#boot loop due to a bad .epub

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

versed rose
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heh, I just ended up in an intermittent boot loop after uploading a specific .epub ..
the device would boot to the PIN screen, and then start loading again, over and over. Once every 10 or 20 restarts I would be able to log in, for about 5 minutes, after which it would crash and start reloading again.
I triggered this by changing the justification/size/font of the .epub, and the conversion never finished.
I think I've fixed it now, by ssh'ing in, grepping for the .epub in ~/.local/share/remarkable/xochitl, and rm -r ... for all the related files.
It looks like the offending .epub is gone and it hasn't rebooted.

anyone ever encounter anything like this?

  • deleting from the UI didn't work
  • this is RM2 with latest OS release
sly zodiac
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Thank you for posting, I'll try to make more clear to post issues here.

About the issue, can you share the epub? (Please don't if it has personal information or you are not allowed to share)
Epubs iirc are some kind of html with extra stuff

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Also, the issue triggered after changing the font settings, or happens without that. I think the remarkable has to re-render into another (internal? Pdf?) format every time the settings are changed. So the actual problem could be the rendered file (if it got corrupted for example)

versed rose
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I'm afraid I can't share it.
Yes, it's the re-rendering that triggered the issue. While looking at the related files I saw a .temp.pdf file, so it looks like it crashes before rendering completes.

My guess is that the .epub encoding is bad somehow, wrong character encoding or something.
I was surprised to realize that it's apparently quite easy to DOS the reMarkable via a bad or malicious .epub , and wondered how often this happens.

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At least it seems like it was quite easy to fix in this case. Thankfully I was able to ssh in.

sly zodiac
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The device crashing when epub settings are changed is something which happened often with big files on rm1 and earlier software versions. I fixed them by converting them to pdf first on a computer.
The bootloop is interesting and maybe someone can craft an epub file which reproduces the issue.
I haven't heard of any case of the device restarting itself on boot because of a file.

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I think the crash happens because the tablet tries to reopen the same file it had open.
Had you send the issue to the official support? I would

versed rose
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I haven't yet, I'll do so. 👍

gaunt crest
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Ive had the webinterace crash many times with many epubs but never a boot loop 😧 hope it works out

sly zodiac
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I think the loop is because the device tries to reopen the last opened file, which for me fails most of the time with a message in the bottom of the screen.

versed rose
hasty helm
sullen fulcrum
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Sorry, to revive this thread but I believe I am encountering the same issue. Sadly I don‘t have ssh access to the device. Is ssh the only option to resolve this issue or should simply deleting the epub from the ui do the trick as well?
Nvm, just reread the thread. Will try to get the ssh when the device decides to work again for a couple of seconds

unborn river
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@sullen fulcrum can you share the epub?

sullen fulcrum
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Sadly, not at its copyrighted. But it’s a 500 page long book called “unter der Drachenwand”. I believe that “quitting it unexpectedly” after running out of battery has caused this restart loop. Pretty much given up by this point