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:
- 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
- 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
- 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.