Have I bricked my Kobo Mini?

[bluepeter]

I think I've fouled up. But if anyone has any helpful comments (including confirming that I've made a mess of things), they'd be welcome.

I have a Kobo Mini, bought secondhand on eBay some years ago. I don't use it a lot, but rather like it for its portability when I'm travelling. I'm well aware that Kobo has discontinued support for it, but thought that I could still synchronise my collection of Kobo e-books with it. This morning, I tried to do that. It wouldn't connect to either my wi-fi network or the Kobo Desktop program. Was I mistaken in thinking that the books could still be synchronised?

I then performed a factory reset (possibly not the best thing I've ever done, but it seemed like a good idea at the time).

I'm now unable to get through the setup routine. It still won't connect to either Kobo Desktop or my wi-fi network.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Kobo Desktop. When I connect the Mini to my computer, Kobo Desktop says that it's downloading an upgrade for the e-reader, but then (after the download is apparently complete) complains that there's no Internet connection.

I'm now unable to complete the Mini setup.

Have I bricked the Mini, or is the situation recoverable?

[user105]

not sure, but maybe the activation server is offline for the mini?
i dont have a mini so i cannot test but, i would try skipping the setup, if the device is old, kobo might not have blocked it.

the device does show up in the explorer as a storage device, right?

https://kobo-offline.virgulilla.com/

[user105]

if its still supported, you might have a very old firmware, with the certs having expired

using manual update could fix that....

[user105]

yes, look at this old thread: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=337788

the certs, server is offline for the mini, hence sync and update does not work anymore, before you needed to sync files in a different way, manual or calibre or something else.

your device i now not able to complete the setup because of missing sever support.

please try the offline sqlite db method, i am not sure if this works on the mini, check also the old thread and maybe someone has an idea how to complete offline setup on mini

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by user105

not sure, but maybe the activation server is offline for the mini?
i dont have a mini so i cannot test but, i would try skipping the setup, if the device is old, kobo might not have blocked it.

the device does show up in the explorer as a storage device, right?

https://kobo-offline.virgulilla.com/

No, it doesn't show up in Explorer - presumably because it's stuck at the beginning of the setup process and so doesn't give me the usual message about having detected a computer and inviting me to connect the e-reader to it.

I'd be very happy to skip the setup if that'd allow me to load books from Calibre (or directly through Windows Explorer) and then read them. That'd be a fine, if not perfect, solution.

I took a quick look at the site t which you linked and fell at the first hurdle. It wanted me to install DB Browser for SQLite, but the link was broken. I think I've found it elsewhere, and will now try to see if I can follow the instructions given. At this stage, I'm not terribly confident, given that the device isn't even visible in Explorer. I'll report back when I've given it a go. (Even the "Easier option for average users" looks plenty complicated to me!)

Thank you for your reply.

[user105]

Hi,
You need to get the device show up in the explorer. You can use any db explorer once that is happening

I would remove the kobo desktop app and the drivers ; even check the hidden devices in the windows device manager if anything kobo related is there

Then I would reset the device again like this : https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/artic...your-Kobo-Mini

And connect it again to the computer ,
I wish you good luck and hope you can fix it !


BTW I am not familiar with the kobo mini , but does it have removable storage ? Maybe like this you can edit the database/ place the update file

[user105]

It seems it has removable storage:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=73QGYk...ture=emb_title

I eouod rake the SD card , make an image for backup and edit the database after factory reset

[bluepeter]

Later...

I think you've cracked it for me. It took me a bit of time, but I believe that I've got there.

Thank you very much for your help.

FWIW, I did the following:
1. Installed and loaded DB Browser for SQLite;
2. Restarted the Kobo setup process, telling it that I was going to do it by USB link to my computer - this made the device visible in Explorer;
3. Carefully followed the instructions to which you linked;
4. Ejected and disconnected the e-reader;
5. The e-reader now took me to the home page, but it was a prehistoric version - for reasons beyond my understanding, the firmware had been rolled back to a very old version.
6. Went back to the instructions, downloaded the most recent firmware, installed it.
7. Ejected the device again, and got to the more recent home page.
8. Reconnected the device to my computer, ran Calibre, sent a few books from Calibre to the e-reader.
9. Ejected the e-reader.
10. Success - I can now see my books and read them!

I'm not terribly worried about not being able to synchonise my library directly with Kobo. Doing it via Calibre works well for me.

I'm very grateful for your help. You've saved a device that I thought I was going to have to junk.

[user105]

Haha,
Great I am happy that you solved and fixed your device. I find it very sad that in our times perfectly fine working hardware is supposed to be thrown away because of software.

I am glad I could help you; it was fun and I really enjoy things that get a 2nd chance
Talking about that; you might want to check out the YouTube link anyway, he is upgrading the internal memory, giving you even more space for book

Anyhow , gg and have a great day

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by user105

Haha,
Great I am happy that you solved and fixed your device. I find it very sad that in our times perfectly fine working hardware is supposed to be thrown away because of software.

I am glad I could help you; it was fun and I really enjoy things that get a 2nd chance
Talking about that; you might want to check out the YouTube link anyway, he is upgrading the internal memory, giving you even more space for book

Anyhow , gg and have a great day

Yes, it would have been sad to have to throw out a perfectly good bit of hardware.

I've long been aware that it's possible to upgrade the storage in my Mini. Indeed, I saw a YouTube video demonstration several years ago. However, that's something that's definitely beyond my capabilities. Whilst an increase in storage would be nice to have, it's definitely not critical. The Mini isn't my primary e-reader, and careful housekeeping isn't too onerous.

[bluepeter]

Later still...

I took a look at the old thread to which you linked, and was very interested by the reference to loading Glo firmware onto the Mini. I took the risk, and downloaded Glo firmware (4.38.21908) and dropped it onto the Mini. I'm pleased to report that it updated successfully. My Mini now has the version 4 UI, which I consider a significant improvement on the version 3 UI, the most recent Mini firmware. So the end result is that, after today's problems, my Mini is now better to use than it was yesterday.

[Quoth]

Also SideloadedMode=true should now work in the conf file.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also SideloadedMode=true should now work in the conf file.

Thanks, but I haven't got a clue what that means, let alone what to do with the information.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

Later still...

I took a look at the old thread to which you linked, and was very interested by the reference to loading Glo firmware onto the Mini. I took the risk, and downloaded Glo firmware (4.38.21908) and dropped it onto the Mini. I'm pleased to report that it updated successfully. My Mini now has the version 4 UI, which I consider a significant improvement on the version 3 UI, which is the most recent Mini firmware. So the end result is that, after today's problems, my Mini is now better to use than it was yesterday.

Congratulations. With that firmware the Mini should still work online at Kobo. You can even buy books directly from Kobo with it. (At least I can buy books with my Mini using firmware 4.35.20xx.)

I ran into the same issue you did for setup. WiFi wouldn't work and, when I tried to use the Kobo Desktop, it would always time out. I just downloaded the Glo firmware, told setup to use the Kobo Desktop (to get it to see the computer) and then copied the update files via the USB cable. (I use Linux and didn't have any trouble connecting when I did that.)

At any rate, I'm happy it works. I just recently put a 32 GB microSD card in mine, so now I have over 28 GBs of available storage. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I had the spare microSD card and... why not?

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Congratulations. With that firmware the Mini should still work online at Kobo. You can even buy books directly from Kobo with it. (At least I can buy books with my Mini using firmware 4.35.20xx.)

At any rate, I'm happy it works. I just recently put a 32 GB microSD card in mine, so now I have over 28 GBs of available storage. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I had the spare microSD card and... why not?

I wondered about being able to use the device online with Kobo again, now that I've got v.4 firmware on it. But I guess I'd have to edit the KoboReader.sqlite file with DB Browser or SQLite again before I could do so - I'd have to substitute my real details for the fake ones that I put in earlier. I don't think it's worth the effort now that I've got where I am: I'm happy to carry on loading books with Calibre. (I never buy directly from my e-readers anyway. I prefer to browse and buy on my PC.)

I love the idea of a 32GB μSD card in a Mini, though 8GB would be more than enough for me if I was going to do that upgrade. However, as I said earlier, that job's beyond my capabilities.