Libra 2 Stuck on boot with flashing light

[afv011]

Last night I finished a book on my Libra 2 and went to open a new one. When I tried to do so I got an error about Adobe DRM, which was weird because all the books on my Libra 2 are DRM free. I tried to open a few of the books I had already read, and they all gave me the same error. I decided to restart the device, assuming that this was a transient error. After shutting the device down, when I tried to restart it the screen does not turn on and the light on the top right corner keeps flashing, but nothing else happens.

I tried to leave it on the charger for a while, and also tried to power up while holding one of the page turn buttons, but nothing works.

A quick Google search suggests that this may be a terminal issue and the errors I saw before I shut it down may suggest some kind of corruption of the SD card.

Does anybody have any suggestions on what I might be able to try to restore the device, or do I have a brick in my hands?

[Aleron Ives]

Normally you can fix the phantom Adobe DRM error by rebooting, so it does look like your SD card is having problems. Can you still see the internal storage when you connect the Libra to a computer? If so, you could try deleting the database or restoring a database backup. Calibre can tell you when the database is corrupt.

[afv011]

I'll try later today, but I don't believe it boots far enough to be detectable via USB.

[afv011]

As suspected, it does not show as a connected USB device, it doesn't seem to get far into the boot process.

[robowolf]

This just happened with my Libra (first one). Seems to be in a boot loop, doesn't get very far - can't view on computer. I can't find any paperclip reset button, either.

Edit: I think I'm able to at least turn it off (blank screen and no flashling light) by doing this:
-Unplug
-Hold both page buttons as well as the power button down (so three buttons held down simultaneously)
-After 15 seconds, the light should stop flashing

It's worked a few times for me to turn the Libra off, but I still can't get it back to normal.

[Aleron Ives]

Oof. The only thing you could probably do now is to open it, remove the waterproof coating on the SD card, and ask in the Kobo firmware images thread for a fresh image to use on a new SD card. If that doesn't restore your Libra, then it's probably a more complex hardware failure, and you'll need a new e-reader.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by robowolf

This just happened with my Libra (first one). Seems to be in a boot loop, doesn't get very far - can't view on computer. I can't find any paperclip reset button, either.

Edit: I think I'm able to at least turn it off (blank screen and no flashling light) by doing this:
-Unplug
-Hold both page buttons as well as the power button down (so three buttons held down simultaneously)
-After 15 seconds, the light should stop flashing

It's worked a few times for me to turn the Libra off, but I still can't get it back to normal.

I take it that once you've managed to power off your Libra, holding a page turn button down and pressing and holding the power button for about 30 seconds maximum does not trigger the factory reset?

[robowolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I take it that once you've managed to power off your Libra, holding a page turn button down and pressing and holding the power button for about 30 seconds maximum does not trigger the factory reset?

Correct, the ereader does nothing when I do this. It will turn on again (and repeat the loop) if I hit the power button, but does nothing with the power button + page turn down button held for 15 sec, 30 sec, or 35 sec. I also tried with the page turn up button, same result.

When it's on, pressing either page turn button (just one of them) and the power button for 15 sec now turns it off (I assume - the light stops blinking).

Edit: I wanted to correct something in my previous comment, #5: Mine is a Libra 2 as well, not the first model. Mistake.