Trying to revive a dead Kobo Glo

[eddiezia]

My Kobo Glo just died on me after 5 years of great service. The ereader just does not power up anymore. I have tried hooking it up through my Desktop PC and through a wall power source but the green light does not show up.

Exchanged emails with kobo as well and they told me to take a 20 Dollar discount and get another one. I have tried the paper clip reboot as well as the hard boot method advised by kob Customer Suport. Nothing worked.

Just so you know I had upgraded the 2GB memory to a 32 GB memory card using the guides abundantly available on the web. Please note that I did not experience any abnormal behavior after I upgraded the memory.

What I gather from scouring the web is that the kobo battery does not last longer than 2 years and I am lucky to have had around 5 years of service despite using just about every single day of its life.

I noticed a thread by a user advocating a use of 9V battery with 2 wires around to revive a dead kobo battery but the directions are sketchy at best. I am not sure how to proceed with this method. A little more detail around it shall be much appreciated.

Also if I were to buy a new kobo I'd like to buy a new Kobo Glo HD instead of Kob Aura but I cant seem to find it anywhere. Even the Refurbished variety of KObo Glo HD is not available. Please advise if I can buy it from some place. Thanks.

[Dr. Drib]

Moved to the Kobo Forum, where all things are.....yep, Kobo.


Don
(Moderator)

[eddiezia]

Sorry about that Don. I am a newbie on this forum.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eddiezia

My Kobo Glo just died on me after 5 years of great service. The ereader just does not power up anymore. I have tried hooking it up through my Desktop PC and through a wall power source but the green light does not show up.

To check:

- Plug into a PC or USB charged and the charging LED doesn't show.
- It doesn't automatically start after it's been plugged in for a while.
- When you try turning it on, there is no reaction - LED doesn't do anything, screen doesn't do anything.

If the LED is not turning on at all, then it's probably a hardware problem. It could be the USB port has been damaged or the switch. Have you opened it and checked all the connectors? Also, unplug the battery and see what happens when you connect the device to power. My memory says the charge light should be coming one when it is connected to a power source even if the battery is missing, but I don't remember if I have tried this with a Glo. Also, reseat the SD card. You should still get the LED coming on, but it's something to check.

Exchanged emails with kobo as well and they told me to take a 20 Dollar discount and get another one. I have tried the paper clip reboot as well as the hard boot method advised by kob Customer Suport. Nothing worked.

The paper clip reset only does anything if the device is running. And the factory reset using the buttons requires the device to at least start.

Just so you know I had upgraded the 2GB memory to a 32 GB memory card using the guides abundantly available on the web. Please note that I did not experience any abnormal behavior after I upgraded the memory.

If it was running for a while with the bigger card, it should be OK.

What I gather from scouring the web is that the kobo battery does not last longer than 2 years and I am lucky to have had around 5 years of service despite using just about every single day of its life.

A two year life for these batteries would actually be bad. After two years, you would expect the runtime to be noticeable shorter, but the battery should still have life. My Glo is over four years old and still shows good life. It was heavily used for the first two plus years and I didn't notice any real drop in battery runtime during that time. My wife's is three years old and still going but she has complained about the battery life recently and likes the idea of an Aura ONE to replace it.

I noticed a thread by a user advocating a use of 9V battery with 2 wires around to revive a dead kobo battery but the directions are sketchy at best. I am not sure how to proceed with this method. A little more detail around it shall be much appreciated.

I don't remember that method. I know people have removed the battery and charged them using a method that ignored the protection circuits. This is a little bit dangerous, but with a small battery and some care, can work. It works by charging the battery above the protection circuit minimum. How effective it is depends on the real state of the battery.

Also if I were to buy a new kobo I'd like to buy a new Kobo Glo HD instead of Kob Aura but I cant seem to find it anywhere. Even the Refurbished variety of KObo Glo HD is not available. Please advise if I can buy it from some place.

Unfortunately, Kobo dropped the Glo HD late last year. You might find one available at some shops or online. The choice at the moment is either the Aura Edition 2 (same size and resolution as your Glo), the Aura H2O Edition 2 (bigger, higher resolution) or the Aura ONE (much bigger, even higher resolution). If you like the size of the Glo, you're out of luck.

[barryem]

Here's a link to a successful discussion about replacing the Kobo Glo battery:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=280484

I followed some of the links they gave and found a couple of still valid options. I no longer have a Glo but I have a couple of friends who do so this will be good for them.

I've been looking at both Amazon and Ebay for older lighted ereaders lately, shopping for a couple of neighbors, and I've seen a few Kobo Glo's at pretty good prices. You might look there if you don't want to replace the battery.

Barry


Barry

[eddiezia]

Davidfor Thanks for your detailed response. The LED does not light up at all. I have tried different usb ports on my Desktop. Every usb port is working as it reads usb sticks on all the ports. So the ports are A OK.

I have kept it pluggedin for a few hours as wel but it did not work. I am guessing that there is a hardware issue. I did not disengage the battery mainly because the battery is glued in fairly firmly within the motherboard. Also there is a cable connected to the battery which if I manhandled could have come out of the board. This will be the last resort as I may have to do it if nothing works.

Kobo customer service were asking me to do a Factory Reset by following the on screen menu but that will not work as the deviice needs to be switched on for me to navigate to it.

https://e-ink-reader.ru/accum_en.php

The above is a url for a website that sells ereader batteries online. I was thinking of getting a replacement battery from these guys but the trouble is with the battery being stuck with a robust glue to the motherboard and I am not sure if I can somehow install the new battery without any tools. Any kind of How to document for replacing a kobo battery shall be much appreciated.

Wish to thank Barryem as well about the details around the specification of the battery. The details from Barrys thread seem to coincide with the details of Kobo Glo battery link I have posted for other users.

In case anyone has attempted to replace the kobo battery please share the steps or atleast the necessary equipment for the task.

Kobo Auras specs are actually worse than Kobo Glos specs and the reviews are generally not good. I am very happy with small form factor of Kobo Glo. No need to carry a bigger and heavier device when this one does the job to perfection.

I also noticed some interesting areas for kobo Developers. Though I am not a developer myself but I tweaked the code as a Software QA person from another life. Not sure if either of you are code warriors?

I 'd like to dabble in this area and see if I can revive my device. Thanks alot gentlemen for your help.

Originally Posted by davidfor

To check:

- Plug into a PC or USB charged and the charging LED doesn't show.
- It doesn't automatically start after it's been plugged in for a while.
- When you try turning it on, there is no reaction - LED doesn't do anything, screen doesn't do anything.

If the LED is not turning on at all, then it's probably a hardware problem. It could be the USB port has been damaged or the switch. Have you opened it and checked all the connectors? Also, unplug the battery and see what happens when you connect the device to power. My memory says the charge light should be coming one when it is connected to a power source even if the battery is missing, but I don't remember if I have tried this with a Glo. Also, reseat the SD card. You should still get the LED coming on, but it's something to check.

The paper clip reset only does anything if the device is running. And the factory reset using the buttons requires the device to at least start.

If it was running for a while with the bigger card, it should be OK.

A two year life for these batteries would actually be bad. After two years, you would expect the runtime to be noticeable shorter, but the battery should still have life. My Glo is over four years old and still shows good life. It was heavily used for the first two plus years and I didn't notice any real drop in battery runtime during that time. My wife's is three years old and still going but she has complained about the battery life recently and likes the idea of an Aura ONE to replace it.

I don't remember that method. I know people have removed the battery and charged them using a method that ignored the protection circuits. This is a little bit dangerous, but with a small battery and some care, can work. It works by charging the battery above the protection circuit minimum. How effective it is depends on the real state of the battery.


Unfortunately, Kobo dropped the Glo HD late last year. You might find one available at some shops or online. The choice at the moment is either the Aura Edition 2 (same size and resolution as your Glo), the Aura H2O Edition 2 (bigger, higher resolution) or the Aura ONE (much bigger, even higher resolution). If you like the size of the Glo, you're out of luck.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by eddiezia

The LED does not light up at all. I have tried different usb ports on my Desktop. Every usb port is working as it reads usb sticks on all the ports. So the ports are A OK.

Sorry if I am misinterpreting you here but I think daviidfor meant the usb port on the Kobo may be broken, in which case getting a new battery would not be worthwhile unless the device could be repaired.

The Kobo Glo HD was a great value device and discontinuing it was a disappointment. If you can pick one up that is probably the way to go. Otherwise, Kobo have nothing as good in a 6 inch reader.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eddiezia

Davidfor Thanks for your detailed response. The LED does not light up at all. I have tried different usb ports on my Desktop. Every usb port is working as it reads usb sticks on all the ports. So the ports are A OK.

Whatever is happening, is definitely on the device.

I have kept it pluggedin for a few hours as wel but it did not work. I am guessing that there is a hardware issue. I did not disengage the battery mainly because the battery is glued in fairly firmly within the motherboard. Also there is a cable connected to the battery which if I manhandled could have come out of the board. This will be the last resort as I may have to do it if nothing works.

The battery is connected to the board via a plug. It should disconnect easily, but I'm not sure what direction you need to pull it. If it is like the one in the Touch, you pull it straight up from the board.

Kobo customer service were asking me to do a Factory Reset by following the on screen menu but that will not work as the deviice needs to be switched on for me to navigate to it.

You can also do a factory reset by holding the light button down as you turn it on. You release the light button when the LED flashing changes. When doing this, the device needs to be charged and powered off.

https://e-ink-reader.ru/accum_en.php

The above is a url for a website that sells ereader batteries online. I was thinking of getting a replacement battery from these guys but the trouble is with the battery being stuck with a robust glue to the motherboard and I am not sure if I can somehow install the new battery without any tools. Any kind of How to document for replacing a kobo battery shall be much appreciated.

Wish to thank Barryem as well about the details around the specification of the battery. The details from Barrys thread seem to coincide with the details of Kobo Glo battery link I have posted for other users.

In case anyone has attempted to replace the kobo battery please share the steps or atleast the necessary equipment for the task.

For my devices, on one, the battery was well and truly stuck and took a lot of care to pry off. On another, it almost fell off when I tried. For the stuck one, I had to use something thin and sharp to stick under it and cut the glue off.

Kobo Auras specs are actually worse than Kobo Glos specs and the reviews are generally not good. I am very happy with small form factor of Kobo Glo. No need to carry a bigger and heavier device when this one does the job to perfection.

The original Kobo Aura divided opinion. The specs were the same as the Glo except that the Aura had capacitive touch. Some people thought this made the screen worse, some people didn't see a different. The more recent Aura Edition 2 should be better than the Glo as it has a Carta screen instead of the older Pearl screen. All the other Aura's have better specs for the screens.

I also noticed some interesting areas for kobo Developers. Though I am not a developer myself but I tweaked the code as a Software QA person from another life. Not sure if either of you are code warriors?

Yes, I'm a developer, but I don't really play on the device. Except when I'm fiddling with the database. Most of my coding for the Kobo's happens in calibre.

[eddiezia]

Thanks Darryl for pointing out my folly. The usb port on the kobo may be buggy for all I know. This thought never crossed my mind.

Assuming that the problem is with the usb port on the kobo what possible remedies do I have?

Another concern of mine is that upgraded memory of my deceased kobo has tons of books that I will like to transfer on another device. How can I salvage the memory chip? If I were to simply take out the memory chip and connect it to my PC will I be able to acces the books? Currently the Windows Explorer on my Desktop does not recognize kobo as a usb.

Davidfor about the battery in my kobo I have opened it up and the battery seems to be sealed to the motherboard with some kind of glue. Also the battery is tied to a wire or a cable. I am not quite sure how you were able to pry it out of the board.

I mean eve if I were to pry it out using a plastic card or some such thing the battery will still be hanging with the wire or cable that is soldered on to the board.

Assuming I were to replace the battery by acquiring it from the website I mentioned earlier I will need to break off the battery from the board. I am guessing once I break it off the replacement battery will need to be soldered to the board via the wire somehow to make it fuctional. Davidfor please do elaborate on simply popping off the battery from the board in one device.

I am not sure if you are referring to a Kobo Glo device or a Kobo device of another variety. I shall be posting the screen shot of the battery tied to the wire. Perhaps that will make you understand what I mean here.

Gentlemen thanks again for all your help and guidance. God Bless you all.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by eddiezia

Thanks Darryl for pointing out my folly. The usb port on the kobo may be buggy for all I know. This thought never crossed my mind.

Assuming that the problem is with the usb port on the kobo what possible remedies do I have?

Probably none. It will depend on how the port is damaged.

Another concern of mine is that upgraded memory of my deceased kobo has tons of books that I will like to transfer on another device. How can I salvage the memory chip? If I were to simply take out the memory chip and connect it to my PC will I be able to acces the books? Currently the Windows Explorer on my Desktop does not recognize kobo as a usb.

The internal SD card can be read easily under Linux or a Mac. Windows doesn't like the card because it has multiple partitions on it and two of them are non-Windows partitions. There probably is a way to do it, but I've never bothered to sort out how.

Davidfor about the battery in my kobo I have opened it up and the battery seems to be sealed to the motherboard with some kind of glue. Also the battery is tied to a wire or a cable. I am not quite sure how you were able to pry it out of the board.

I mean eve if I were to pry it out using a plastic card or some such thing the battery will still be hanging with the wire or cable that is soldered on to the board.

Assuming I were to replace the battery by acquiring it from the website I mentioned earlier I will need to break off the battery from the board. I am guessing once I break it off the replacement battery will need to be soldered to the board via the wire somehow to make it fuctional. Davidfor please do elaborate on simply popping off the battery from the board in one device.

I'm pretty sure the battery lead isn't soldered to the motherboad. If you look at http://erkinson.altervista.org/en/ko...mento-memoria/, one of the photos clearly shows the lead disconnected and the connector used. I think it lifts straight up from the board.

Removing the battery is usually harder. Some don't have much glue and come away easily. Some have a lot and it's harder. I have removed two batteries from other Kobo devices. One came off easily, with just a little pulling. The other took a long time as I had to use a knife to carefully cut through the glue without damaging anything.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by eddiezia

Sorry about that Don. I am a newbie on this forum.

No problem.

Now more 'Kobo Folks' will see the thread.

[Ken Maltby]

The problem with Windows reading the uSD card from your device is that the first partition on the card's partition table is not the fat partition, but a Linux partition. Using "Bootice" v1.3.2 x64 by Pauly, you can rearrange the listing of the partitions, and Windows will let you read the user/FAT partition that has your data. You can put them back as they were easily also.

Luck;
Ken

[darryl]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Probably none. It will depend on how the port is damaged.

I can't think of any way to test this without getting some power to the device. I know nothing about this, but it occurs to me that if you were somehow able to provide correct power to the device by bypassing the battery this would indicate that the problem probably was the battery. I think davidfor suggested earlier taking out the battery and connecting the USB, but please don't rely on my memory.

The internal SD card can be read easily under Linux or a Mac. Windows doesn't like the card because it has multiple partitions on it and two of them are non-Windows partitions. There probably is a way to do it, but I've never bothered to sort out how.

If worst comes to worse just boot with a live linux usb or DVD. Ubuntu or Mint are probably your best bet. Plenty of help is available if you get stuck.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by darryl

If worst comes to worse just boot with a live linux usb or DVD. Ubuntu or Mint are probably your best bet. Plenty of help is available if you get stuck.

Not everyone is comfortable in Linux, especially if you want to use the recovered data in the Windows environment. Those who are used to Windows Explorer, to manage their files, need not deal with how Linux works.

Luck;
Ken

[darryl]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

Not everyone is comfortable in Linux, especially if you want to use the recovered data in the Windows environment. Those who are used to Windows Explorer, to manage their files, need not deal with how Linux works.

Luck;
Ken

Very true Ken. Whatever he is most comfortable with is fine as long as it does the job.