Aura Sideloading issue

[Garu]

Hi everyone,

I'm a Kobo Aura user, until recently with only minor issues (couple of resets, nothing more). I use Calibre 1.48.0 (probably old, I know, but i still use Windows XP because my computer is way too outdated for anything better) to sideload books. All I do is import books to Calibre and then upload them to my reader (converted to kepubs). This is as far as my reader knowledge goes.

Unfortunately, recently something went wrong. What are the symptoms exactly?

First of all, it seeems as if reader doesn't "remember" that some books are already there. What I mean? Say that two weeks ago I uploaded 2 books. They appeared in library as added. Read them so they moved to finished section. Today I uploaded 3 more. After unplugging the device in the library tile there are 5 new books, and those old 2 are again displayed as unread, as if I uploaded all 5 today. When I mark them as read they go nicely to proper section but again, after making another connection to Calibre they are again "unread".

Second, instead of nice bookcovers & titles all I see are "downloading" messages. When I click it reader freezes. If I choose book from library (not the tile) it opens nicely.

I've already tried normal reset (no improvement) and preferably avoid factory reset because I don't want to lose my reading stats (ok, this may be silly, but I just like these numbers).

What else? Memory is about half full, software version 3.3.0 (again, no syncing with Kobo account in ages), I read only sideloaded books (English is not my native language, so Kobo bookstore is pretty much useless to me).

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Garu

Hi everyone,

I'm a Kobo Aura user, until recently with only minor issues (couple of resets, nothing more). I use Calibre 1.48.0 (probably old, I know, but i still use Windows XP because my computer is way too outdated for anything better) to sideload books. All I do is import books to Calibre and then upload them to my reader (converted to kepubs). This is as far as my reader knowledge goes.

Unfortunately, recently something went wrong. What are the symptoms exactly?

First of all, it seeems as if reader doesn't "remember" that some books are already there. What I mean? Say that two weeks ago I uploaded 2 books. They appeared in library as added. Read them so they moved to finished section. Today I uploaded 3 more. After unplugging the device in the library tile there are 5 new books, and those old 2 are again displayed as unread, as if I uploaded all 5 today. When I mark them as read they go nicely to proper section but again, after making another connection to Calibre they are again "unread".

Second, instead of nice bookcovers & titles all I see are "downloading" messages. When I click it reader freezes. If I choose book from library (not the tile) it opens nicely.

I've already tried normal reset (no improvement) and preferably avoid factory reset because I don't want to lose my reading stats (ok, this may be silly, but I just like these numbers).

What else? Memory is about half full, software version 3.3.0 (again, no syncing with Kobo account in ages), I read only sideloaded books (English is not my native language, so Kobo bookstore is pretty much useless to me).

Any help will be appreciated, thanks!

It sounds as if the database on your Aura has been corrupted. You could try signing out and back in on the Aura to rebuild the database. If that doesn't work, you could try the factory reset. Either of these will reset your reading stats when the database is rebuilt. I'm not certain what you mean by a normal reset? A reset using the pinhole? That would have no effect on database corruption.

The firmware version on your Aura is very outdated as is your version of Calibre though they should be happy enough together so I don't see that as being an issue.

[Garu]

DNSB, thanks for such a quick reply!

If you could help me out just a little bit more would be great.

Originally Posted by DNSB

It sounds as if the database on your Aura has been corrupted. You could try signing out and back in on the Aura to rebuild the database.

That will erase all books, so afterwards I will have to upload everything back, correct? Sign out, sign in, upload everything I need via Calibre and that's it? - is that how it looks (I'll do for first time, so I'm a bit anxious)?

Originally Posted by DNSB

Either of these will reset your reading stats when the database is rebuilt.

That's a pity. Going forward, is there a way to preserve the stats, so next time database is corrupted (hopefully never) I can keep them?

Originally Posted by DNSB

I'm not certain what you mean by a normal reset? A reset using the pinhole? That would have no effect on database corruption.

Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind. Well, that was pretty much everything (apart from factory reset) that I could think of in order to fix it.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Garu

DNSB, thanks for such a quick reply!

That will erase all books, so afterwards I will have to upload everything back, correct? Sign out, sign in, upload everything I need via Calibre and that's it? - is that how it looks (I'll do for first time, so I'm a bit anxious)?

As far as I recall, the sign out/sign in will not remove any ebooks on the internal storage nor will it change the running firmware version. The ebooks will need to be processed again to be re-entered into the database. The factory reset will wipe everything on the exposed partition and will require reloading any sideloaded books on the internal storage, (in the KA1's case, internal is the only storage) and will revert the firmware to the factory version, (3.20.6894 for my KA1), requiring a firmware update to get back to the current version.

Originally Posted by Garu

That's a pity. Going forward, is there a way to preserve the stats, so next time database is corrupted (hopefully never) I can keep them?

Using Calibre and davidfor's Kobo Utilities plugin, you can backup the database and in theory revert to a copy before the corruption. I've never used the restore procedure myself since I think of my ereader as device for reading books so losing the reading stats doesn't bother me.

Originally Posted by Garu

Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind. Well, that was pretty much everything (apart from factory reset) that I could think of in order to fix it.

The pinhole reset is like resetting or power cycling your computer and will not repair existing corruption. I've used it when I managed to hang my Kobo so badly that holding the power switch to power it off did not work.

Generally, I'll try a sign out/sign in. If that doesn't fix the issue, I'll try a factory reset. If that doesn't work, if the device has an internal uSD card, time to rewrite the card otherwise hope for a miracle.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As far as I recall, the sign out/sign in will not remove any ebooks on the internal storage nor will it change the running firmware version.

No, this will trigger an update check. It is done whenever setting up a user. If Garu wants to stay on a particular firmware version, he will have to use the desktop app.

Using Calibre and davidfor's Kobo Utilities plugin, you can backup the database and in theory revert to a copy before the corruption. I've never used the restore procedure myself since I think of my ereader as device for reading books so losing the reading stats doesn't bother me.

Restoring a recent database backup should work. And the plugin can store the reading status of the books but not the actual statistics.

The pinhole reset is like resetting or power cycling your computer and will not repair existing corruption. I've used it when I managed to hang my Kobo so badly that holding the power switch to power it off did not work.

There is a chance that a pinhole reset will cause the database corruption. If it happens the wrong time, then it will. Of course, it is just as likely that whatever caused the need to do a pinhole reset had already messed up the database.

Generally, I'll try a sign out/sign in. If that doesn't fix the issue, I'll try a factory reset. If that doesn't work, if the device has an internal uSD card, time to rewrite the card otherwise hope for a miracle.

That's about right. Depending on the exact problem with the database, sometimes you can fix it. This mainly works if the indexes are corrupt. Rebuilding the indexes or doing a compress can fix it. I doubt it is the case here.

[Garu]

Just wanted to confirm that signing out and in worked, thanks once again for the tip.

However - just to letting know - firmware has been updated & no longer works with Calibre version I have (latest one I can install using Windows XP).

I guess that gives me one more reason to finally update my PC (really long overdue anyway)

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Garu

Just wanted to confirm that signing out and in worked, thanks once again for the tip.

However - just to letting know - firmware has been updated & no longer works with Calibre version I have (latest one I can install using Windows XP).

I guess that gives me one more reason to finally update my PC (really long overdue anyway)

You could try the Attempt to support newer firmware option in the Kobo device plugin. Though I would agree that it is time to update to a new OS as there are just too many security issues with Windows XP that are not going to be fixed.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Garu

Just wanted to confirm that signing out and in worked, thanks once again for the tip.

However - just to letting know - firmware has been updated & no longer works with Calibre version I have (latest one I can install using Windows XP).

I guess that gives me one more reason to finally update my PC (really long overdue anyway)

As the other David said, you can use "Attempt to support newer firmware" option in the driver. That is safe at least up to firmware 4.1.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by davidfor

As the other David said, you can use "Attempt to support newer firmware" option in the driver. That is safe at least up to firmware 4.1.

Almost to the point where I'm going to have to edit my signature.

[Garu]

Originally Posted by davidfor

As the other David said, you can use "Attempt to support newer firmware" option in the driver. That is safe at least up to firmware 4.1.

But if something goes wrong do I brick the reader or just factory reset and live happily ever after (well, after uploading the books once more, but that's more or less ok)?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Garu

But if something goes wrong do I brick the reader or just factory reset and live happily ever after (well, after uploading the books once more, but that's more or less ok)?

The most likely result of "something going wrong" is that the database on the device gets corrupted. The fix for that is to either restore a backup, or do a sign-out on the device.

But, the main reason that would happen is if you unplugged to device at the wrong time. The differences between the Kobo device support in calibre 1.48 and the latest version of calibre is very small. Most of it has been bumping the supported version number with no actual changes needed to the code. Plus adding new devices. The biggest change has been rewriting the configuration handling earlier this year. That had no real affect on the actual interface to the devices, it just makes adding options easier. The next biggest change was triggered by a change in an option used by Kobo for the database. Again, no real change to the interface, I just had to use a different Python library.

Using calibre 1.48 with the Kobo firmware up to 3.19.x is completely safe. I said 4.1 earlier, but I had forgotten about the database change mentioned above. This was introduced with the 3.20.x firmware. It means that the KoboTouch driver in calibre 1.48 cannot read the database. This can be changed easily and is, as far as I can tell, safe.

If you do need get a later device or firmware, then you can still use calibre 1.48. In this case, you disable the KoboTouch driver and use "Connect to folder" device or a User defined device. This will allow you to manage sideloaded books on the device, but you will not see purchased kepubs or have any of the extra functions of the KoboTouch driver.