Troubleshooting Help to unbrick Paperwhite 5 (11th gen)

igorekh · 12-31-2024, 03:13 AM

Good day,
My mum's Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021, 11th gen) is bricked after sitting on a shelf for 6 months. The screen displays "Battery is low. Kindle needs to be charged before using" and I did try to charge it overnight, using different cables and chargers - no luck.
It used to be visible as a disk when connected to laptop, so I tried to do a factory reset by copying file DO_FACTORY_RESTORE and now it's not even recognizable as a disk.
I tried to press the power button for 40 seconds (and more), the indicator changes color from green to yellow, blinks, the screen changes backlight level and goes back to "Low battery" in ~15 seconds.

Is there anything else to try?

jackm8 · 01-04-2025, 11:04 AM

My only guess is that you need a new battery. It's not unusually that batteries go dead after a long discharge. I'm also guilty of leaving my devices in the drawers for extended periods, I've successfully saved a few of my devices, after that, but I've also had a few fails doing it.

JSWolf · 01-04-2025, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorekh

Good day,
My mum's Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021, 11th gen) is bricked after sitting on a shelf for 6 months. The screen displays "Battery is low. Kindle needs to be charged before using" and I did try to charge it overnight, using different cables and chargers - no luck.
It used to be visible as a disk when connected to laptop, so I tried to do a factory reset by copying file DO_FACTORY_RESTORE and now it's not even recognizable as a disk.
I tried to press the power button for 40 seconds (and more), the indicator changes color from green to yellow, blinks, the screen changes backlight level and goes back to "Low battery" in ~15 seconds.

Is there anything else to try?

Do you have a cable that shows the watts on a charge? If you do, you can see if it's actually charging or not.

igorekh · 01-11-2025, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Do you have a cable that shows the watts on a charge? If you do, you can see if it's actually charging or not.

No. What would it change though?

igorekh · 01-11-2025, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackm8

My only guess is that you need a new battery. It's not unusually that batteries go dead after a long discharge. I'm also guilty of leaving my devices in the drawers for extended periods, I've successfully saved a few of my devices, after that, but I've also had a few fails doing it.

Oh okay, that might be the case. I'm still surprised the backlight works fine and judging by the the indicator, it looks like it's charging to some point and then stops🤔

JSWolf · 01-11-2025, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by igorekh

No. What would it change though?

That would show if it was charging.

trtvk · 01-12-2025, 08:23 AM

Two days ago, when I was reading Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021, 11th gen), it just went into reboot mode.
Now it can't boot - permanent bootloop (boy under the tree, no boot line, reboot cycle about 45 seconds).
Holding the button does not reset to default.
p. 1
If I connect the Kindle to the computer, a beep sounds about a new device being detected in the system and Kindle Internal Storage USB Device appears in the device manager in disk devices and Disk 1 Removable device D: no media appears in disk management. Nothing appears in Explorer.
26 seconds all this is displayed.
p. 2 Then the computer loses this device (beep signal), the book reboots.
18 seconds as if loading and then see p. 1.
The breakdown into bootloop occurred when the battery was charged to 93%.
In 3 days, the battery was discharged to the low charge icon.
Then I put it on charge. The situation hasn't changed in 2 days. Although the battery has definitely charged.

12-31-2024, 03:13 AM	#1
igorekh Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2024 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 5	Help to unbrick Paperwhite 5 (11th gen) Good day, My mum's Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021, 11th gen) is bricked after sitting on a shelf for 6 months. The screen displays "Battery is low. Kindle needs to be charged before using" and I did try to charge it overnight, using different cables and chargers - no luck. It used to be visible as a disk when connected to laptop, so I tried to do a factory reset by copying file DO_FACTORY_RESTORE and now it's not even recognizable as a disk. I tried to press the power button for 40 seconds (and more), the indicator changes color from green to yellow, blinks, the screen changes backlight level and goes back to "Low battery" in ~15 seconds. Is there anything else to try? Attached Thumbnails

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01-04-2025, 11:04 AM	#2
jackm8 Addict Posts: 332 Karma: 3000000 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	My only guess is that you need a new battery. It's not unusually that batteries go dead after a long discharge. I'm also guilty of leaving my devices in the drawers for extended periods, I've successfully saved a few of my devices, after that, but I've also had a few fails doing it.

01-12-2025, 08:23 AM	#7
trtvk Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2021 Location: North Caucasus Device: Kobo aura hd n204b	Two days ago, when I was reading Kindle Paperwhite 5 (2021, 11th gen), it just went into reboot mode. Now it can't boot - permanent bootloop (boy under the tree, no boot line, reboot cycle about 45 seconds). Holding the button does not reset to default. p. 1 If I connect the Kindle to the computer, a beep sounds about a new device being detected in the system and Kindle Internal Storage USB Device appears in the device manager in disk devices and Disk 1 Removable device D: no media appears in disk management. Nothing appears in Explorer. 26 seconds all this is displayed. p. 2 Then the computer loses this device (beep signal), the book reboots. 18 seconds as if loading and then see p. 1. The breakdown into bootloop occurred when the battery was charged to 93%. In 3 days, the battery was discharged to the low charge icon. Then I put it on charge. The situation hasn't changed in 2 days. Although the battery has definitely charged.

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