Kobo Forma database problems

[kobayashi]

Received a new Forma and I believe it's DOA. Powers on fine but only a handful of books will sync from Calibre. Sticks on 6% when updating after ejecting the device. Multiple factory resets have done nothing.

[patrik]

That's typical when a book is bad. Try sending only one book at a time to find the culprit.

I assume you know that the db will be re-created when you logout and in again.

[kobayashi]

Originally Posted by patrik

That's typical when a book is bad. Try sending only one book at a time to find the culprit.

I assume you know that the db will be re-created when you logout and in again.

None of the books are bad though. They all sync perfectly to my KA1.

[bongorash]

I'm having the same problem - managed to load 150 or so books onto the Forma - my next attempt to load some books resulted in it stopping at 6% and then rebooting without loading any of the additional books. Could not then get beyond this 6% mark. Did a factory reset and reloaded some books - worked fine until I tried loading additional books - stuck at 6% and rebooted itself again. Really frustrating, all the books I tried to load worked fine on my Aura One.

[frostschutz]

Hm, how long is it stuck on 6% or how quick is it to reboot itself?

There were issues with sickel in the past that triggered a reboot too quickly even though the device was still working. I think it was about slow thumbnail generation that triggered it, when sickel was first introduced.

If you have telnet on the device, you could kill/disable sickel and check what happens. If truly crashed then you'll have to hold the powerbutton to off / restart or reset.

[kobayashi]

Originally Posted by bongorash

I'm having the same problem - managed to load 150 or so books onto the Forma - my next attempt to load some books resulted in it stopping at 6% and then rebooting without loading any of the additional books. Could not then get beyond this 6% mark. Did a factory reset and reloaded some books - worked fine until I tried loading additional books - stuck at 6% and rebooted itself again. Really frustrating, all the books I tried to load worked fine on my Aura One.

Exactly my experience. Kobo is taking is issuing a prepaid return label. No amount of resets and factory firmwares would change the problem.

Mine would stay at 6% for a couple of seconds and then stop progressing and reboot with one a few books processed. All books were actually on the device but were not recognized because they weren't processed correctly.

[frostschutz]

Not sure if this old hack still works to disable sickel:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...26#post3145026

if it does help - it's not persistent, has to be re-installed with every firmware update

[kobayashi]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Not sure if this old hack still works to disable sickel:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...26#post3145026

if it does help - it's not persistent, has to be re-installed with every firmware update

Thanks for the try but that's not the issue. Still sits at 6% for a few seconds and then takes a dump.

[MGlitch]

Have you tried loading a few books at a time?

I dumped a ton of books on my Forma without issue.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Have you tried loading a few books at a time?

I dumped a ton of books on my Forma without issue.

Since two users are having the same problem — transfer stoppage at 6% — I'm guessing there is some issue with some Formas and specific software.

Curious. Did you dump your books on to your Forma before or after the latest update? (Just stabbing in the dark here.)

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Since two users are having the same problem — transfer stoppage at 6% — I'm guessing there is some issue with some Formas and specific software.

Curious. Did you dump your books on to your Forma before or after the latest update? (Just stabbing in the dark here.)

Two out of how many?

I dumped them in under 4.11.11911

I find it far more likely that two users have one corrupt book somewhere in their collection than they have stumbled upon a bug that has not been reported yet despite numerous vocal posters here having a Forma. It's an easy enough thing to do, toss books over in groups of 50 or so, when you hit a snag send over in smaller and smaller groups until you find the book that's stopping it. If no book is found then it's a device/firmware issue, otherwise it's a bad book.

[frostschutz]

Well, it's a firmware issue either way. If there is a problem with a book, the worst that should happen is a message pop up "sorry, I could not handle book <insert filename here>". If the device hangs and reboots, that makes it a firmware issue by default.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Two out of how many?

I don't know. Two that we know about. I'm guessing there's more.

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I dumped them in under 4.11.11911

So the pre-update firmware? Maybe a bug has been introduced in the newest firmware.

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I find it far more likely that two users have one corrupt book somewhere in their collection than they have stumbled upon a bug that has not been reported yet despite numerous vocal posters here having a Forma. It's an easy enough thing to do, toss books over in groups of 50 or so, when you hit a snag send over in smaller and smaller groups until you find the book that's stopping it. If no book is found then it's a device/firmware issue, otherwise it's a bad book.

I would be more willing to believe this if 1) This didn't happen to both of the users at 6% (which would be a big coincidence) and 2) If both of these users didn't have other Kobo readers where these books are not causing a problem.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I don't know. Two that we know about. I'm guessing there's more.

Again with a fair number of users here who have the Forma and large ebook collections. I literally addressed this counter argument in my initial reply.

So the pre-update firmware? Maybe a bug has been introduced in the newest firmware.

4.11.11911 is the updated firmware. The shipped firmware was 4.9.x something and most affiliates should have automatically gotten that update on Monday the 22nd sometime post noon EST.

I would be more willing to believe this if 1) This didn't happen to both of the users at 6% (which would be a big coincidence) and 2) If both of these users didn't have other Kobo readers where these books are not causing a problem.

I’ve always seen the processing stop at given intervals, 6% being one of them. It’s not like it goes from 1-100 noting each percentage. Yet both of them seem to refuse to perform a simple test which would give us more information. It’s also not clear if they loaded the books on the other device at the same time or right after trying on the Forma. More likely the books were already on the other devices.

I’m not saying it’s impossible but the simpler explanation is each of them has a corrupted book throwing issues. Frostchutz is right that there’s a firmware issue since it should spit an error rather than rebooting. But we have no confirmation on what causes this, an error or a bad file.

And again we could at least narrow it down if either or preferably both would just try the suggested fix. It’s not like we’re suggesting a factory reset for an issue that won’t be resolved by one. The fix is known to have good results in similar situations.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I’ve always seen the processing stop at given intervals, 6% being one of them. It’s not like it goes from 1-100 noting each percentage.

The 6% is the start of the actual import. When the importing screen is first displayed, it will always show 6%. Before that, I believe it is removing any missing books from the database and searching for the books to be added.

Yet both of them seem to refuse to perform a simple test which would give us more information. It’s also not clear if they loaded the books on the other device at the same time or right after trying on the Forma. More likely the books were already on the other devices.

I’m not saying it’s impossible but the simpler explanation is each of them has a corrupted book throwing issues. Frostchutz is right that there’s a firmware issue since it should spit an error rather than rebooting. But we have no confirmation on what causes this, an error or a bad file.

The symptoms do suggest a bad book. Removing the books that aren't processed and adding a different set to see what happens is what I would do.

Saying these books work on another device is only valid if that other device is running the same firmware. Both people with the problem mention an Aura ONE. Unless they have manually updated these to 4.11.11911, then it isn't a completely valid comparison. It could be a useful data point in case Kobo changed something in the book importing process. That could help Kobo determine what the problem is. Having said that, I can state that I haven't seen any differences in the importing on any of my devices running 4.11.11911. That doesn't include an Aura ONE, but the firmware is, or has been running on all my devices (I put one back to an older firmware to test something). Of course, that would also need me to have a book that triggers problems and add was sent to the device with this firmware.

The other thing this sounds like is a hardware issue. If this was an older device with an internal SD card, I'd be suggesting that the card should be replaced. For the Forma, if the internal storage is failing, the only choice is to replace the whole device. I've no idea of a real way to prove this. But, if several factory resets and loading different sets of books on the device keep failing, it is probably bad hardware.