Kindle 4NT Will Not Boot

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by evergamer

Edit: It's plugged in and at the screen above. Should it charge in this state?

It does not matter what is on the screen. If the USB VID/PID shows that it is in fastboot mode, it should be charging. Bricked in diags mode can completely discharge the battery though.

You can see the USB VID/PID in the Device Manager properties for that device (even with no driver installed for it).

[geekmaster]

If you flashed 5.0 diags to a K4 (they have very similar hardware), which diags kernel did you use?

Can you flash the 4.0 diags_ssh and 4.0 diags_kernel, and post the text captured from the SSH session? Please XXX any identifying info (serial number and MAC address and such).

[evergamer]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

It does not matter what is on the screen. If the USB VID/PID shows that it is in fastboot mode, it should be charging. Bricked in diags mode can completely discharge the battery though.

You can see the USB VID/PID in the Device Manager properties for that device (even with no driver installed for it).

I just unplugged it from the wall, held the power button to reboot it, and plugged it in to my PC. It booted directly in to diagnostics.

Originally Posted by geekmaster

If you flashed 5.0 diags to a K4 (they have very similar hardware), which diags kernel did you use?

Can you flash the 4.0 diags_ssh and 4.0 diags_kernel, and post the text captured from the SSH session? Please XXX any identifying info (serial number and MAC address and such).

I used the files linked in the noob guide. These ones:

http://gitbrew.org/~dasmoover/kindle...t-5.0.0.img.gz
http://www.mediafire.com/?un3qrdfblfyl1d0

I'll flash the 4.0 diags and kernel now and post the info.

[evergamer]

4.0 Kernel/Diags flashed.

Screenshot of the fastboot commands:



Now it rebooted and it looked like this for about 5 minutes:



After that, the screen flickered a few times and it's solid black now.

[geekmaster]

Just a guess here, but if the K5 diags kernel or image were larger than the space allowed in the mmc for K4 images, it is possible that you overwrote something in the mmc that you should not have.

The way to know for sure would be to compare kernel and image sizes, and a memory layout of the mmc partitions.

The bottom photo is the main "kindle tree" screen displayed incorrectly in diags (normal for a moment during a diags boot). The going all black in 5 minutes is odd though. Strange things can happen when bricked -- especially draining the battery (no sleep mode)... Perhaps the black screen was a side effect of the kindle going wacky from too low battery voltage and trying to display the "low battery, charge now" screen.

[knc1]

Where in that screenshot did you flash a filesystem? Either of the file systems.
Where GM wrote:
Can you flash the 4.0 diags_ssh and 4.0 diags_kernel
He meant one copy of the system image (diags_ssh) and one copy of a kernel (diags_kernel)
Not one copy each of the two different kernels (main and diags).
The Kindle's are "dual boot" machines, with two **kernel & filesystem** pairs.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

Where in that screenshot did you flash a filesystem? Either of the file systems.
Where GM wrote:
Can you flash the 4.0 diags_ssh and 4.0 diags_kernel
He meant one copy of the system image (diags_ssh) and one copy of a kernel (diags_kernel)
Not one copy each of the two different kernels (main and diags).
The Kindle's are "dual boot" machines, with two **kernel & filesystem** pairs.

Good catch! Somehow I missed that. It looks like he is writing the diags kernel onto the diags root partition. That can't work.

You need a different fastboot command to flash the diags_kernel where it belongs. Follow the instructions in silver18's guide (or the simple debricking thread).

As you can see from the top of the first screenshot, the diags_kernel.img should be written to diags_kernel (i.e. fastboot flash diags_kernel diags_kernel.img). But then you also need to write a diags partition image to diags (which now incorrectly contains a diags kernel image).

[evergamer]

I'm following silver18's guide word for word.

The CMD screenshot is exactly what is detailed in steps 7-9 of silver18's guide, except I'm using the 4.0 kernel here: kernel 4.0.0: http://www.mediafire.com/?03hvmic2xh4q3vy , and the 4.0 diag here: diags_kernel 4.0.0: http://www.mediafire.com/?nf3z9hbn1rvn6p3

The only thing I changed from silver18's guide was the filenames for the above img's.

[evergamer]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

As you can see from the top of the first screenshot, the diags_kernel.img should be written to diags_kernel (i.e. fastboot flash diags_kernel diags_kernel.img). But then you also need to write a diags partition image to diags (which now incorrectly contains a diags kernel image).

Oh I kind of see what you mean.

Is there a walkthrough for doing that here somewhere?

[geekmaster]

Except that you changed the filenames to match the wrong files. You need to flash diags with an mmcblk0p2 image and diags_kernel with a diags kernel image. Your filenames say that you flashed the WRONG STUFF to the wrong places, and skipped the steps where you flash the diags partition. You cannot just start in the middle, and change filenames to match whatever you happened to download (ignoring what those filenames MEAN).

Now, go ACTUALLY follow ALL of the instructions (paying special attention to filenames, and what those filenames mean, and where they go).

EDIT: I see that you posted again while I was typing the above. Okay... The walkthroughs are in the simple debricking sticky thread, and in silver18's guide. Just be more careful next time, and do not skip steps, and do not flash the wrong files to the wrong places again. Also, do not cut the USB cable connected to your kindle, and do not strip the wires in that cut USB cable, and do not insert those stripped wires into an AC electrical outlet. Just sayin'...

[evergamer]

I assure you I did not skip any steps in silver18's guide.

I was confused with the naming of the files though, it seems. I'll flash the proper ones now. The forensic files site had me mixed up I guess. Thank you all for the help. Will update shortly.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by evergamer

I assure you I did not skip any steps in silver18's guide.

I was confused with the naming of the files though, it seems. I'll flash the proper ones now. The forensic files site had me mixed up I guess. Thank you all for the help. Will update shortly.

Look at the descriptive comments in the pastebin. It was a lot more confusing before it was cleaned up a few weeks ago. Whatever filename you get after extracting an image, it would be a good idea to rename it to something descriptive. Those images were created before there were so many versions as there are now, and not all image contributors name their files like I would name them. Follow the pastebin descriptions and rename the downloaded (and extracted) files accordingly to avoid confusion.

[evergamer]

I've flashed the files you recommended for the 4.0 kernel/diag and it booted into diagnostics with no problem. I'm moving on to the next step in the guide:

PLACE NEW MAIN PARTITION AND COPY IT
Now, the main part…this is what really debricked my Kindle!
1) You should now be in diag mode

Will update when I finish the guide again.

[evergamer]

Ok, that's all done.

After the last command:

idme -d --bootmode main
reboot

It's still sitting at the diagnostics screen. It hasn't done anything since running that command.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by evergamer

Ok, that's all done.

After the last command:



It's still sitting at the diagnostics screen. It hasn't done anything since running that command.

Did you flash a main kernel that is the same version as the main mmcblk0p1 image you wrote with "dd" in diags?

Can you boot to main by using MfgTool.

Also, the commands you showed do not include the "rm /mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS" step. Be sure there is no ENABLE_DIAGS file before rebooting. It is also good policy to do a "sync" command just before rebooting (but usually not a problem to skip it).