Kobo H2O: Need SD Image

[mementomori]

Hi!

My device wont boot after trying out some suggestions here. I pry-ed my H2O open to find a 4gb sd card inside. The bezel seats over the device via some weak glue.. It doesn't seem to be much of a waterproofing solution.

Anyway, is there anyone kind enough to do the same to get a working SD-card image?

-mori

[mementomori]

You will have to:

1. Pry the bezel off. You can use your fingernails. I used mine.
2. Remove 4 Philip screws that fixes the main board to the back cover.
3. The SD Card is in the back of the main board, probably like the AURA HD's.

Doing so will help kick-start H2O custom-app development as well!

-Mori

[davidfor]

Sorry, can't help with the image. I think you are the first to have that trouble and the first to pull a H2O apart. The expectation was that the H20 would have fixed memory like the Aura.

What did you try to get it going again? The factory reset is different for the H2O as it only has one button. I don't have a H2O, but the steps that a Kobo person has told me are:

- Make sure the battery is charged.
- Hold the power button down for at least 20 seconds. This is to make sure it is off.
- Turn it on.
- Quickly tap both bottom corners of the screen. Keep tapping them until something happens.

If you get the timing right, it should do thee factory reset.

Also, at least one person has reported that reseating the SD card in one of the other device fixed things. The card in it was only held in by friction, so a few bumps on the device in the right place might have knocked it out.

While you have it apart, could you take some pictures? If they show how to pull it apart, that might encourage someone else.

[Cesco]

Thanks for the tip Davidfor, I tried to reset, and the third time did it!

On the kobo-help web-page shows this way:

Before you perform a manual factory reset, charge your eReader for at least three hours. While your eReader is on, remove the port cover on the bottom of your eReader. Insert a paper clip into the small hole next to the Micro USB slot and push gently. You'll feel a click and your eReader will reset itself. When you see square icons on the screen, insert a paper clip into the small hole next to the Micro USB slot and push gently. Repeat step 3 two more times. Your eReader's screen will turn black, and show a Critical error message. Don't worry, this is normal. Tap the check mark icon at the bottom of the screen to reset your eReader.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Cesco

Thanks for the tip Davidfor, I tried to reset, and the third time did it!

Glad to hear it worked. While I don't doubt the source, I have no way to check it. Yet.

On the kobo-help web-page shows this way:

Before you perform a manual factory reset, charge your eReader for at least three hours. While your eReader is on, remove the port cover on the bottom of your eReader. Insert a paper clip into the small hole next to the Micro USB slot and push gently. You'll feel a click and your eReader will reset itself. When you see square icons on the screen, insert a paper clip into the small hole next to the Micro USB slot and push gently. Repeat step 3 two more times. Your eReader's screen will turn black, and show a Critical error message. Don't worry, this is normal. Tap the check mark icon at the bottom of the screen to reset your eReader.

Interesting. From something someone said recently, that might work on all the devices. Apparently, there is check in a script run during the boot that checks how many times the device has been restarted without nickel running successfully. I think that number was four times. Doing the pinhole reset four times like that should trigger the action. When I get a chance, I might try this on my Touch.

[Frenzie]

Originally Posted by mementomori

You will have to:

1. Pry the bezel off. You can use your fingernails. I used mine.
2. Remove 4 Philip screws that fixes the main board to the back cover.
3. The SD Card is in the back of the main board, probably like the AURA HD's.

Doing so will help kick-start H2O custom-app development as well!

-Mori

No need to pull it apart when it's working. Last week I obtained a full image using something like nc -l -p 1234 < /dev/mmcblk0. That being said, at the very least it contains my user/pass, so I need to know more about what to erase and whether there are any more device-specific identifiers on the device.

But what exactly did you change? It might be enough to just give you a working /etc/init.d/rcS or some such.

[mementomori]

Hi!
Thank you Davidfor and Cesco for your replies! . I just joined the forum today and its nice to see quick replies like these. Just now, I was able to resolve this problem through a different approach.

As for the methods stated above, I tried them many times but they didn't work for me.


What have I done to get a bricked H2O? When I tried to root my Kobo H2O using the instructions here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233259

particularly these steps:

Step 1
- connect the Kobo to the PC
- copy the folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)
- eject safely and disconnect
- check that the 3 images (exit_nickel.png, simulate_usb_connection.png, toggle_nightmode.png ) are listed in the library. Only then proceed to step two.

Step 2
- connect the Kobo to the PC
- copy KoboRoot.tgz to .kobo of the device
- eject safely and disconnect
- wait until the update is finished

I ended up with a Kobo H2O in an infinite boot loop. All I can see is the flashing white LED (slow blinking). The small squares (loading screen) that Cesco mentioned, didn't even show up.

When I tried to delete koboroot files in the User Partition and restored root-partition files that were modified by KoboRoot.tgz (including /etc/init.d/rcS), (I saw a mirror copy of some of the root-partition files in the recovery partition), I ended up with a different kind of boot loop. The white power LED would now flash faster and I can see the small squares animating. However it didn't pass this boot stage. And the user-partition was formatted without any new files written on it. I also once-again tried the method that was mentioned in this thread but it still didn't work.

I was able to 'partially' restore the filesystem by untarring two files from the update folder of the recovery partition. One of these files is a tarball meant for the root partition. and the other tarball was for the user partition. Now it seems to be booting properly. Earlier, I did a factory reset and am making an image of the SDcard now. I'll try to upload it as soon as it completes.

I also took some pictures of the H2O internals, just getting it out of my camera, which, is now giving me a hard time. An adhesive between the Bezel and the sides of the base frame is all that prevents the water from seeping in. By prying mine open, the seal would have broke. Some other special adhesive or tape can probably take its place. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[mementomori]

Hi Frenzie,

How does this command work?

nc -l -p 1234 < /dev/mmcblk0

Does it mean you can access the internal storage without physically having the sdcard?

[mementomori]

Here is the factory image...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hiuda4r1chz63tm/Kobo_H2O_FactoryReset.zip?dl=0

btw, where can I store big files for sharing?

[Frenzie]

netcat can send anything over a network. In this case (after making sure the default software can't read/write to the mounts by making them ro) the contents of the internal microSD card.

On the receiving end you'd run nc 192.168.1.xxx 1234 > output_file. At a few MB/s I guess it took about 10 to 20 minutes for the whole 4 GB to transfer. You can then examine the internal filesystems using the instructions I posted here. However, the boot stuff (u-boot and Linux image) is actually written to the first 25 MB or so, making it hard to analyze and also above my ken. We'll probably need to figure out the exact format before we can do truly interesting stuff like running Debian and a kernel with USB host/OTG support. On a related note, I'd also be interested in zram.

[Frenzie]

Originally Posted by mementomori

Hi!
Thank you Davidfor and Cesco for your replies! . I just joined the forum today and its nice to see quick replies like these. Just now, I was able to resolve this problem through a different approach.

As for the methods stated above, I tried them many times but they didn't work for me.


What have I done to get a bricked H2O? When I tried to root my Kobo H2O using the instructions here:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233259

particularly these steps:

Step 1
- connect the Kobo to the PC
- copy the folder kbmenupngs to the root of the device (e.g. K:\)
- eject safely and disconnect
- check that the 3 images (exit_nickel.png, simulate_usb_connection.png, toggle_nightmode.png ) are listed in the library. Only then proceed to step two.

Step 2
- connect the Kobo to the PC
- copy KoboRoot.tgz to .kobo of the device
- eject safely and disconnect
- wait until the update is finished

I ended up with a Kobo H2O in an infinite boot loop. All I can see is the flashing white LED (slow blinking). The small squares (loading screen) that Cesco mentioned, didn't even show up.

Are you sure you used the most recent version for 3.3 to 3.8? The version in the OP there states it only works up to firmware 3.1.

[mementomori]

Hi! I haven't gotten to this part. In the post, I needed to change some files for startup like the one you mentioned (rcS). Were you able to get this working on your H2O?

I need to check your filesystem thread. The size is correct, the image is around 4GB. I thought Kobo would prevent us root access thereby preventing getting access to these filesystems. Were you doing telnet on the device? Anyway I think I'll have to check your thread to understand this better.

[mementomori]

Teardown images.. Poor Camera sorry..

[mementomori]

@Frenzie. LOL! my mistake, I did use the wrong one.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Interesting. From something someone said recently, that might work on all the devices. Apparently, there is check in a script run during the boot that checks how many times the device has been restarted without nickel running successfully. I think that number was four times. Doing the pinhole reset four times like that should trigger the action. When I get a chance, I might try this on my Touch.

After reading that comment in the advboot thread, I tried it on a Glo and after running koreader on startup 3 times, the 4th time it wanted to do a factory reset. I tried tshering's modification to rcS and it stopped asking for the factory reset. At the moment, it looks as if on a Mini or Aura H2O, that modification might not be a good idea.