Kindle not recognised under windows

[badcarburetor]

I'm new here. I hope it's OK form to jump onto an older thread here. If not, and my addition should be moved or split, I apologize and I hope a mod or admin will do that.

Here's my situation.

I have a Kindle Paperwhite and I won't show up on computers. One is running Windows 8 and another is still on Windows 7. I can use the USB cable and both will charge my Kindle, but neither recognize it as a drive.

Ultimately my goal is to synch my Paperwhite with Calibre, but that's a battle for another day.

TIA for any help!

[aditya3098]

Replace the cable

[badcarburetor]

The cable is fine. I've already tested it.

Thank you for the input!

[HomeInMyShoes]

According to Amazon, try:

Kindle not recognized when connected to computer with USB

Try a different USB port. If this doesn't work:

1.From Home, select Menu, select Settings.


2.Select Menu (again), then Restart.


3.Connect your Kindle to your computer via USB, and restart your computer.


Please contact us if you continue to experience problems.


I've also read some stuff about high speed USB ports maybe having problems, but my K3 works fine on most things, but I haven't tried USB3.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by badcarburetor

I'm new here. I hope it's OK form to jump onto an older thread here. If not, and my addition should be moved or split, I apologize and I hope a mod or admin will do that.

Here's my situation.

I have a Kindle Paperwhite and I won't show up on computers. One is running Windows 8 and another is still on Windows 7. I can use the USB cable and both will charge my Kindle, but neither recognize it as a drive.

Ultimately my goal is to synch my Paperwhite with Calibre, but that's a battle for another day.

TIA for any help!

Your Paperwhite should still be under warrenty. Call Amazon CS, tell them its "broke", ask for a replacement.

[twobob]

I'm just guessing here... but have you installed the "USBnetworking" thing? And have set it to turn on "by default"?

That would prevent normal USB operation.

I seem to recall having a similar issue when I was hacking around in the startup files and was enabling usbnet by default all the time.

Only thing I can think of.

[aditya3098]

Still try another cable. It can charge, but you still need the data pins.

[hawhill]

And by all means, do a reset (either via Menu or via long pressing the power button) before giving up.

[badcarburetor]

Great suggestions, everyone. I'll run through these this weekend. Thank you again!

[badcarburetor]

Originally Posted by aditya3098

Still try another cable. It can charge, but you still need the data pins.

This! I was using a cable that came with a BeatBlock Bluetooth speaker. My husband found a cable that went his Kindle Fire. As soon as I plugged it in, bam! everything fell into place.

Thanks for all the help on here, y'all. I really appreciate it. This is a great community!

[twobob]

Cable.

Heh.

Chalk another up to duff cabling.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by badcarburetor

This! I was using a cable that came with a BeatBlock Bluetooth speaker. My husband found a cable that went his Kindle Fire. As soon as I plugged it in, bam! everything fell into place.

Thanks for all the help on here, y'all. I really appreciate it. This is a great community!

Those speakers use **Bluetooth** for that data and only get their power over the USB cable, so of course, that cable doesn't have data pins/wires.

[brianinmaine]

Originally Posted by knc1

Those speakers use **Bluetooth** for that data and only get their power over the USB cable, so of course, that cable doesn't have data pins/wires.

[sarcasm] Just imagine the wealth one could acquire by leaving out the extra tiny wires! Must be AT LEAST .001 cents EACH! [/sarcasm]

[knc1]

Originally Posted by brianinmaine

[sarcasm] Just imagine the wealth one could acquire by leaving out the extra tiny wires! Must be AT LEAST .001 cents EACH! [/sarcasm]

Well, I recently purchased a small bulk lot of the type with 4 wires at $0.70 each (per cable, retail).
Most of that must have been the manufacture of the finished device.

I have worked on (as a repairman) high speed cable forming machines.
Amazing, whirling, masses of machinery. Parts of which are run in a vacuum chamber to deal with the effects of moving at or above the sound barrier.
(The part that twists the wires, spins so that the wires are moving at or above Mach 0.9)

Just the cost of maintaining 2 different machine set-ups (4 wire vs. 2 wire) must not reach any payback until they have made millions of cables.

Duh...
But, it does cut the copper consumption in half.
And China does have some very strict "conservation" policies, government backed.

[Gingah]

Just in-case anyone else had the same problem as badcarburetor, but did not resolve it yet: Your Kindle not being recognized, either as a USB Disk Drive or a Network Adapter may easily be your Windows configuration rather than your Kindle and/or cable being faulty. I usually have the same problem (and had it this time around) when juggling device drivers, so hopefully the following can help someone out (using Windows 7/Vista as the starting point):

DISCLAIMER: Messing with device drivers is NOT for the unexperienced user, and can much mess up your computer beyond the point that the same user can repair it. I cannot take responsibility nor offer help if things go wrong beyond your capability to repair it.

• Disable Windows automatic driver installation using this guide from Microsoft or check Google
• Connect your kindle (as normal: Kindle has home screen displayed)
• Open your Device Manager: Click Start, then right-click Computer, and then click Manage, then click Device Manager (do this as the with Administrator user capabilities)
• Depending on your situation, one the following should occur:

1. If your device was not recognized, a device with a yellow exclamation mark will be listed under Other devices. Its name should be something like "Amazon Kindle" (or at least containing the word Amazon)
   
   • Additionally, an IDE Controller should be listed with a question mark in its icon
2. If your device was recognized, but is not accessible as a drive (which would show up in your computer as "Kindle"), a device should up in the Devices and Printers (accessible from Start Menu or Control Panel in Category View -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printers)
   • It may be listed as Unspecified here, right-click the icon and look at the hardware tab, it should say the name of the device and which category it is placed at within the Device Manager
3. If your device was recognized, and installed as a network adapter it will be listed under the Network adapters menu in Device Manager. If trying to use the USBnet mode, this is desirable

• To set your Kindle as a normal USB Disk Drive, do this:
  • Right-click the device in the Device Manager and select Uninstall. This removes the current driver, and provided you disabled automatic driver installation, will leave it as a unrecognized device with the yellow exclamation mark icon under Other devices
    • Right-click the device again and select Update Driver Software..., then Browse my computer for driver software, and lastly Let me pick from alist of device drivers on my computer.
      • You should now have a large list of common hardware types. Here, select Disk drives, then (Standard disk drives under the Manufacturer heading, and Disk drive under the Disk drive.
        • You will be prompted to confirm this selection, click Yes. The Kindle will now be recognized as a storage disk by your computer.
• To set your Kindle as a Network adapter:
  • Follow the above instructions, but select Network adapters from the list of common hardware types.
    • Under the Manufacturer heading, select Microsoft Corporation and under the Network Adapter heading select Remote NDIS based Internet Sharing Device. The Kindle will now be recognized as a Network adapter by your computer.

Note: I had to do the process several times, in that I had to uninstall the Kindle as a disk drive, then as a universal serial bus controller from the Device Manager, to get it to remain in the Other devices category.

• This was in order to get the SSH USBnet working, as my device when connected (even with the DIAG-screen active) was still recognized as a disk drive by the computer
• I use Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1 installed, but the method above should apply to Windows computers in general, on most standard configurations

Essentially, your computer may or may not recognize the Kindle as a plug-and-play device, all depending on your configuration and update packs installed. And when it does not, manually setting the device driver may be called for.