Aura H2O Database problems (recurring)

[Oolong]

My Kobo's had recurring database problems. I've wiped it twice so far and again it's malfunctioning. Calibre won't talk to it:

calibre, version 2.85.1
ERROR: Error: Error communicating with device

CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 88, in run
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 511, in _books
File "site-packages/calibre/devices/kobo/driver.py", line 1835, in books
File "src/cursor.c", line 231, in resetcursor
CorruptError: CorruptError: database disk image is malformed

...and the KoboUtilities Device Database Check has this to say:

Result of running 'PRAGMA integrity_check' on database on the Kobo device:


*** in database main ***
On tree page 45154 cell 0: invalid page number 218103808
On tree page 38121 cell 40: 2nd reference to page 36343
On tree page 38121 cell 40: Child page depth differs
On tree page 38121 cell 41: Child page depth differs
Page 71501 is never used
Page 71502 is never used
Page 71506 is never used
Page 71507 is never used
row 40146 missing from index sqlite_autoindex_content_1

Any suggestions? Could there be a particular bad file causing this? Could it be losing it just because I use Pocket heavily? What else? I'm clutching at straws here. :-/

[davidfor]

Yes, that's a corrupt database. And it needs to be fixed before doing anything else. There is a small chance that doing a compress on the database will fix things, but I would not expect it to. You need to restore a copy from a recent backup (if you have one), or sign out of the Kobo account on the device and then back in. The latter will remove the existing bad database, create a new empty one and load all the sideloaded books and any purchased books will be downloaded.

What do you mean by "wiped it twice"? Factory resets or just deleting files? If you have done a couple of factory resets and the database was corrupted shortly afterwards, it's either a faulty device or bad practices.

The one way I know to corrupt the database is to unplug from a PC at the wrong time. If you correctly eject it, everything should be OK. The other things I can think where I would expect corruption to happen is if the device is crashing for some reason or restarting the device using the pinhole-reset. Both of these could mean the database isn't saved properly. If it the corruption is happening during normal use with no other unexpected events, then it might be a faulty device.

[PeterT]

The other repeatable way to corrupt things is (or was) incorrectly coded third party add-ons that prevented the unmount of the file system on the Kobo.

[Oolong]

Originally Posted by davidfor

What do you mean by "wiped it twice"?

Factory resets.

Originally Posted by davidfor

If you have done a couple of factory resets and the database was corrupted shortly afterwards, it's either a faulty device or bad practices.

I'm usually careful about ejecting the device before I unplug it, and I don't believe I have any third-party add-ons that could be causing problems.