[GlenBarrington]

A reset to factory defaults seemed to do the trick. I was backed up pretty well to my PC, even my side loaded *.apk files (my DBA paranoia pays off again!),and of course Amazon keeps track of my Amazon sourced media. So a return to my desired level of normalcy was relatively easy and only took about 30 minutes overall.

I still suspect something I side loaded trashed a file; I suspect my early SO easy successes at side loading made me a little TOO experimental. So after I got back to basic functionality, I decided to be very careful what gets side loaded.

So all I really side loaded was Aldiko reader for ePubs. Moon+ apparently has released a new version incompatible with 1st gen K Fire devices. I had the old apk, but when I tried to load and run it, it insisted on upgrading. Pre reset, I had tried to upgrade but it wouldn't run on the K Fire 1st gen. So I didn't even try to upgrade this time, I just uninstalled. Drat, I really liked the auto scroll Moon + has. But with the Kindle reader software and Aldiko, I feel adequately covered file format wise.

Edit: Amazon's Kindle support was actually pretty good. The support rep was clearly foreign, but his English skills were pretty good, and he didn't insult me by calling himself "Chad" or "Bob". The connection itself was a tad fuzzy though so we had some trouble understanding each other on an audio level.

The key to dealing with THIS support rep was to avoid ANY sort of non standard English or regional colloquialism (the phrase, "That dog don't hunt" was totally lost on him!).

Also he seemed to be reading a script, so it seems waiting half a beat before responding to a comment appeared to help. Early on in this support call, I responded too quickly to something he said and he clearly needed to wait till a new screen page appear to finish what he was saying!

I'd rate my satisfaction with the support call was around an 8 out of 10 possible points.