Fix Kobo Clara crashes and freezes

Fixes for when Kobo Clara crashes and freezes. Put your frozen e-reader back to life and prevent crashes.

Fix Kobo Clara crashes and freezes
Kobo Clara e-reader can crash and freeze. Tips to fix a frozen Kobo and prevent further trouble.

My e-reader has become more and more important, and I want to make sure I can rely on it to work. Sometimes, my Kobo Clara e-reader freezes. Sometimes while reading, often when turning it on and off or in sleep mode.

The book you stopped reading yesterday is still on the display, but when you press the on button, only the backlight of the reader goes on. What to do now to make the Kobo wake up?

How do I solve a frozen Kobo Clara?

Put the Kobo on the charger

The most important tip I can give you here is to connect the Kobo to the power after it freezes.

Connect your Kobo Clara before restart
Connect your Kobo Clara before restart

Once the Kobo Clara is attached to the charger, press and hold the power button (on button) for about 15 seconds, and it will shut down. Once the device has shut down you can start it up again.

Please note that this is a reboot and may take a while.

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An e-reader does not need energy to display something on the screen. Displaying content is an analogue, physical process and once done no further energy is needed. This makes it a bit hard to detect that the battery actually is empty. I wrote an article on how e-ink works.

Possible causes of crashes

Most possible cause of a crash is the battery not loaded properly, for instance through a power bank. Sometime the system software might be out of date.

Battery

I have noticed that when the Kobo Clara e-reader is frozen, there is often something wrong with the battery. Poorly charged, for instance with a backup battery. Also, a different charge load is indicated than the one indicated later, after startup.

Try to keep the Kobo charged.

System software

Another possible cause is outdated system software. It is good to keep this up to date.

Keep system software up to date