Paperwhite 2 locked up

[Akirainblack]

My PW2 is currently setup with firmware 5.4.0, Jailbroken, with custom screensavers.
On my way to work this morning I tried to turn the page in a book I was reading and nothing happened. I tried to turn it off and nothing happened. Closing the cover (magnetic) didn't illicit the normal response either (I was pretty sure it wouldn't by that stage).
I put it in my jacket pocket thinking I'd give it a few minutes, maybe it was just having a funny five minutes.
If that didn't work I knew I could post here asking if anyone knew a way out of it or if I needed to do a full battery drain to try and get it back. Or if it had to go back to Amazon.
It ended up rebooting (when I took it out of my pocket it was checking for screen savers).
I know that things sometimes go wrong and the old switch it off and back on again usually resolves it.

Should I be worried? Is there anything I can do to check that there's no underlying problem with my Kindle?

Thanks in advance.

[twobob]

hmm... If I had to guess, which I do, "something bad happened" to the MMC.
The kindle was treading water while it figured out what the hell to do.

What you describe was actually a persistent problem in a lot of kindle 3 models, and in fact I returned a few that had that problem.

My advice would be to keep an eye on it, if it happens again I would look to return it. Maybe it was just a one-time screw up, or - as you say - it could mean something badderer lurks on the horizon.

I would chalk it up to experience until it happened again.

[HarryT]

Unfortunately the OP has chosen to Jailbreak the Kindle, and in doing so has removed his option for returning it. If you read Amazon's Terms of Service, it clearly states that firmware modifications void the warranty.

[dsmid]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you read Amazon's Terms of Service, it clearly states that firmware modifications void the warranty.

Can you cite the part that states this ? I am not able to find it.

[HarryT]

Sure. here, for example:

No Reverse Engineering, Decompilation, Disassembly, or Circumvention. You may not (i) modify, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Kindle or the Software whether in whole or in part, (ii) decompile the Software in whole or in part (except to the extent such right cannot be excluded or limited by law and then only when the express permission of Amazon has been sought and refused), or (iii) create any derivative works from or of the Software, or bypass, modify, defeat, or tamper with or circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Kindle or Software or any mechanisms operatively linked to the Software, for example, by augmenting or substituting any digital rights management functionality of the Kindle or Software.

and then:

Termination. Your rights under this Agreement will automatically terminate if you fail to comply with any term of this Agreement. In case of such termination, you must cease all use of the Software, and Amazon may immediately revoke your access to the Service or to Digital Content without refund of any fees. Amazon's failure to insist upon or enforce your strict compliance with this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of any of its rights.

ie you modify the firmware, and you lose all the rights granted by the terms of service, which includes the warranty.

[twobob]

well, at the risk of stating the obvious, remove the JB file, return to factory stock. Return.

I have never, ever, known Amazon to enforce that policy by the way. but your point is valid.

[HarryT]

I've never known them to enforce it either. Just wanted to point out that Jailbreaking can have warranty implications.

[twobob]

Aye, good point, well made.

[dsmid]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sure. here, for example:

ie you modify the firmware, and you lose all the rights granted by the terms of service, which includes the warranty.

The document you linked is very outdated and for some reason the page has title "Blackberry Installation" ???
I believe that document is not valid any more.

The up-to-date documents can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200144520

What Kindle Terms say about the software:

2. Device and Software
Use of the Software. You may use the Software only on a Kindle or through a Reading Application on a Supported Device. Additional terms contained in the Amazon.com Conditions of Use apply to the Software. For additional terms that apply to certain third party software, see the Legal, Legal & Compliance, or similar section in the Settings menu of your Kindle or the Legal Notices section of your Reading Application.

Linked Conditions of Use state this:

1. Use of the Amazon Software. You may use Amazon Software solely for purposes of enabling you to use and enjoy the Amazon Services as provided by Amazon, and as permitted by the Conditions of Use, these Software Terms and any Service Terms. You may not incorporate any portion of the Amazon Software into your own programs or compile any portion of it in combination with your own programs, transfer it for use with another service, or sell, rent, lease, lend, loan, distribute or sub-license the Amazon Software or otherwise assign any rights to the Amazon Software in whole or in part. You may not use the Amazon Software for any illegal purpose. We may cease providing any Amazon Software and we may terminate your right to use any Amazon Software at any time. Your rights to use the Amazon Software will automatically terminate without notice from us if you fail to comply with any of these Software Terms, the Conditions of Use or any other Service Terms. Additional third party terms contained within or distributed with certain Amazon Software that are specifically identified in related documentation may apply to that Amazon Software (or software incorporated with the Amazon Software) and will govern the use of such software in the event of a conflict with these Conditions of Use. All software used in any Amazon Service is the property of Amazon or its software suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws.

2. No Reverse Engineering. You may not, and you will not encourage, assist or authorize any other person to copy, modify, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble, or otherwise tamper with, the Amazon Software, whether in whole or in part, or create any derivative works from or of the Amazon Software.

Long story short, I cannot find anything that would prohibit copying additional certificate to Kindle system partition.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dsmid

Long story short, I cannot find anything that would prohibit copying additional certificate to Kindle system partition.

Two points:

In this country (USA), software and the data are two different critters.
I do not see anything in the quotes (or the "legal" files on my Kindle) about data files.

And, as dsmid points out, we are only storing another data file in the device's file system.
So even if Amazon could manage to extended their published terms to include the data files shipped in the device's file system;
It would not matter, we are not disturbing the files provided by Amazon.

Another note:

All of the strong language about "reverse engineering" - -

Some of our modifications do "interface" with Amazon's non-public system - -
But in this country (USA) which is the country of the laws controlling Amazon's property -

The "interface" to a system is public and the owner/user has a right to use it.
Even if un-documented . . .
Even if the characteristics of that interface have to be determined by "reverse engineering".
(The "reverse engineering" can not be published, but the interface details so determined may be.)

The above was a (famous) court decision back in the days of "protected" game cartridges.

[Akirainblack]

Thanks twobob, that's what I'd figured.

Please note I am ONLY mentioning piracy so as to explain. I do not condone it, nor do I do it. If it's worth having it's worth paying for, or waiting until it becomes free legitimately (if you're that tight).

I really do wish that what we're doing wasn't described as Jailbreaking.

You may ask why.
Well in theory rooting is almost the same Jailbreaking (rooting is the process of "freeing" an Android device).
However IMHO what we are doing is more like rooting than Jailbreaking.

To explain
In the case of both the Kindle and android devices it is by default perfectly easy to sideload our own books (or apps in the case of android).
What we are doing is making it so we can make tweaks to the system/interface.
Many of which should be there by default.

Jailbreaking opens a device (be it an iPhone/iPad or the PS3) to piracy as well as allowing the system/interface changes.

As both the Kindle and android devices are already wide open to this so it's not the same changes being made.

I know it's only a name but there is a large moral difference between what is being done here and what is done to the crApple devices and the PS3
(Sorry I currently work with iPads on an almost daily basis and as time has gone on my opinion of crApple has only gotten worse)

Still, it's just a name for a process by which we can make our devices better.

[HarryT]

Please don't use spellings like "crApple". There are a lot of Apple users here at MR, and it's divisive.

Thanks.

[rogerinnyc]

My PW2 recently locked up as described in this post and then resolved itself eventually. But it appears to have been an Amazon over-the-air update to 5.4.2.1 (which broke my hacks until I reinstalled them, but not the jailbreak). Maybe that's what happened to you Akirainblack? Was your software updated? Do your hacks still work?

[dsmid]

Originally Posted by Akirainblack

As both the Kindle and android devices are already wide open to this so it's not the same changes being made.

Kindle is not wide open at all.

The system inside Kindle is very similar to the Linux OS you can have in your PC. The difference is it interacts with the user via single application called Framework and it does not allow launching other applications besides Kindlets but Kindlets are not full featured applications, they are more Framework addons and no Kindlet can be launched if not signed with a certificate issued by Amazon.

The only way how to change contents of the operating system (i.e. how to add full featured applications or modify installed software) is to 'update' Kindle the same way Amazon uses to upgrade firmware. Unfortunately this entrance to Kindle is blocked by a troll that lets in only update bundles signed by Amazon certificate.
This behaviour is considered chutzpah and is usually condemned by the open source movement because, as most of the Kindle firmware is licensed under GPL v2, it effectively renders General Public Licence 2 useless.
This awful trick is also known as 'tivoization' and its usage was the main impulse that gave birth to GPL v3, that strictly prohibits such circumvention of the license.

What 'jailbreak' does is just smuggling in another certificate used for checking the update bundles. That allows installing your own 'update' that is launched by Kindle firmware as a process with root privileges when installed.

Users don't have any access to Kindle OS, root or non-root. So installing jailbreak is not just 'rooting', not just 'jailbreaking' a sandbox (there's no such sandbox from Linux perspective, there's no environment for apps execution at all), it's opening your device for software modifications and the right to do such modifications is guaranteed by GPL. Getting root access is just a side effect.

[denydias]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've never known them to enforce it either. Just wanted to point out that Jailbreaking can have warranty implications.

FYI, I have returned my first bricked PW2 (my fault with diags partition) to Amazon. As it was bricked to a state I couldn't even boot it in any way or get access to USB to remove anything I installed to it (jailbreak, rescue pack, devcerts, kindlet jailbreak, KUAL a couple of extensions), it was returned that way with all modifications inside.

Amazon's support staff, which are indeed very kind and well prepared (kudos to Amazon on that matter), provided me with a new unit in 3 days (international shipment) and, after I receive the new unit, return the defective one.

They just asked if I let my 'broken' Kindle drop or spit water over it (both answered no, which is truth). Not a single question about reverse engineering, decompilation, disassembly, or circumvention or any other question about the source of the content I had in it.

I have my doubts if even Amazon could (or may have, or want to) check what was inside it before reinstall it from scratch and resell it as a refurbished one. From the business perspective (cost), it doesn't worth the time spent on that as they may already have access to all the modifications we're doing right here on this forums. We are a drop in the ocean.

That's why I don't believe Amazon may enforce its policies regarding Kindle's modifications in any way on the near future.