Help recovering kindle paperwhite after 'eraseall'

[dram]

Hi all,

It is my first post in this forum. I can't find any good information on kindle paperwhite anywhere else.
I was trying to debrick the device and some image flashing went wrong, so after reboot for some very not wise reason I entered 'eraseall' command which without any confirmation wiped out everything from the device. All partitions. Now if I connect device to USB port on my linux I can see only:

[ 2559.969903] usb 1-2: new low-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[ 2560.100814] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1949, idProduct=dead
[ 2560.100821] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[ 2560.100824] usb 1-2: Product: USB Charger 
[ 2560.126950] input: USB Charger  as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-2/1-2:1.0/0003:1949:DEAD.0005/input/input20
[ 2560.127232] hid-generic 0003:1949:DEAD.0005: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Device [USB Charger ] on usb-0000:00:14.0-2/input0
[ 2561.539633] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, device number 2

I'm most worried about DEAD part. I've seen that it is possible to flash back fastboot on devices with mx50, mx51 and so on, but nothing regarding paperwhite.
Also, I have (had) access to serial port and it was ok. The bad thing is that I haven't made any backups of serial numbers or whatsoever.
Is there any chance to restore fastboot on this device? The rest I can handle as there is plenty of information.

Br

[eschwartz]

MadMAXXX's experiences might help you: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269099

He eventually got his PW3 fully recovered from an unwise eraseall.

[knc1]

I can't say anything about "Device: None" that is in the O.P.'s info box, but.....

Yup, those are the directions for any kind of touch screen device, only the name of the firmware image to work with changes with the model in question.

Note:
Amazon firmware images rarely (never?) include the diags kernel or system image.
You will have to get that from another working Kindle of the same model number (the first 4 or 6 characters of your serial number).
Just be sure you get the correct update_*.bin from Amazon for your same model also.

[dram]

Hi,

Images of paperwhite is not a problem I suppose as they are available here: http://ixtab.tk/kindle-touch-images/PaperWhite/
Main thing is to restore U-boot somehow and after that device will be at least somehow alive and accessible.
eschwartz. Thanks for the link. I will try to read everything and see if I will manage to restore. Will get back here with the results.

[bel3atar]

Similar disconnecting issue: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=267946

[knc1]

ixtab.tk is down for maintenance, it will return RSN according to ixtab.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dram

Hi,

Images of paperwhite is not a problem I suppose as they are available here: http://ixtab.tk/kindle-touch-images/PaperWhite/
Main thing is to restore U-boot somehow and after that device will be at least somehow alive and accessible.
eschwartz. Thanks for the link. I will try to read everything and see if I will manage to restore. Will get back here with the results.

ixtab.tk is down for maintenance, it will return just any time at all, RSN - according to ixtab.

"Erase All" re-loads u-boot from the copy running in memory at the time.

There is another "don't use it" command to zap contents + u-boot.

[dram]

Originally Posted by knc1

"Erase All" re-loads u-boot from the copy running in memory at the time.

For some reason it didn't work for me. It was erasing partitions and the last thing I saw on serial terminal was Resetting... After that kindle was literally dead.

Reg. ixtab.tk there is no problem for me as I have all images downloaded before all that. I'm most concerned about serial number which I didn't save as well as other information.

Br,

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dram

For some reason it didn't work for me. It was erasing partitions and the last thing I saw on serial terminal was Resetting... After that kindle was literally dead.

Reg. ixtab.tk there is no problem for me as I have all images downloaded before all that. I'm most concerned about serial number which I didn't save as well as other information.

Br,

What model?
That sounds like a Kindle Touch, not a Paperwhite.
OR
What you are calling 'Erase All' is not the same as what we are calling 'Erase All'.

It isn't 'dead' -
Unless you somehow managed to damage the SoC bootcode that is burned into it at the factory.

There is a thread here explaining how to recover a Kindle that has a truely blank eMMC.
Check out the one on upgrading the size of the eMMC (which comes from the factory as blank as it can be).

[dram]

Hi,

It is in fact Kindle Paperwhite (Motherboard PCB:30-000539).
What I did was that I executed U-boot command "eraseall". I hope I haven't damaged SoC bootcode with this command. Why I call it dead it's because even USB id code says so when I connect it to computer. Kindle now is only recognized as USB charger and I can't even reboot it. It look pretty dead for now, but I hope it can still be restored.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dram

Hi,

It is in fact Kindle Paperwhite (Motherboard PCB:30-000539).
What I did was that I executed U-boot command "eraseall". I hope I haven't damaged SoC bootcode with this command. Why I call it dead it's because even USB id code says so when I connect it to computer. Kindle now is only recognized as USB charger and I can't even reboot it. It look pretty dead for now, but I hope it can still be restored.

Enable a 'capture log' in the terminal emulator you have attached to the serial port -
Do a '30 second press' of the power button to re-boot -
Save the entire capture log, compress it, attach to your next post.

Just saying "its dead" is not much more informative than saying "its broke".

[dram]

Originally Posted by knc1

Enable a 'capture log' in the terminal emulator you have attached to the serial port -
Do a '30 second press' of the power button to re-boot -
Save the entire capture log, compress it, attach to your next post.

Just saying "its dead" is not much more informative than saying "its broke".

But that's the main issue - I do not get any reply on serial port anymore after I did 'eraseall' in U-boot. I hold button for 30s and more, but nothing happens anymore. Just orange light blinks few times next to USB port and that's it. Nothing comes on serial port unfortunately.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by dram

But that's the main issue - I do not get any reply on serial port anymore after I did 'eraseall' in U-boot. I hold button for 30s and more, but nothing happens anymore. Just orange light blinks few times next to USB port and that's it. Nothing comes on serial port unfortunately.

Check your serial port set-up . . . .
Something changed or broke.

Unless you actually managed to alter the code burned into the SoC's internal ROM.
Which is hardly possible unless you have tried to chemically peel the case off the chip.

[geekmaster]

U-boot runs on the kindle flash chip (or uploaded to RAM). The SoC should go into Downloader (serial or USB) mode and allow reflashing over serial, at least, though of course without the interactive textual assistance of u-boot running . It may be worth reading the manual for the SoC in your device...

One concern is that only a smaller u-boot (without BIST and fastboot) can fit in the SoC RAM, and it is u-boot itself that initializes SDRAM where it can bootstrap a larger more-capable u-boot version (with fastboot support).

[Beware that I have not read the manual for your specific device, going by prior knowledge from earlier kindle versions, but it should be basically the same.]

[geekmaster]

I see that ixtab.tk is up now. I like how he has firmware images from my PW1, which disappeared from my hotel room in California quite some time ago...