Other What's ruining your life right now?

More tablet fun: got given an ancient Kobo Arc 7 Android tablet that was surplus to requirements. Fire it up, you get about 30 seconds of Android then it reboots. Fair enough, boot to recovery and factory reset. Works a charm.

Well, it loads the Kobo Setup Wizard, because of course Kobo wouldn't use Google's Setup Wizard. Question one: language. Easy enough. Question two: Wi-Fi network. There you go.

"Checking for updates..."

Go ahead, I doubt you'll find one.

"Unable to Update. We were unable to download the update for your tablet. Please try again, or connect to a different Wi-Fi network. Error #7."

I don't really care. Wait, why are my only options "Try Again" and "Change Wi-Fi"? Whatever, hit the back button, don't choose any network, hit Next. Hit Next. Hit. Next. NEXT.

Ah. Not only do you have to connect to a Wi-Fi network, but there's no way to cancel or skip the update check. The hardware's fine, but Kobo's effectively bricked it from a distance by removing the update file from its servers. Amaze.

Can't find a working custom ROM, either - plenty for the Kobo Arc 10 HD, though - and even if I did you need to be able to boot Android in order to install the custom recovery...

EDIT:
Fired off a "whyfore you bugger everything up" email to Rakuten Kobo, as it is now, and it turns out there was a mandatory update in January which you had to install by the end of February. They sent links to download the ZIP with instructions on installing via Windows and macOS, which I ignored and threw it across via ADB recovery.

Rebooted, started the wizard... still came up with a "Kobo Setup Wizard has stopped responding" error but connected to Wi-Fi and told me there was *another* update, which it has just installed. So... I think it might be recovered. Huzzah!

 

The trouble was finding the latest ROM - but now Rakuten's told me where they are, I was able to transfer and install it via ADB. Job dun!

...now what the hell do I do with a 7" tablet powered by Android 4 on a single-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM?

 

Got a bigger tablet for that - an old Sony Tablet Z. Lovely little thing, and I remember laughing 'cos about a year after I bought it Apple came out with the iPad Air and were all like "THINNEST IPAD YET" but it was still a full millimetre thicker than my Sony...

I'll be sad when it dies. There's nothing really to replace it on the market these days.

 

I had a similar runaround with Student Loans Company for the wife's loan when she left work to be a full-time homemaker and started getting "we're going to put you on an emergency payment schedule" threats. Ended up sending a strongly-worded letter explaining that her income would be zero for the foreseeable future (or at least until the kids start school full-time), that I am the sole breadwinner for the household, that no I would not be sending them bank statements because what I earn is none of their business, and that if they didn't wind their necks in I'd be starting proceedings under the Harassment Act.

Every year since then we've got a letter saying "yup, no problems here, continue not paying your loan, it's fine."

 

SLC, at least, don't try to knock on your door and pretend they have a legal right of entry...

The debt's been sold now. Haven't heard from the new company beyond the notification of sale, so we'll have to wait and see if I need to dig out the letter again. (I put a note at the bottom saying "any further requests will be met by a duplicate of this letter; should our circumstances change I will reach out to you with the relevant information for your records.")