Strange Clara BW load error and half-factory reset issue

[hamers]

I have a strange issue that came up when recently I was traveling without internet and wanted to see if anyone else had had it.

I turned on reader as usual, clicked on a book but the kobo said it couldn't load it, "try syncing online". I had zero internet (was camping in fact) and tried some other books and all had the same error.

Thinking it was some temporary bug, I held the power button til it power down, then powered up. Holy &*#&$, now it acted as if I had reset it and asked me to log into a wifi network to activate. Again, I am camping in the mountains and have no connection. I was mighty pissed let me tell you.

After trying to no avail, I connected the kobo to my phone and mounted it and lo and behold all my books are there, no issue. I copied a couple of my books to my android phone and luckily I had librera installed, and read there.. An inferior reading experience but thank god I had it for the 2 hours of pre-sleep inside the tent.

Then just got home, went through the kobo activation (again, it was as if it was a factory reset) and got back to the homescreen, and ALL MY CONTENT IS THERE, including settings (like dark mode)!

My questions.. What the hell happened here... How can I "re-activate" my kobo in the future if I'm totally offline but have an android phone where I can mount it (eg can I delete or add or edit a file on the reader that would kick it out of this stupid ass activation screen)?

Thanks for any input, insights or thoughts!

[Cootey]

There is a way to bypass registering which you could do on your Android phone, but it’s quite geeky: https://jacobalbano.com/2021/06/24/s...ut-logging-in/

There are other examples to be found on mobileread as well.

Since Kobo requires you to register online, you can usually register with a fake email address, then shut off Wi-Fi afterwards. So editing the SQL database and giving it bogus information is just an extension of that.

It looks like you just experienced a soft reset which leaves content on the Kobo intact. It could’ve been worse, but who wants to experience that while camping?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cootey

There is a way to bypass registering which you could do on your Android phone, but it’s quite geeky: https://jacobalbano.com/2021/06/24/s...ut-logging-in/

There are other examples to be found on mobileread as well.

Since Kobo requires you to register online, you can usually register with a fake email address, then shut off Wi-Fi afterwards. So editing the SQL database and giving it bogus information is just an extension of that.

It looks like you just experienced a soft reset which leaves content on the Kobo intact. It could’ve been worse, but who wants to experience that while camping?

The problem i that something went wrong an there was no computer available.

The easiest solution is to create a hotspot on the phone and connect the Kobo to the phone's WiFi and go from there.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The easiest solution is to create a hotpot on the phone and connect the Kobo to the phone's WiFi and go from there.

I so enjoy electronic hotpot!

[John F]

One could also use nicklemenu?

One entry to backup/copy the database
Another entry to restore the database

[hamers]

excellent suggestions thank you. i don't suspect (hope) that this will happen often, maybe never again and was just a crazy bug, but i'd like to be ready. If this is my only reading device, being stuck for 6 days without it would be hell. i dont mind editing sql, i already have tools on my phone.

@JSWolf the hotspot (and hotpot!) idea is quite good, but i wonder if it would work if the phone also had no connection.

as to nicklemenu, John F, would that work if I couldn't even get in?

[PeterT]

My concern about NickleMenu doing a backup is that you really need the database closed by all other applications (ie Nickel itself) before taking a backup (and of course before restoring it).

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

[John F]

Originally Posted by hamers

...

as to nicklemenu, John F, would that work if I couldn't even get in?

I believe it wouldn't work if you couldn't get in.

[John F]

Originally Posted by PeterT

My concern about NickleMenu doing a backup is that you really need the database closed by all other applications (ie Nickel itself) before taking a backup (and of course before restoring it).

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

A shot in the dark, but maybe use one/some of the Nicklemenu commands have the side effect of closing it?

[hamers]

Anyone have any insight or clues into what actually happened? A seeming database corruption that led to auto factory reset... But all books, kobo settings, and even current page were all intact?

[John F]

Originally Posted by hamers

Anyone have any insight or clues into what actually happened? A seeming database corruption that led to auto factory reset... But all books, kobo settings, and even current page were all intact?

If you aren't sideloading, then I'm guessing that is expected behavior. I'm guessing the settings file wasn't deleted on a "auto factory reset", the books weren't deleted, and when you logged back in, a sync was done, restoring your reading position.

Just a WAG.

[hamers]

I definitely sideload books via Calibre, though... And keep wifi off whenever possible. Very strange, would love to understand what triggered the entire episode.