Kobo Forma: how to reset?

franklekens · 02-08-2019, 02:49 AM

Does anybody know how to (properly) reset the Kobo Forma? I don't mean a factory reset, just a restart.

It's not that I haven't managed to do so. But the how remains opaque to me, weirdly. What I've done is just pressed the on/off button for an unconscionable amount of time. Usually nothing happens. Then I release it, and press it again... and usually it will then restart.
But that's a little haphazard. What's the proper procedure?
As far as I can see, the Kobo online help pages only provide explanation about a basic reset for other moddels (with a hole you can press a paperclip iin) and for a factory reset (which is not what I want). Or did I overlook a help page?

davidfor · 02-08-2019, 04:27 AM

Holding the power button down for five seconds or so should trigger a shutdown. When that happens it will display the powered off screen. If the device has hung, holding it down for longer than that, will force a power off. I'm not sure how long is needed, but, I always say 20 seconds in the factory reset instructions. When you do this, the screen doesn't change.

And the manual I found on the Kobo support site, has instructions for turning the device off on page 59. The manual is at https://kbdownload1-a.akamaihd.net/m...erGuide-EN.pdf.

franklekens · 02-09-2019, 02:02 AM

Thanks, that's useful.

CatShark · 02-09-2019, 09:28 PM

Thanks for the link. It's very helpful. It's way better than the tiny little bit of paper Kobo ships with the device.

davidfor · 02-10-2019, 12:58 AM

The manuals are available on the devices. They are under the help item in the main menu. And they do get updated with the firmware. Probably not as often as they should, but the version on my Glo HD seems to be cover changes made since it was released.

rashkae · 02-15-2019, 10:37 AM

Too bad the manual doesn't mention the little detail that holding the power button on a frozen Kobo for several seconds will force a shutdown. The only way to know you've successfully shutdown is to press and hold the power button again for 2 - 3 seconds, and the screen should finally change to the boot squares.

My Forma is, sadly, less than perfectly stable and I've become very familiar with this process. I need it roughly every 2 weeks.

CatShark · 02-16-2019, 03:35 PM

Thanks again, davidfor. Wow that's frequent, rashkae.

My forma froze and I pressed and held the power button a few different times and for various durations and the device stubbornly remained frozen. Eventually I had to hold both the power button and the next page button simultaneously and after a few seconds it went into factory reset.

It wasn't ideal, but it go things going again. I had to leave my WiFi on for about a half hou or more to allow things to reinstall. Many books I had been reading had to be re-downloade - that was a nuisance.

Well, life goes on.

BilboBaggins · 02-26-2019, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatShark

Thanks again, davidfor. Wow that's frequent, rashkae.

My forma froze and I pressed and held the power button a few different times and for various durations and the device stubbornly remained frozen. Eventually I had to hold both the power button and the next page button simultaneously and after a few seconds it went into factory reset.

It wasn't ideal, but it go things going again. I had to leave my WiFi on for about a half hou or more to allow things to reinstall. Many books I had been reading had to be re-downloade - that was a nuisance.

Well, life goes on.

Which firmware version your Forma have?
Do you leave your Forma in sleeping state or you turn it off when you end your reading session?

pocket_rocket · 08-02-2019, 08:37 PM

The Forma is JUNK. I've got the same issue. Kobo tech support tells me to hold down the power button for 15 seconds and then press the page turn button. Nothing. Since I bought this factory sealed on Ebay and not them, they won't help. They made this pile of junk so they should replace it regardless of where it came from. Stick with Kindles. Convert epubs to mobi and they work fine. Kobos have gone down the toilet, this Forma is really cheaply put together and the power button is so hard to push. I'm chalking the 230 I spent up to experience and getting a closeout Oasis. That, at least, will work properly.

DNSB · 08-03-2019, 01:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pocket_rocket

The Forma is JUNK. I've got the same issue. Kobo tech support tells me to hold down the power button for 15 seconds and then press the page turn button. Nothing. Since I bought this factory sealed on Ebay and not them, they won't help. They made this pile of junk so they should replace it regardless of where it came from. Stick with Kindles. Convert epubs to mobi and they work fine. Kobos have gone down the toilet, this Forma is really cheaply put together and the power button is so hard to push. I'm chalking the 230 I spent up to experience and getting a closeout Oasis. That, at least, will work properly.

Interesting. In the 9+ months since I purchased a Forma, my wife has only had one issue where we had to force power off the Forma after a hang and she has required no factory resets. Prior to the change of possession, I had triggered several factory resets while playing with it.

Factory sealed on eBay? Are you absolutely certain about that factory sealing? The last "new" ereader I purchased from eBay had somehow managed to obtain a firmware update and registration while in it's "factory sealed" box. Other giveaways were the lack of the plastic screen protection sheet and the USB cable.

BTW, as far as I am aware, the Forma factory reset procedure consists of:

plugging your Forma into a charger for at least one hour
holding down the power button for up to 20 seconds to ensure that it is forced off
press one of the page turn buttons and hold it pressed
press and hold the power button.
continue to hold both buttons until the screen flashes and the reset starts. In my limited experience this took 20-40 seconds.

pocket_rocket · 10-13-2019, 06:54 AM

This was brand new. Screen protector in place, new sealed usb cord, seal on box,etc. Only way it starts is if it sits for some time and battery drains. Hook to power and up it comes. Recently came on and it updated. I rebuilt the library and was just logging into pocket when it froze. Tried all the listed steps to no avail. I’ve factory reset twice and still no joy. No help from kobo and none from seller. Not sure what to do with it.

meeera · 10-14-2019, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pocket_rocket

This was brand new. Screen protector in place, new sealed usb cord, seal on box,etc. Only way it starts is if it sits for some time and battery drains. Hook to power and up it comes. Recently came on and it updated. I rebuilt the library and was just logging into pocket when it froze. Tried all the listed steps to no avail. I’ve factory reset twice and still no joy. No help from kobo and none from seller. Not sure what to do with it.

If it's DOA and the ebay seller isn't playing ball, file a dispute.

svenlind · 07-26-2021, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rashkae

Too bad the manual doesn't mention the little detail that holding the power button on a frozen Kobo for several seconds will force a shutdown. The only way to know you've successfully shutdown is to press and hold the power button again for 2 - 3 seconds, and the screen should finally change to the boot squares.

My Forma is, sadly, less than perfectly stable and I've become very familiar with this process. I need it roughly every 2 weeks.

Thank you for that information

I am rather new to the Forma. And yesterday it froze on me. I ended up getting a total factory reset meaning :

I had to re-sideload all my books
Setting up my favorite font.
Update to latest version of the software (4.26.16704)
Reestablish my patches.
Get the 24 h clock back.
And worst of all, finding the latest active page in my active books.

I hope in the future that I can get a more easy reset. Otherwise I will donate it to the black sheep of my family.

When that is said I have got a paragon copy of the Forma. Totally even light and a usable powerbutton.

NiLuJe · 07-26-2021, 12:19 PM

If you've got the frontlight on at the time of the freeze, watching it go off is a good indicator that you held the power button long enough to trip the shutdown.

After which, it's the usual "short" press to turn it back on, and you can either watch for the early screen flashes, or the power button's LED flashing to confirm it's booting, even before seeing the boot animation.

02-08-2019, 02:49 AM	#1
franklekens Addict Posts: 398 Karma: 3421956 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: various Kobo's, Onyx Note2, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Keyboard	Kobo Forma: how to reset? Does anybody know how to (properly) reset the Kobo Forma? I don't mean a factory reset, just a restart. It's not that I haven't managed to do so. But the how remains opaque to me, weirdly. What I've done is just pressed the on/off button for an unconscionable amount of time. Usually nothing happens. Then I release it, and press it again... and usually it will then restart. But that's a little haphazard. What's the proper procedure? As far as I can see, the Kobo online help pages only provide explanation about a basic reset for other moddels (with a hole you can press a paperclip iin) and for a factory reset (which is not what I want). Or did I overlook a help page?

10-13-2019, 06:54 AM	#11
pocket_rocket Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 494032 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: KS Device: Several Nooks, Kobos, Kindles, tablets	Still not working This was brand new. Screen protector in place, new sealed usb cord, seal on box,etc. Only way it starts is if it sits for some time and battery drains. Hook to power and up it comes. Recently came on and it updated. I rebuilt the library and was just logging into pocket when it froze. Tried all the listed steps to no avail. I’ve factory reset twice and still no joy. No help from kobo and none from seller. Not sure what to do with it.

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02-08-2019, 04:27 AM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Holding the power button down for five seconds or so should trigger a shutdown. When that happens it will display the powered off screen. If the device has hung, holding it down for longer than that, will force a power off. I'm not sure how long is needed, but, I always say 20 seconds in the factory reset instructions. When you do this, the screen doesn't change. And the manual I found on the Kobo support site, has instructions for turning the device off on page 59. The manual is at https://kbdownload1-a.akamaihd.net/m...erGuide-EN.pdf.

02-09-2019, 02:02 AM	#3
franklekens Addict Posts: 398 Karma: 3421956 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: various Kobo's, Onyx Note2, Pocketbook 360, Kindle Keyboard	Thanks, that's useful.

02-09-2019, 09:28 PM	#4
CatShark Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: kobo Aura One	Thanks for the link. It's very helpful. It's way better than the tiny little bit of paper Kobo ships with the device.

02-10-2019, 12:58 AM	#5
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	The manuals are available on the devices. They are under the help item in the main menu. And they do get updated with the firmware. Probably not as often as they should, but the version on my Glo HD seems to be cover changes made since it was released.

02-15-2019, 10:37 AM	#6
rashkae Wizard Posts: 1,274 Karma: 5935030 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Aura HD	Too bad the manual doesn't mention the little detail that holding the power button on a frozen Kobo for several seconds will force a shutdown. The only way to know you've successfully shutdown is to press and hold the power button again for 2 - 3 seconds, and the screen should finally change to the boot squares. My Forma is, sadly, less than perfectly stable and I've become very familiar with this process. I need it roughly every 2 weeks.

02-16-2019, 03:35 PM	#7
CatShark Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2016 Device: kobo Aura One	Thanks again, davidfor. Wow that's frequent, rashkae. My forma froze and I pressed and held the power button a few different times and for various durations and the device stubbornly remained frozen. Eventually I had to hold both the power button and the next page button simultaneously and after a few seconds it went into factory reset. It wasn't ideal, but it go things going again. I had to leave my WiFi on for about a half hou or more to allow things to reinstall. Many books I had been reading had to be re-downloade - that was a nuisance. Well, life goes on.

08-02-2019, 08:37 PM	#9
pocket_rocket Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 494032 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: KS Device: Several Nooks, Kobos, Kindles, tablets	The Forma is JUNK. I've got the same issue. Kobo tech support tells me to hold down the power button for 15 seconds and then press the page turn button. Nothing. Since I bought this factory sealed on Ebay and not them, they won't help. They made this pile of junk so they should replace it regardless of where it came from. Stick with Kindles. Convert epubs to mobi and they work fine. Kobos have gone down the toilet, this Forma is really cheaply put together and the power button is so hard to push. I'm chalking the 230 I spent up to experience and getting a closeout Oasis. That, at least, will work properly.

07-26-2021, 12:19 PM	#14
NiLuJe BLAM! Posts: 13,506 Karma: 26047202 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Paris, France Device: Kindle 2i, 3g, 4, 5w, PW, PW2, PW5; Kobo H2O, Forma, Elipsa, Sage, C2E	If you've got the frontlight on at the time of the freeze, watching it go off is a good indicator that you held the power button long enough to trip the shutdown. After which, it's the usual "short" press to turn it back on, and you can either watch for the early screen flashes, or the power button's LED flashing to confirm it's booting, even before seeing the boot animation.

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