifi. So I am quite hopeful.

Change in Looks is consequent, and I liked the first version of keyboard more..

Now I am at an unknow Version (due to previous automated update), where no Wifi are detected. None. Shit.

Tried again. Until Version 4.13.x worked (from 4/2/2019) which kind of make sense now.

Early last year, Kobo had to remove support on their servers for older security protocols. This is because they are no longer considered secure. The problem with this is that the older firmware only has support for these protocols, not the newer ones that Kobo still supports. And it means that for the older devices, when they are factory reset, they cannot connect to Kobo's servers over WiFi to do the setup

(written on 09-15-2020)