Kindle problems

[daizyduke]

I left my Kindle keyboard at work this weekend. I use it to read at lunch. When I arrived at work this morning, it was locked up. I saw the folders but couldn't get anything to work. I think maybe the battery was almost dead so I plugged it in. Still nothing. I held the power switch till it rebooted then all I got was a blank screen. Rebooted again and stared at the kindle tree for five mins. Rebooted yet again and finally got past the tree. Only now I saw the folders but they all had zero books in them. Rebooted over and over. So now it shows that I have all my books. Too bad I can't get to them. Is there a way to fix this? Or do I have to send it to Amazon? I am going on vacation this weekend and now I can't use it. . This sucks.

[AnemicOak]

How long did you let it charge before messing with it? Sometimes if they're really drained just leaving it charging for a long time (think 8 or more hours) will help.

Does it operate well enough to do a factory reset? (note this will erase all of your books and you'll have to reload it)

[daizyduke]

I'm not worried about my books, but I had several samples I haven't looked at. Is there any way to recover those? Also, how can I do a factory reset?

[daizyduke]

Ok so it's been charging for at least 8 hours. The charge light is still amber. And it still doesn't work. Every time I reboot it, it locks up either on the screen with the tree or the screen with my folders. I tried plugging it into the computer but its not recognized at all. I guess I have to send it back to Amazon.

[soulfuldog]

Before giving up and contacting Amazon you could try leaving it plugged into a charger overnight (and make sure it's a wall charger, not plugged in to your computer via USB as it doesn't charge as well and can in fact drain the battery when your computer goes into sleep mode).

There have been a few posts from people who have just about given up having tried a couple of long charges & reboots to not avail, but on a long overnight charge of say 10-12 hours it suddenly comes back to life after a few reboots (and perhaps keep it plugged in to the wall charger while doing the reboots?). So it's worth a try.

[jmilica]

I think I read somewhere that if your computer doesn't recognize Kindle it might mean the battery is not charged - no matter how long you left it charging.
I think you might find even here on MR somewhere instructions how to charge it properly. I personally don't have wall charger *mine stopped working* but I had a problem of completely depleted battery and then there were some instructions how to charge it involving keeping the sliding on/off switch for longer time with some object (paperclip or whatever). I'll try to find the link when at home.

ETA: here is the link. Though it's for Kindle 2, this is what helped last year for my Kindle 3. Don't know if that would help in your case, but you can at least try.