Refurb Kobo wifi dud?

[catsknit]

I've been using a Sony 650 for almost 2 yrs and love it. Last fall Kobo was offering refurbished Kobo wifis (not touch) very cheap and I bought one, figuring to have it as a backup or for the kids to use. When it came, I plugged it in for a few minutes to verify it worked and then put it away. Now, about 4 months later my son decided to use it. Nothing but problems so far.

1)I've charged the reader overnight more than once, and each day it drains completely, despite my son only reading 15-20 pages on it.

2)It came with the 400 free books. When I connected it to Calibre, to add some of my books to it for ds, that worked fine. Then, I viewed the books on the reader, through Calibre, and tried pulling some of them onto the computer, not realizing it's all one database, not individual epubs. Of course, the "files" were nonsense in Calibre. But, the next time I turned on the Kobo, all the books were gone! It's no big deal b/c they're all public domain and I'm sure i could find the ones I'd tried to transfer anyway, but I'm just wondering what's going on with the database.

3)After that happened, the books I'd transferred using ADE (library books) for him, were there but would no longer open, even though I'd authorized the Kobo, etc. I was able to just re-send them again, though, and that's been fine.

I'm trying to see if there is a firmware update this reader needs, but the only thing I see on the Kobo site is to download the various apps (mobile, desktop etc) so I'm trying to download the desktop app to sync the Kobo and right now for some reason I can't even get the software to download.

Obviously, it's too late to return this reader so any help would be great, but also wondering if other refurb owners have had problems like this. Thanks!

[digiSara]

The Kobo Wifi is on firmware 1.9. It should prompt you to update either when you connect to the desktop, or if you sync using the wifi.

You can check your firmware under the Menu button and then Settings.

If you are having issues (and if you want your free books back), also under Settings under Advanced, you can do a Factory Reset. You'll have to reload any other books back on, but it should solve your other issues, and should reload your 100 free books.

[catsknit]

Thanks, I was finally able to download the desktop app and sync to update the firmware. That software is annoying, though; only the store and library tabs will open, not the one labeled reader, so I can't use it to delete books off the Kobo (it started syncing automatically and put a couple of my books on there - I've been buying from Kobo all year even though I have a Sony - better prices). I had to go into Calibre to get those books off.
I don't care about the free books so I haven't decided whether a factory re-set is worth doing. I don't suppose it would change how the battery drains, would it?

[digiSara]

When you charge the battery, does the light change from red (or reddish-blueish) to blue? Are you using the cable from Kobo, or another cable? It shouldn't be draining as quickly as you say, so I wonder if it's actually charging properly?

Try using the cable from Kobo, just to eliminate any other issues. It needs to charge about 3 hours to get to the blue light.

If it's not lasting more than a day after that, I would contact Kobo and try to get a replacement.

[catsknit]

It does turn from red to blue when charged, and the indicator on the menu screen says it's charged fully. I've used another USB cable I had from an mp3 player, and also a wall charger from an mp3 player; haven't actually used the Kobo-provided cable but I will try that just in case.
I don't think they'll replace it since it was refurbished and I bought in Nov or Dec. Usually refurbs have very short warranties, but I guess I can try, nothing to lose if the correct cable doesn't do it. Thanks.

[filmo]

I have 2 Kobo Wifi and they are not picky about charging cables I have used cable that came with reader and cables that came with portable hard drives. I have used 2 different cell phone chargers that plug into 110V AC outlet and chargers that plug into 12V car power outlet.

Let it charge even after light changes 1 or 2 hours to make sure it has good charge at first.

If you are not subscribed to news papers turn off auto down load.

If your not going use your e-reader turn it off with long press on power button. You then need long press to turn it back on. I don't use auto turn off reader as it seemed to be always off when I wanted to read again after I was distracted. Turning device on again and updating data base can waste power if your doing that a lot. Battery lasts much longer when device is off not in standby mode. I know this well because it was a few weeks before I learned how to turn it off.

[catsknit]

Thanks, I haven't tried the original cable yet but it's holding a charge now that I updated the firmware - wasn't expecting that to make a difference but something changed. So far so good. I will check on the auto-download - that might be on. Son has it at school right now.

[pokee]

I bought one of those, and mine has been fine...so far. My refurb was white and came with a white cable and I've always used that cable for charging...but I think it's the same cable as my first WiFi. Good luck - I hope the update and charging with the original cable solves your problem.

[catsknit]

So far so good. It's now been 4 days since the last charge and ds has read on it every day - it's showing about halfway charged on the meter (not sure how accurate that image is since it's so tiny) but even if it doesn't go the 2 weeks they claim, this is much better than before the firmware update.