Troubleshooting Kindle 4 (9023) bricked after sleeping?

Darthagnon · 02-04-2024, 08:21 PM

I have a Kindle 4, black, 9023 serial, v4.1.4 firmware, jailbroken.

I take good care of it; it's in an official leather Amazon case, has a magnetic charging cable attachment to avoid wearing out the microUSB port and I don't use it very often, except to read occasionally in KOReader.

It was working fine, until today. I noticed a couple days ago that it didn't respond after being left asleep in KOReader for a few days, so I did a hard reset. It rebooted to the Kindle menu and all was well. I charged it, put it to sleep again, and left it until today.

It displays the last screensaver, but does not respond to the power button or anything else, as if it's bricked. The orange charging light lights up intermittently when plugged in to charge with various charging cables. Holding the power button for ages makes the orange power light go out, but nothing more. There is no visible bulge in the back cover where the battery is.

Can anyone offer any suggestions to get my Kindle working again? I haven't done any software experimentation lately (tried VNC a while back but haven't touched it since), keep it in airplane mode ever since it connected one time to the internet and Amazon reset the jailbreak (ShutTheBackDoor doesn't seem to do anything to stop Amazon connecting).

Darthagnon · 02-04-2024, 08:31 PM

I'm wondering if the battery's died? There were no signs and it seemed to last long enough, but the charging LED will light up orange charging for anywhere from 10s to 10min, then go out (even though I don't move it or touch the cable, and I've tried 2 different known-good cables), but the light does not turn green.

Quoth · 02-05-2024, 06:18 AM

Sounds like a dead battery. My K3 and a friend's both had that symptom. A new battery (cell) solved it.

Darthagnon · 02-06-2024, 04:49 PM

Thank you, Quoth, for your advice!

Did the Kindles you saw just randomly die one day, refuse to charge and it turned out to be the battery?

The only thing stopping me from ordering a battery right now is there were no prior signs - battery appeared to last long enough, no battery death screen, just the last wallpaper.

EDIT: Do you remember where you got good replacement legacy Kindle batteries?

Quoth · 02-06-2024, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darthagnon

Thank you, Quoth, for your advice!

Did the Kindles you saw just randomly die one day, refuse to charge and it turned out to be the battery?

One anyway. One went bad in a short period and the other was from a friend and they just said, "It's dead". Also replaced cell in a DXG, though compared to a K3 is rubbish.

jackm8 · 02-06-2024, 07:11 PM

Most likely it's something to do with battery. First try to long reset it as described here: https://www.amazonforum.com/s/questi...zen-on-archive

I woke up mine that way once the battery was left drained for a few months. Jailbroken, but just for custom fonts in menus and in reader. It's still working right now, but I'm getting a feeling that battery won't hold forever. Battery life is still extremely long, so that's not a proper indication of its health. It takes a very long time to fully charge to 100% and green light. I instead charge it to around 95%, and I try to remember to charge it up before it's fully drained. Battery indicator is a bit iffy as well. It doesn't work quite as it used to. Sometime I'll go fast from 50% to empty, sometime it'll feel like it's on 90% forever.

There's plenty of 4 gen Kindle battery replacement tutorials on youtoube, and teardown doesn't appear to be particularly difficult, so that would be my choice. Finding the right battery might be a problem, though. And it could be also something else that failed.

Frogm4n · 02-08-2024, 02:34 PM

The K4 is no fun to get into (also video)compared to the K3. Be careful and don't get too enthusiastic getting the back off. There are fragile ribbon cables right where you'd want to pry.

Darthagnon · 02-11-2024, 11:56 AM

Got the back off, only broke a couple of clips (glad I've got the official, tight, Amazon case) battery (fully charged?) voltage is 2.92V, whereas it should be 3.7V

Does that mean it's a dead battery? Wondering if I should try jump-starting it...

Quoth · 02-11-2024, 12:11 PM

About 4.2V approx is fully charged and 3.6V empty.
2.9V is dead.
No, risk of fire or even explosion.

You need a new battery (really a cell).

https://batteryuniversity.com/articl...batteries-work

Li-Poly cell in a Kindle is similar to Lithium Ion.

hondabf · 02-11-2024, 11:30 PM

You might as well stop using the magnetic USB cable, I know you don't use it very often, but there have been several reports of users claiming that the magnetic tip has either damaged or bricked their devices, some people say it's only safe while charging, some other say the design it's not compliant with USB specifications, and even a few others say the tip fried their circuits.

Overall, your magnetic tip may as well be damaging your port little by little, or worse, might be somewhat responsible for what happened to the battery.

Darthagnon · 02-15-2024, 04:17 PM

I'm wondering if it's completely bricked... Bought a new battery, and it's plugged in and charging nicely, orange light and all, but no signs of life on pressing the power :'(

That warning about the magnetic port has put the fear of God into me. It's one of these.

Are there any other parts of the circuit I should check? It seems to charge, LED, board warms up, battery warms up.

EDIT: It's heating up and draining the battery, voltage dropped from 3.7 to 3.4 volts over around 1h. No visible activity or shorts on the board.

Quoth · 02-15-2024, 05:18 PM

Charge till green, then with charger disconnected do the long reboot press. May need done more than once to start booting.

Darthagnon · 02-15-2024, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Charge till green, then with charger disconnected do the long reboot press. May need done more than once to start booting.

Should I be concerned abou the heating or voltage drop? Not sure how long it will charge, nervous it might catch fire or something.

Quoth · 02-16-2024, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darthagnon

EDIT: It's heating up and draining the battery, voltage dropped from 3.7 to 3.4 volts over around 1h. No visible activity or shorts on the board.

Just seen this. That means the board is faulty. Below 3.6V the battery may never recover.

Disconnect the battery. It's a fire risk.

Darthagnon · 02-16-2024, 03:05 PM

Guess I'm now in the market for a new mobo for the Kindle 4. Guessing a busted screen one on eBay is the way to go. Sad that it randomly happened like that, and nervous about what may have caused it. (Room humidity? Magnetic miniUSB? KindleVNC glitch? Amazon DRM?)

Charging overnight didn't do anything, so I disconnected the battery, but I'm lucky that it stays at 3.74V, didn't cook it.

I didn't lose any data really, as I have all my books in Calibre and was only reading 2 which I remember where I was.

02-04-2024, 08:21 PM	#1
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	Kindle 4 (9023) bricked after sleeping? I have a Kindle 4, black, 9023 serial, v4.1.4 firmware, jailbroken. I take good care of it; it's in an official leather Amazon case, has a magnetic charging cable attachment to avoid wearing out the microUSB port and I don't use it very often, except to read occasionally in KOReader. It was working fine, until today. I noticed a couple days ago that it didn't respond after being left asleep in KOReader for a few days, so I did a hard reset. It rebooted to the Kindle menu and all was well. I charged it, put it to sleep again, and left it until today. It displays the last screensaver, but does not respond to the power button or anything else, as if it's bricked. The orange charging light lights up intermittently when plugged in to charge with various charging cables. Holding the power button for ages makes the orange power light go out, but nothing more. There is no visible bulge in the back cover where the battery is. Can anyone offer any suggestions to get my Kindle working again? I haven't done any software experimentation lately (tried VNC a while back but haven't touched it since), keep it in airplane mode ever since it connected one time to the internet and Amazon reset the jailbreak (ShutTheBackDoor doesn't seem to do anything to stop Amazon connecting).

02-06-2024, 07:11 PM	#6
jackm8 Zealot Posts: 115 Karma: 28464 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	Most likely it's something to do with battery. First try to long reset it as described here: https://www.amazonforum.com/s/questi...zen-on-archive I woke up mine that way once the battery was left drained for a few months. Jailbroken, but just for custom fonts in menus and in reader. It's still working right now, but I'm getting a feeling that battery won't hold forever. Battery life is still extremely long, so that's not a proper indication of its health. It takes a very long time to fully charge to 100% and green light. I instead charge it to around 95%, and I try to remember to charge it up before it's fully drained. Battery indicator is a bit iffy as well. It doesn't work quite as it used to. Sometime I'll go fast from 50% to empty, sometime it'll feel like it's on 90% forever. There's plenty of 4 gen Kindle battery replacement tutorials on youtoube, and teardown doesn't appear to be particularly difficult, so that would be my choice. Finding the right battery might be a problem, though. And it could be also something else that failed. Last edited by jackm8; 02-06-2024 at 07:14 PM.

02-08-2024, 02:34 PM	#7
Frogm4n Zealot Posts: 105 Karma: 1015073 Join Date: Jul 2023 Device: Kindle Scribe	The K4 is no fun to get into (also video)compared to the K3. Be careful and don't get too enthusiastic getting the back off. There are fragile ribbon cables right where you'd want to pry. Last edited by Frogm4n; 02-08-2024 at 02:37 PM.

02-15-2024, 04:17 PM	#11
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	I'm wondering if it's completely bricked... Bought a new battery, and it's plugged in and charging nicely, orange light and all, but no signs of life on pressing the power :'( That warning about the magnetic port has put the fear of God into me. It's one of these. Are there any other parts of the circuit I should check? It seems to charge, LED, board warms up, battery warms up. EDIT: It's heating up and draining the battery, voltage dropped from 3.7 to 3.4 volts over around 1h. No visible activity or shorts on the board. Last edited by Darthagnon; 02-15-2024 at 05:36 PM.

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02-04-2024, 08:31 PM	#2
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	I'm wondering if the battery's died? There were no signs and it seemed to last long enough, but the charging LED will light up orange charging for anywhere from 10s to 10min, then go out (even though I don't move it or touch the cable, and I've tried 2 different known-good cables), but the light does not turn green.

02-05-2024, 06:18 AM	#3
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,164 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Sounds like a dead battery. My K3 and a friend's both had that symptom. A new battery (cell) solved it.

02-06-2024, 04:49 PM	#4
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	Thank you, Quoth, for your advice! Did the Kindles you saw just randomly die one day, refuse to charge and it turned out to be the battery? The only thing stopping me from ordering a battery right now is there were no prior signs - battery appeared to last long enough, no battery death screen, just the last wallpaper. EDIT: Do you remember where you got good replacement legacy Kindle batteries?

02-11-2024, 11:56 AM	#8
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	Got the back off, only broke a couple of clips (glad I've got the official, tight, Amazon case) battery (fully charged?) voltage is 2.92V, whereas it should be 3.7V Does that mean it's a dead battery? Wondering if I should try jump-starting it...

02-11-2024, 12:11 PM	#9
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,164 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	About 4.2V approx is fully charged and 3.6V empty. 2.9V is dead. No, risk of fire or even explosion. You need a new battery (really a cell). https://batteryuniversity.com/articl...batteries-work Li-Poly cell in a Kindle is similar to Lithium Ion.

02-11-2024, 11:30 PM	#10
hondabf Paranoid Monster Posts: 14 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2024 Device: Kindle PW4	You might as well stop using the magnetic USB cable, I know you don't use it very often, but there have been several reports of users claiming that the magnetic tip has either damaged or bricked their devices, some people say it's only safe while charging, some other say the design it's not compliant with USB specifications, and even a few others say the tip fried their circuits. Overall, your magnetic tip may as well be damaging your port little by little, or worse, might be somewhat responsible for what happened to the battery.

02-15-2024, 05:18 PM	#12
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,164 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Charge till green, then with charger disconnected do the long reboot press. May need done more than once to start booting.

02-16-2024, 03:05 PM	#15
Darthagnon Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Device: Kindle Voyage	Guess I'm now in the market for a new mobo for the Kindle 4. Guessing a busted screen one on eBay is the way to go. Sad that it randomly happened like that, and nervous about what may have caused it. (Room humidity? Magnetic miniUSB? KindleVNC glitch? Amazon DRM?) Charging overnight didn't do anything, so I disconnected the battery, but I'm lucky that it stays at 3.74V, didn't cook it. I didn't lose any data really, as I have all my books in Calibre and was only reading 2 which I remember where I was.

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