Glo Factory reset not working

[prye]

I have a strange problem with my son's Kobo Glo.

When syncing, it fails to update the firmware (currently at 2.8.1) and fails to transfer a recent Kobo book purchase. The purchased book is available on the Desktop app.

I can see that the firmware update is downloaded to the .kobo directory and have confirmed that the file contains the correct KoboRoot.tgz.
Once the reader is ejected, the update doesn't proceed - the Kobo just returns to the home screen, and the update files are deleted.

I thought this would not be a problem, but I have been unable to sign out of the account on the Kobo and have been unable to perform a factory reset via software (via the Device Information page).

A hardware factory reset (power down for 20s, then turn on holding the light button) appears to work in that the Kobo reports that it is "Restoring", and it comes up with the "sleeping Kobo and computer with USB cable" graphic.
Unfortunately when I attempt to set it up again, the Desktop app reports that the device is already configured and indeed the books are still present and it is still signed in as my son's Kobo account name.

I have tried reinstalling the Kobo Desktop app and deleting all of the ~/Library/Application Support/Kobo files (I'm using a Mac) prior to reinstalling, but we still have the same problem.

I have emailed Kobo support several times but so far no solution is apparent.

It would appear to be a software issue as otherwise the hardware appears to work OK.

The Kobo is still in warranty (5 months old, bought as a birthday present) so I'm reluctant to try to crack the case and restore a software image to the microSD card at this stage.

I know all of you people seem to be very knowledgeable about the workings of the Kobo and was hoping there might be another way of sorting this out.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Regards,
prye

[GeoffR]

Is the factory reset option on the device settings page greyed out? If so then the device might be in shop demo mode, in which case try typing demomodeoff into the search box on the home screen.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by prye

I have a strange problem with my son's Kobo Glo.

When syncing, it fails to update the firmware (currently at 2.8.1) and fails to transfer a recent Kobo book purchase. The purchased book is available on the Desktop app.

I can see that the firmware update is downloaded to the .kobo directory and have confirmed that the file contains the correct KoboRoot.tgz.
Once the reader is ejected, the update doesn't proceed - the Kobo just returns to the home screen, and the update files are deleted.

It sounds like you put the download zip file into .kobo, whereas you need to put the contents of the .zip file into .kobo, the "upgrade" folder, the KoboRoot.tgz, and the "manifest.md5sum".

Luck;
Ken

[prye]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Is the factory reset option on the device settings page greyed out? If so then the device might be in shop demo mode, in which case try typing demomodeoff into the search box on the home screen.

Thanks for your prompt reply and suggestion.
The factory reset option is not greyed out, and the Kobo has been used, and continues to be used almost as normal. We are just unable to remove or add futher books.

[prye]

Originally Posted by Ken Maltby

It sounds like you put the download zip file into .kobo, whereas you need to put the contents of the .zip file into .kobo, the "upgrade" folder, the KoboRoot.tgz, and the "manifest.md5sum".

Luck;
Ken

Thanks for your prompt reply and suggestion.
I may not have made myself entirely clear regarding this.
I just let the Desktop app download and install the upgrade as normal, which it appeared to do without problems.

I copied the upgrade *.zip file when it had finished downloading so that I could inspect the contents and compared it with an update file downloaded from elsewhere. It was the same file and with the same contents. Therefore no problems with the download.

I checked on the Kobo (in the .kobo directory) and confirmed that the contents of the *.zip file had indeed been installed to the .kobo directory. That all looked good.

On completion of the sync and ejecting the Kobo, the upgrade doesn't occur. The Kobo returns to the "home" screen almost immediately, and is not upgraded. There is no message to say "Upgrading.." or "Installing upgrade..". Subsequently looking in the .kobo directory shows that the upgrade files have been deleted as I suspect they should be if the upgrade proceeds normally.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,
prye

[PeterT]

How much free space is there on your Kobo?

[prye]

Originally Posted by PeterT

How much free space is there on your Kobo?

Thanks for your reply.
I don't have the Kobo with me at the moment, but there is a great deal of free space available. Currently there are only about 12 books on the device so most of the storage is available.

Regards,
prye

[davidfor]

The firmware not updating is very strange. It almost makes me wonder if someone has modified the script that does this during the startup. But, the factory reset via the buttons should still work.

As a last desperate attempt if nothing above works, format the data partition when it is connected to the PC. This will force it through the setup process again including updating the firmware. I don't really expect the update to work, but it is something to try.

Otherwise, return it as faulty.

[prye]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The firmware not updating is very strange. It almost makes me wonder if someone has modified the script that does this during the startup. But, the factory reset via the buttons should still work.

As a last desperate attempt if nothing above works, format the data partition when it is connected to the PC. This will force it through the setup process again including updating the firmware. I don't really expect the update to work, but it is something to try.

Otherwise, return it as faulty.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try deleting all the files on the data partition, but that didn't work. I'll try formatting it and see how it goes.
It is my son's Kobo, but to the best of my knowledge there has been no attempt to access the hidden partitions or upload any inappropriate firmware. As far as I know it has only been connected via the Kobo Desktop app and only has books on it from the Kobo store.
To alter the update script you would presumably have to have access to the hidden partition or do an update with a modified KoboRoot.tgz file - correct? Even so, as you say, presumably this would be unlikely to affect the data on the "restore" partition and should therefore be recoverable.

Thanks for your help.
Regards,
prye

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by prye

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try deleting all the files on the data partition, but that didn't work. I'll try formatting it and see how it goes.

If you have cleared the partition and restarted, formatting probably won't be any different. But your at the point where you might as well try it.

It is my son's Kobo, but to the best of my knowledge there has been no attempt to access the hidden partitions or upload any inappropriate firmware. As far as I know it has only been connected via the Kobo Desktop app and only has books on it from the Kobo store.
To alter the update script you would presumably have to have access to the hidden partition or do an update with a modified KoboRoot.tgz file - correct? Even so, as you say, presumably this would be unlikely to affect the data on the "restore" partition and should therefore be recoverable.

Yes, you would need to access the system partition and edit the script or have loaded a KoboRoot.tgz that changed the script. There are instructions for doing this somewhere here so that the update files have to be renamed before they get applied. But, that shouldn't affect the restore partition. But, if telnet was enabled, you do have access to the restore partition and someone could mess that up.

I think your at the point where you take it back as faulty, or open it and put a new image on an SD card and install that.