[Kobo Aura H20] Calibre seems to corrupts the database each time

[myki]

Greetings,

Each time I use Calibre to send books to my Kobo Aura H20, the database corrupts, and if i reconnect my device, Calibre tells me "Error communicating with device".
I first suspected my USB ports more than Calibre, but when I copy/past books or when I use my Kindle PW, I meet no problems...

Can you help me, please ?

[HS] For now, my kobo H20 is a real nightmare ! I have never posted so often in both Calibre and Kobo forums to resolve all of my problems

[davidfor]

@myki: I've just posted in your other thread. Odds are the are the same problem.

And to help with problems with calibre, if you get an error message, press the "Details" button. This will give more information about the error. It might not mean much more to you, but, posting the full details will help a lot in working out what is wrong. And to make this easy, press the "copy to clipboard" and then paste that into your post.

[myki]

You are right, I forgot to give more details...

And the log :

calibre, version 2.22.0
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 87, in run
  File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\device.py", line 503, in _books
  File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 1787, in books
  File "site-packages\calibre\devices\kobo\driver.py", line 1663, in get_bookshelvesforbook
DatabaseError: database disk image is malformed

I read your suggestion, about logout and in to get back a fresh database, it works but as soon as i reuse Calibre, my database corrupts.

Thanks for your help, davidfor...

EDIT :
I know now how to starts with a clean database thanks to tshering, but it corrupts as soon as Calibre needs it : either by refreshing the field about shelves, or by adding a book (even only one).

[jackie_w]

@myki,

Just another thought ... do you have any of the Kobo hacks installed? If so, it might be an idea to uninstall them and see if you can get a 'pure' H2O working reliably with calibre for a few days before retrying the hacks - one at a time.

The only reason I ask is because I also have had the calibre/malformed database scenario. Both times it was within a couple of days after I'd installed a hack. The first time it was after installing KOReader on an AuraHD (many months ago). The second time was last week after installing the NightMode hack on my H2O. I really don't understand why I had these problems as Kobo owners seem to have installed these hacks with no problems whatsoever. As I was only dabbling for my own amusement, I decided not to pursue the problems and have had no further malformed database problems.

Note: I've never had any problems at all with the Kobo Patcher hacks. I definitely wouldn't want to be without those

[myki]

Hello jackie_w, thank you for your help
I have already done this, with the H2O of my wife who is "pure", and I meet the same problems : As soon as I disconnect my kobo properly after having used Calibre to install my books, the database is updating, but stops after few percents and I have to swich my kobo off...
And then, sometimes the database works, sometimes not.
Fortunately my wife is happy with just few books in her reader, so I don't have to spend a lot of time to reinstall everything... but it is really anoying.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by myki

Hello jackie_w, thank you for your help
I have already done this, with the H2O of my wife who is "pure", and I meet the same problems : As soon as I disconnect my kobo properly after having used Calibre to install my books, the database is updating, but stops after few percents and I have to swich my kobo off...

How exactly do you disconnect your kobo, and how long do you wait before deciding that processing has frozen? Processing can take a LONG time, particularly if you've added many or complex books, and it can pause on a particular percentage for quite a while. If corruption is occurring when you disrupt the Processing process, I'm not surprised.

This is difficult being spread across threads, but I haven't seen any direct clear confirmation from you yet that you have signed out from your Kobo acconut on the device (as opposed to "disconnecting"), and then logged back in again? In Settings > Accounts.

[myki]

Thank you meeera to be interested in my case
I use the option in calibre, to disconnect properly (the disconnect submenu of my advice).
To give you an example, the last time I used Calibre was to add 2 fanfics and a book. After disconnecting, the update on the kobo stopped at 6%. I have waited for about 4 or 5 minutes and then I have decided to switch it off.

The part when you talk about signing out and disconnecting, I don't clearly anderstand (sorry for my english).
But what I can say is that I go to parameters/account/disconnect.
Then my kobo restarts and it asks me again my kobo account, and then sync and rebuild the database.
I have already tried to sign in a new account at kobo.com when I met my problems about persistents empty shelves, but it changed nothing.

[jackie_w]

@myki,
I'm afraid I don't have any other bright ideas. I assume you're doing a 'safe disconnect' each time you disconnect the PC from calibre. The fact that most people don't have this persistent problem and you're having problems with 2 different Kobos would suggest maybe it's the usb cable or the usb port.

Incidentally, I installed the NightMode hack on my Aura6" at the same time as the Aura H2O, but then didn't use it much until yesterday, when I connected it to calibre - lo and behold - another malformed database. Some of these hacks definitely don't like me - so I know what persecution feels like

[PeterT]

How are these fanfics obtained? Are they built using the FFDL plugin for calibre?

[Alan_S]

Originally Posted by myki

After disconnecting, the update on the kobo stopped at 6%. I have waited for about 4 or 5 minutes and then I have decided to switch it off.

Do you have already a lot of books when adding new ones?

In my experience, processing of new books can take really a lot of time. Percentage "jumps" without obvious logic with long pauses. Really long pauses. I usually sideload books and then just start working something else.

I'd suggest that you wait 15, 20, or even more minutes between "percentage jumps". Only after 30 minutes or more passes without any outer signs that something is happening you maybe try to switch device off.

[JSWolf]

I also agree with waiting longer than 5-6 minutes for the processing to finish. I would wait up to 30 minutes for three books and if it's not done, then something could be wrong.

Also, run those three books through epubcheck as it's possible that if the processing is not completing, it could be because of errors in those eBooks.

[myki]

Thanks everybody for your help...
I don't know how fanfics were built at all, I'm sorry.
When I put the 3 books in the Kobo, there were about 80 books already in it... I don't know if it's considered like much or not
Anyway it is a good idea, I will wait more time the next time I will have to put new books in it.
I know that it is not my USB Cable but I wouldn't swear that my usb ports are innocent in my case So I plan to try with another computer...
When I will have the courage to do this, I will up my post with the results

Thanks for your patience everybody...

[davidfor]

The question about how the fanfics were created is because of the way they are handled by the Kobo devices. As you can see, when the device is unplugged, any new books are processed. This is to add details about them to the internal database. The database is used for the library list and lots of other things. Unfortunately, this can go wrong if there are problems in the books. Sometimes the processing will hang and the only way out is what you are doing. Other times, it appears to work, the home screen is displayed, but the books are not in the library.

So, if the books are error free, they should be processed OK. And how likely they are to have errors depends on the source. As you are talking about fanfic, if you use FanFictionDownloader (FFDL), then I would be surprised if there were any problems. But, other sources might not be as good. The Kobo firmware can be picky about the books it will process and display. Or maybe I should say it is unforgiving about erros. JSWolf's suggestion of checking for errors using epubcheck against is a good. But, if you haven't already used it, then it takes a little setting up. You could use the error checking in the calibre editor. It is there as part of calibre and doesn't need anything extra. I would be surprised if something passed it's errors and wasn't processed by the Kobo firmware.

Testing on another PC is also a good idea. If this is a new device, it might be faulty. If you have the same errors with a second PC, then maybe it is an issue with the device and need to be replaced. Also, a factory reset can fix some strange problems like this. You would need to reload all your books afterwards, but if the problems go away, that would be worth it.

Oh, 80 books is nothing. I have about 1400 on my H2O. There are people complaining they have trouble getting several thousand on their devices.

[meeera]

myki: I agree with the advice to wait longer.

Also, try your kobo with some books you've downloaded from the Mobileread Library right here - they're usually known to be good quality without errors. See if you have the processing pause with those. If those process without error: then try adding your problem books one by one, after checking their validity. I'm guessing there might be a bad book in there somewhere?

[Alan_S]

Originally Posted by myki

When I put the 3 books in the Kobo, there were about 80 books already in it... I don't know if it's considered like much or not

Well, 80 books means it would take longer time to process new ones. The more books you have, the longer you have to wait.

And about USB ports, I have problem with one of my USB ports, it still doesn't work, but it manifests itself a bit differently. Just in case, try using other USB ports. And of course, other PCs if you have them available.