Kobo hanging after factory reset

[paieye]

A few days ago, my Kobo Touch started going back to the beginning of the page that I had just read (I do mean page, not screen) after I had been reading for a few minutes.

I tried putting the KT to sleep, then I tried closing it down and re-starting it, then I tried doing a paper-clip reset. All of these produced some minor improvement for a time, but then the KT went back to its old tricks.

I therefore carried out a factory reset The situation is now far worse. The KT still goes back to the beginning of the page, exactly as it did before, but now it is no longer possible to put it to sleep. On top of that, when I try to close it down, nothing happens until I have held the switch for about 45 seconds, when the screen goes blank, then, without any intervening display, displays the smiley face that shows that the KT is being restarted.

As before the factory re-set, the KT then works properly for a few pages, but then goes back to its old tricks.

Can any kind person advise me how to rectify this ?

[tshering]

Maybe this problem is related to something in your book. Did this happen with several books? Or only with one?

[paieye]

It seems to be affecting a particular book, which is an ePub that I downloaded, and then uploaded to the KT using Calibre, which I use for all uploading.

[taming]

If it is a particular book, it is generally a problem with that book, rather than with the device. You could start with deleting the book from your reader and maybe try uploading it again. There are problematic books out there. Folks sometimes can fix the problems using Sigil or the Calibre editing functions.

[paieye]

I have deleted and re-installed the book, and shall report my results. Thank you.

[PeterT]

You might also want to try using the OTHER Kobo driver / reading engine (ie if you normally use the basic Kobo Touch driver, try Kobo Extended driver, or if you normally use Kobo Extended, try the base Kobo Touch driver).

[paieye]

Deleting and re-installing the book seems not to have cured the trouble, but I shall persevere and report back. Many thanks.

[paieye]

I found a thread just now among the innumerable ones about the Kobo's tendency to freeze, which suggested disabling Wi-fi in the settings as a cure for this malady.

I may be speaking too soon, but I have disabled Wi-fi, and my KT appears to be reading the book that gave all of the trouble with no difficulty at all -- the freezing has stopped completely.

My thanks to you all.

[TechniSol]

Well, that seems odd, but then I've always disabled WiFi after a sync to stretch battery life anyway.

[paieye]

It is odder even than one might think. Yes, disabling wi-fi seems to have cured the trouble with the original book, but I am now getting the very same trouble with a different book.

I have sent Kobo a help-request, but am not optimistic...

[davidfor]

Having WiFi enabled shouldn't affect a sideloaded book. It could affect a downloaded kepub as the device syncs the status to the server at particular points.

So what is happening is that you are reading a book, when you finish a screen of text, you tap the screen and another screen is displayed. You keep doing this but after a few screens it returns to the first screen worth of text. And that screen is the first screen for a particular page number. Is that correct?

I can't think of a reason, just some questions:

• Can you break out of the cycle?
• Does using the navigation bar to step a screen forward help?
• What about swiping instead of tapping?
• What happens if you page backwards?
• What happens if you close and reopen the book on
• Are you using the extended driver in calibre?
• Have you checked them with epubcheck or another validater?
• What firmware version? You said you have done a factory reset, so I should be 3.0.1. Or are you using something else?

I don't know if any of that will help, but hopefully it will get us thinking.

[paieye]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Having WiFi enabled shouldn't affect a sideloaded book. It could affect a downloaded kepub as the device syncs the status to the server at particular points.

So what is happening is that you are reading a book, when you finish a screen of text, you tap the screen and another screen is displayed. You keep doing this but after a few screens it returns to the first screen worth of text. And that screen is the first screen for a particular page number. Is that correct?

That is what happens sometimes, Yes. Another version is that I can read several pages -- each page a number of screens, of course -- and then the KT freezes.

Originally Posted by davidfor

I can't think of a reason, just some questions:

• Can you break out of the cycle?

No, when this happens, the KT ignores touching the screen, pressing the navigation-bar or moving the sliding switch to put the KT to sleep. I am obliged to hold the sliding switch to 'Off' until the KT restarts.

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]Does using the navigation bar to step a screen forward help?

See last above.

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]What about swiping instead of tapping?

I always swipe, as tapping seems not to work for me.

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]What happens if you page backwards?

See earlier answer

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]What happens if you close and reopen the book on

See earlier answer

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]Are you using the extended driver in calibre?

I do not know -- how can I check that ?

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]Have you checked them with epubcheck or another validater?

No, how might I do that ?

Originally Posted by davidfor

[*]What firmware version? You said you have done a factory reset, so I should be 3.0.1. Or are you using something else?

I am using 3.0.1.

I have just discovered that, if when the KT freezes, I leave it for a minute or so without touching it, it will unfreeze.

I am beginning to wonder whether I ought to do another factory re-set.

Thank you.

[tshering]

Originally Posted by paieye

I am beginning to wonder whether I ought to do another factory re-set.

I would rather give more attention to the book itself. To me it seems that your reader needs a lot of processing time for this one book, that makes it unresponsive and might even lead to failures. And having wifi running gives even more stress. You can check with http://validator.idpf.org/ whether your epub is well formed. Huge html files inside of the epub file (you can treat it like a zip file, actually it is one) could also be a reason for stress. You might also try a epub to epub conversion with calibre.

[paieye]

I have just now run Validator, which reports 2 warnings and some 30-odd errors. This leaves me not much the wiser, as I have no means of knowing what error-level may be tolerated.

I do not know how to try an ePUb-to-ePub conversion with Calibre -- can you advise.

Thank you.

[tshering]

I never tried to convert a malformed epub with calibre myself. I am only guessing that it can repair some sorts of errors, and cannot some others. Having this said, here is how to convert from epub to epub.
- select the epub in calibre
- press "Convert books" in the top menu
- a new window opens; on the top on the right hand side you can choose the output format, choose "EPUB"
- press the "OK" button at the bottom
- wait until the conversion is finished

If this conversion does not help, you could upload the book here. There are some knowledgable people who might help you. If the book is copyrighted, you might at least show the report of the validator. It is possible that some people can help you based on this report.
At a second thought: Since your problem is not directly related to the kobo reader, you might consider consulting the General Discussions forum.