I registered just so that I could add a bit more information to the ol' interwebs on the Kobo Aura H2O. I couldn't find much info, and what I did find, I found here so thanks to those who have posted.
My wife received the Kobo as a b-day gift. As it turns out, she had just purchased a bunch of paperback books that she wanted to read, so she put the Kobo away in a cabinet until she finished her books. Well, she forgot about the reader for about a year before pulling it back out. She couldn't get the Kobo to charge. There was also a line running left to right in about the middle of the screen. I'm certain that there was no rough treatment of the reader (good storage temperature, nothing stacked on it, never dropped, etc.) I tried the various reset methods, but nothing worked. Therefore, I decided to open it up to see what was up. Just before opening the unit, my brother-in-law noticed a peculiar issue that I'll talk about in a moment.
First off, I found conflicting info on the webz about the front bezel and the "scalloped edge" piece. Some say that the scalloped edge should come away from the unit along with the front bezel. With my wife's model, they were separate pieces. When I removed the bezel, the scalloped edge remained with the PCB/screen assembly.
Next, when I removed the PCB/screen from the back case, I immediately confirmed what the problem was: the battery was shot. It had swollen to about 2-3 times its original thickness. What my bro-in-law noticed was that there was a gap of some millimeters between the front bezel and the case. The battery was so fat that it forced the PCB/screen to push forward, separating the bezel. It also explained the horizontal line on the screen. I'm sorry that I forgot to take a pic of the battery while it was in this state. You can somewhat see the edge of the puffed battery in one of my pics, but it was even worse in the middle of the battery. A few of my pics are of the battery after I carried it around for a day in a plastic bag while I sought a replacement at some electronics stores. You can see the deflated, wrinkled cell pouch. I found a replacement battery and connected it. I also used silicone sealant to keep the battery in place on the PCB.
Then I cleaned off the old bezel adhesive with lab-grade isopropanol. That worked well. Next, I used clear silicone sealant on the bezel and stacked a few books on the unit for a day. Upon removing the weight, I realized that there was a gap between the bezel and the case on one side; the silicone sealant did not work. However, the reader was working perfectly again. I used my finger to sort of roll up the bits of sealant stuck to the bezel. That worked well. For the stubborn remaining sealant, I again used isopropanol and that did the trick.
Then I tried an adhesive called Aquaseal, made by McNett. It's used for wetsuits, waders, etc. It's completely waterproof and remains flexible. I stacked a few books on it for a day and when I removed them, I was super happy that the bezel was uniformly adhered to the case. But then I got the stupid "Is there water on the screen?" error message. D'oh! Nothing made that message go away. I must have gotten some adhesive somewhere that it shouldn't have been. Oy, I had to take the unit apart again.
Because of the flexiblity of the Aquaseal, it behaved similar to the original adhesive. I was able to use a credit card or some similar card to remove the bezel. Then I once again used isopropanol to remove the Aquaseal. It took a bit longer to remove Aquaseal than the silicone sealant, but not too long.
I then repeated the process again. This time, all worked out well. There was a very small amount of Aquaseal that had squeezed out in just a few spots. I used a combination of my fingernail and a paper towel soaked in, you guessed it, isopropanol to remove that excess.
It seems like a secure fix. I'd even bet that the water resistance is nearly as good as from the factory, though I don't want to piss off the wife by testing it. If it ever falls into the pool or ocean, I'll come back here to update this post with the results.
I'll try to post a bunch of pics that I took. Maybe somebody out there needs a pic of a certain component from a certain angle and these pics may help them.
My wife received the Kobo as a b-day gift. As it turns out, she had just purchased a bunch of paperback books that she wanted to read, so she put the Kobo away in a cabinet until she finished her books. Well, she forgot about the reader for about a year before pulling it back out. She couldn't get the Kobo to charge. There was also a line running left to right in about the middle of the screen. I'm certain that there was no rough treatment of the reader (good storage temperature, nothing stacked on it, never dropped, etc.) I tried the various reset methods, but nothing worked. Therefore, I decided to open it up to see what was up. Just before opening the unit, my brother-in-law noticed a peculiar issue that I'll talk about in a moment.
First off, I found conflicting info on the webz about the front bezel and the "scalloped edge" piece. Some say that the scalloped edge should come away from the unit along with the front bezel. With my wife's model, they were separate pieces. When I removed the bezel, the scalloped edge remained with the PCB/screen assembly.
Next, when I removed the PCB/screen from the back case, I immediately confirmed what the problem was: the battery was shot. It had swollen to about 2-3 times its original thickness. What my bro-in-law noticed was that there was a gap of some millimeters between the front bezel and the case. The battery was so fat that it forced the PCB/screen to push forward, separating the bezel. It also explained the horizontal line on the screen. I'm sorry that I forgot to take a pic of the battery while it was in this state. You can somewhat see the edge of the puffed battery in one of my pics, but it was even worse in the middle of the battery. A few of my pics are of the battery after I carried it around for a day in a plastic bag while I sought a replacement at some electronics stores. You can see the deflated, wrinkled cell pouch. I found a replacement battery and connected it. I also used silicone sealant to keep the battery in place on the PCB.
Then I cleaned off the old bezel adhesive with lab-grade isopropanol. That worked well. Next, I used clear silicone sealant on the bezel and stacked a few books on the unit for a day. Upon removing the weight, I realized that there was a gap between the bezel and the case on one side; the silicone sealant did not work. However, the reader was working perfectly again. I used my finger to sort of roll up the bits of sealant stuck to the bezel. That worked well. For the stubborn remaining sealant, I again used isopropanol and that did the trick.
Then I tried an adhesive called Aquaseal, made by McNett. It's used for wetsuits, waders, etc. It's completely waterproof and remains flexible. I stacked a few books on it for a day and when I removed them, I was super happy that the bezel was uniformly adhered to the case. But then I got the stupid "Is there water on the screen?" error message. D'oh! Nothing made that message go away. I must have gotten some adhesive somewhere that it shouldn't have been. Oy, I had to take the unit apart again.
Because of the flexiblity of the Aquaseal, it behaved similar to the original adhesive. I was able to use a credit card or some similar card to remove the bezel. Then I once again used isopropanol to remove the Aquaseal. It took a bit longer to remove Aquaseal than the silicone sealant, but not too long.
I then repeated the process again. This time, all worked out well. There was a very small amount of Aquaseal that had squeezed out in just a few spots. I used a combination of my fingernail and a paper towel soaked in, you guessed it, isopropanol to remove that excess.
It seems like a secure fix. I'd even bet that the water resistance is nearly as good as from the factory, though I don't want to piss off the wife by testing it. If it ever falls into the pool or ocean, I'll come back here to update this post with the results.
I'll try to post a bunch of pics that I took. Maybe somebody out there needs a pic of a certain component from a certain angle and these pics may help them.