Glo Second Hand Glo Woes

GeeBox · 03-03-2023, 01:45 AM

Hello all,
I recently picked up a second hand Kobo Glo and have spent the past week trying to get it into working order. I am now starting to realise why it was on the second-hand market in the first place. I figured if there was a way to fix the problem I have currently, then someone here would be able to point me in the right direction. But I dunno, I might be shit outta luck.

My first problem was that I could not get it to update. Wireless would not work and computer set up would not work until it did. I downloaded the latest update, tied the device to my Kobo account, the Glo starts updating and then I run into problem two.

Problem two is that the display goes white with black dotted lines streaking down vertically and blinking. No indication that it's still updating or doing anything at all. I found a reddit post with the same problem and their solution was to do a manual reset. I did that and the display is back to perfectly working order. I plug it back in to get the update, it goes through the exact same process except now the display goes black and the blinking dotted lines reappear and they are white.

Except now, a factory reset does not work. And pushing a pin in the little hole next to the usb port does not work. And the display has a burnt in image of the updating hourglass vaguey visable through the white lines which have stopped blinking all together. I try to turn the device on or off (it's hard to tell which state it is currently in) but to no avail.

What I'm left with is a Kobo Glo that appears bricked. If I turn it on, the LED turns on and is blue, turns green for a second, goes back to blue, and then 10 seconds later turns off. The same thing happens when I plug it in to charge. If I turn it off, the LED turns red and stays red for 10 seconds. The same thing happens when I try the process of a factory reset. But the display is still stuck black with white lines and a little hourglass afterglow.

So. Have I completely wasted my time and should just chuck the damn thing? Has anyone had this bizarre issue before and been able to fix it? Any vague ideas of what maybe has gone wrong? I'll try anything at this point, I feel like I can't go a whole lot more harm than I have already.

coolloser · 04-05-2023, 03:50 PM

The dots mean it was in the middle of an update so it probably got corrupted in the middle. Grab a disc image, pull the SD card out and flash it. It also could be the SD card itself, that's easy enough to replace too.

ZodWallop · 04-05-2023, 04:35 PM

The black screen with the white dots was the Glo updating itself.

The hourglass afterimage was likely just ghosting. Get used to that with e-ink. It's not there forever.

Your screen isn't broken and your battery isn't dead. You can get this Glo working.

I'll let someone with more technical knowledge guide you further. But FYI (once your Glo is working), you can actually download the updates on your PC and drop them on the Kobo rather than relying on WiFi or the Kobo desktop app.

03-03-2023, 01:45 AM	#1
GeeBox Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2023 Device: Kobo Glo	Second Hand Glo Woes Hello all, I recently picked up a second hand Kobo Glo and have spent the past week trying to get it into working order. I am now starting to realise why it was on the second-hand market in the first place. I figured if there was a way to fix the problem I have currently, then someone here would be able to point me in the right direction. But I dunno, I might be shit outta luck. My first problem was that I could not get it to update. Wireless would not work and computer set up would not work until it did. I downloaded the latest update, tied the device to my Kobo account, the Glo starts updating and then I run into problem two. Problem two is that the display goes white with black dotted lines streaking down vertically and blinking. No indication that it's still updating or doing anything at all. I found a reddit post with the same problem and their solution was to do a manual reset. I did that and the display is back to perfectly working order. I plug it back in to get the update, it goes through the exact same process except now the display goes black and the blinking dotted lines reappear and they are white. Except now, a factory reset does not work. And pushing a pin in the little hole next to the usb port does not work. And the display has a burnt in image of the updating hourglass vaguey visable through the white lines which have stopped blinking all together. I try to turn the device on or off (it's hard to tell which state it is currently in) but to no avail. What I'm left with is a Kobo Glo that appears bricked. If I turn it on, the LED turns on and is blue, turns green for a second, goes back to blue, and then 10 seconds later turns off. The same thing happens when I plug it in to charge. If I turn it off, the LED turns red and stays red for 10 seconds. The same thing happens when I try the process of a factory reset. But the display is still stuck black with white lines and a little hourglass afterglow. So. Have I completely wasted my time and should just chuck the damn thing? Has anyone had this bizarre issue before and been able to fix it? Any vague ideas of what maybe has gone wrong? I'll try anything at this point, I feel like I can't go a whole lot more harm than I have already.

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04-05-2023, 03:50 PM	#2
coolloser Enthusiast Posts: 34 Karma: 451448 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: Sony Prs-600,T2, Kobo Mini, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura, Kindle 3G/PW4/PW5/O3	The dots mean it was in the middle of an update so it probably got corrupted in the middle. Grab a disc image, pull the SD card out and flash it. It also could be the SD card itself, that's easy enough to replace too.

04-05-2023, 04:35 PM	#3
ZodWallop Gentleman and scholar Posts: 11,093 Karma: 109236025 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Space City, Texas Device: Clara HD; Nook ST w/Glowlight, (2015) Glowlight Plus, Paperwhite 3	The black screen with the white dots was the Glo updating itself. The hourglass afterimage was likely just ghosting. Get used to that with e-ink. It's not there forever. Your screen isn't broken and your battery isn't dead. You can get this Glo working. I'll let someone with more technical knowledge guide you further. But FYI (once your Glo is working), you can actually download the updates on your PC and drop them on the Kobo rather than relying on WiFi or the Kobo desktop app.

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