MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - PW3 5.12.3 Serial Jailbreak

texaspete · 07-27-2020, 11:00 AM

Thanks for the quick reply, hius07. I did manage to finish the jailbreak.

As I said in my first post, I 'bungled' my way through the diagnostics menu. I was unable to get that menu to work from the serial terminal (minicom) and had to flip the PW3 over to access the menu from the kindle's screen. I remember that I told it to disable the diagnostics (I think I remember this) before exiting to the prompt.

Anyway, I restarted the kindle from the touchscreen and entered the diagnostics menu again, and just exited the menu. I'm pretty sure this is what I did -- I just got out of it without doing anything. After that, the python one-liner generated password worked fine and I was able to do the rest without any issues (so far).

I think the hardest part (for me) was getting the kindle open. The next hardest part was securing a good connection with the sewing pins. It took a few pieces of scotch tape (magic tape, the clear tape). This was okay but maybe I'd use painter's tape next time because it took a little work to get it unglued. It left no residue though, so that's good.

I think you need something heavy to stab the pins through. Initially, I had a piece of packing foam that an ESP8266 had been shipped with, but the pins kept moving around and I could not secure it well enough to the motherboard. Once I switched to a thick foam mid-90's useless ergonomic pad, it only took a few minutes to stab the pins in the correct orientation.

Certainly this can be avoided by just soldering the pads, but I was a little worried since they are very small and are very close together. Also, I don't have that really thin solder at the moment that I'd definitely recommend to anyone doing that.

Anyway, thanks for listening. I am looking forward to customizing my kindle.

07-27-2020, 11:00 AM	#3
texaspete Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 3 + 4	Thanks for the quick reply, hius07. I did manage to finish the jailbreak. As I said in my first post, I 'bungled' my way through the diagnostics menu. I was unable to get that menu to work from the serial terminal (minicom) and had to flip the PW3 over to access the menu from the kindle's screen. I remember that I told it to disable the diagnostics (I think I remember this) before exiting to the prompt. Anyway, I restarted the kindle from the touchscreen and entered the diagnostics menu again, and just exited the menu. I'm pretty sure this is what I did -- I just got out of it without doing anything. After that, the python one-liner generated password worked fine and I was able to do the rest without any issues (so far). I think the hardest part (for me) was getting the kindle open. The next hardest part was securing a good connection with the sewing pins. It took a few pieces of scotch tape (magic tape, the clear tape). This was okay but maybe I'd use painter's tape next time because it took a little work to get it unglued. It left no residue though, so that's good. I think you need something heavy to stab the pins through. Initially, I had a piece of packing foam that an ESP8266 had been shipped with, but the pins kept moving around and I could not secure it well enough to the motherboard. Once I switched to a thick foam mid-90's useless ergonomic pad, it only took a few minutes to stab the pins in the correct orientation. Certainly this can be avoided by just soldering the pads, but I was a little worried since they are very small and are very close together. Also, I don't have that really thin solder at the moment that I'd definitely recommend to anyone doing that. Anyway, thanks for listening. I am looking forward to customizing my kindle.