Kindle not showing up as USB-Device after "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE"

kotyledone · 12-19-2023, 07:04 AM

Hey there,

my (unregistered) Kindle Paperwhite (11 gen.) froze while transferring books via USB. Restarting using the power button did not work - it just stayed frozen on the "Library Page" (and right now - after 3 days still is). So I added an empty file with "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE" in both the main folder as well as the documents folder. I disconnected the device and tryed rebooting again. The screen content did not change - just the brightness level. Then I plugged it in to USB and now it's not showing up anymore (used to be (E

Drive). I'm still able to find it in device manager as a "portable device" - and as "Kindle Internal Storage USB Device" under Drives. But I cannot find it on "This PC" where it used to be.

Can someone help me?

kotyledone · 12-19-2023, 09:50 AM

When comparing the old (still working 6 gen PW) with the new (11 gen PW) in the device manager I cannot see a difference. Just that for the new one I dont get a pop-up that a new device has been noticed and that I cannot access the storage through - it seems like the content is invisible.. did i fuck up the software by the "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE" command?

shamanNS · 12-19-2023, 01:10 PM

@kotyledone To me it looks like it could maybe be one more victim of "killed by a reboot / restart" issue Kindle PW5 (aka Kindle Paperwhite 11 Gen) still has? (and definitely had in the past, I would know ).

I had 2 out of 2 Kindle PW5 permanently stuck in a "bootloop" ( as in device restarts every 15-30 second, until it discharges the battery, and after recharge it still behaves in the same way) after a device restart was needed because something / whatever glitched while using it normally .

That seems to be a common thing between various people that had their Kindle PW5s "self-brick on restart": something doesn't work (like transferred book doesn't show up on screen, or in my case Kindle stopped displaying screensaver image) correctly and then the user tries to see if a restart / OS reboot will fix things.. and then there is nothing more to be done except ask Amazon support to send a replacement unit.

First of my two PW5 brick isn't even detected at all, not for a second when connected to computer via USB cable and the second gets detected as a removable drive without any file system of disk size being seen as existing on that Kindle drive. So size 0 & unformatted Kindle drive is what my computer detects for some number of second between two restarts.
So in my case not even a chance of copying that "DO_FACTORY_RESET" file to try and factory reset it.

So, from you comment I'm not sure what state you Kindle is currently (other than kindle files not showing over USB cable), as in is it restarting itself? Does the image / content displayed on the screen changes or stays always the same, and what does it display?

Is it disappearing and reappearing inside Device Manager on Windows PC?

If WiFi was turned on on your Kindle prior to that getting stuck do you see it as an online device on your home router??

I'm curious about a few things: what firmware version was on your Kindle PW5? And is your unit a 8GB or 16 GB model?
I was really hopping that maybe newer firmware version and/or transitioning to 16 GB eMMC chip has fixed the issue that "bit" me 2 times already has been resolved.
Since both of my now "dead" PW5 were using the same firmware v5.14.1.1 (and I've blocked the OTA updates so they stayed on that early firmware build) and both were 8GB models.
Now the replacement of a replacement I'm gonna get finally in ~10 days from now will be a 16GB PW5 model...

kotyledone · 12-21-2023, 04:49 AM

So: its a 8GB version, and I manually updated it to 5.16.5 (I just bought it 2nd hand and had problems signing in, so I wanted to see if updating would solve that problem (it did not, as the old user didn't deregister)).

For the state it is in: It froze when I pulled out the USB connection after transferring a book. The screen is since then stuck on the Library Page, and it does not react (beside the Light turning on when I hit the power button). It is re/appearing in device manager - but the content is not accessible.

I read somewhere that if the kindle is completly new and has not been logged into wifi, and the amazon registration has not been completed/skipped - then the drive/content is not accessible either... is that true? If so, could it be that by "DO_FACTORY_RESET" I put it into this new-and-out-of-the-box-status, and now it wants to start the registration process, which I cannot see because the screen is frozen?

12-19-2023, 07:04 AM	#1
kotyledone Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2023 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11 Gen.	Kindle not showing up as USB-Device after "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE" Hey there, my (unregistered) Kindle Paperwhite (11 gen.) froze while transferring books via USB. Restarting using the power button did not work - it just stayed frozen on the "Library Page" (and right now - after 3 days still is). So I added an empty file with "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE" in both the main folder as well as the documents folder. I disconnected the device and tryed rebooting again. The screen content did not change - just the brightness level. Then I plugged it in to USB and now it's not showing up anymore (used to be (E Drive). I'm still able to find it in device manager as a "portable device" - and as "Kindle Internal Storage USB Device" under Drives. But I cannot find it on "This PC" where it used to be. Can someone help me?

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12-19-2023, 09:50 AM	#2
kotyledone Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2023 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11 Gen.	When comparing the old (still working 6 gen PW) with the new (11 gen PW) in the device manager I cannot see a difference. Just that for the new one I dont get a pop-up that a new device has been noticed and that I cannot access the storage through - it seems like the content is invisible.. did i fuck up the software by the "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE" command?

12-19-2023, 01:10 PM	#3
shamanNS Guru Posts: 917 Karma: 10500004 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Serbia Device: Kindle PW5, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle PW1	@kotyledone To me it looks like it could maybe be one more victim of "killed by a reboot / restart" issue Kindle PW5 (aka Kindle Paperwhite 11 Gen) still has? (and definitely had in the past, I would know ). I had 2 out of 2 Kindle PW5 permanently stuck in a "bootloop" ( as in device restarts every 15-30 second, until it discharges the battery, and after recharge it still behaves in the same way) after a device restart was needed because something / whatever glitched while using it normally . That seems to be a common thing between various people that had their Kindle PW5s "self-brick on restart": something doesn't work (like transferred book doesn't show up on screen, or in my case Kindle stopped displaying screensaver image) correctly and then the user tries to see if a restart / OS reboot will fix things.. and then there is nothing more to be done except ask Amazon support to send a replacement unit. First of my two PW5 brick isn't even detected at all, not for a second when connected to computer via USB cable and the second gets detected as a removable drive without any file system of disk size being seen as existing on that Kindle drive. So size 0 & unformatted Kindle drive is what my computer detects for some number of second between two restarts. So in my case not even a chance of copying that "DO_FACTORY_RESET" file to try and factory reset it. So, from you comment I'm not sure what state you Kindle is currently (other than kindle files not showing over USB cable), as in is it restarting itself? Does the image / content displayed on the screen changes or stays always the same, and what does it display? Is it disappearing and reappearing inside Device Manager on Windows PC? If WiFi was turned on on your Kindle prior to that getting stuck do you see it as an online device on your home router?? I'm curious about a few things: what firmware version was on your Kindle PW5? And is your unit a 8GB or 16 GB model? I was really hopping that maybe newer firmware version and/or transitioning to 16 GB eMMC chip has fixed the issue that "bit" me 2 times already has been resolved. Since both of my now "dead" PW5 were using the same firmware v5.14.1.1 (and I've blocked the OTA updates so they stayed on that early firmware build) and both were 8GB models. Now the replacement of a replacement I'm gonna get finally in ~10 days from now will be a 16GB PW5 model...

12-21-2023, 04:49 AM	#4
kotyledone Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2023 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 11 Gen.	So: its a 8GB version, and I manually updated it to 5.16.5 (I just bought it 2nd hand and had problems signing in, so I wanted to see if updating would solve that problem (it did not, as the old user didn't deregister)). For the state it is in: It froze when I pulled out the USB connection after transferring a book. The screen is since then stuck on the Library Page, and it does not react (beside the Light turning on when I hit the power button). It is re/appearing in device manager - but the content is not accessible. I read somewhere that if the kindle is completly new and has not been logged into wifi, and the amazon registration has not been completed/skipped - then the drive/content is not accessible either... is that true? If so, could it be that by "DO_FACTORY_RESET" I put it into this new-and-out-of-the-box-status, and now it wants to start the registration process, which I cannot see because the screen is frozen?