Can't Register Kindle 3 (Keyboard)?

[rcentros]

I'll try to shorten the story. I bought three Kindle 3s (Keyboards) at a pawn shop today. They looked good, but the batteries were dead and I had no idea if they would work. (At the price they were worth the risk.) So I plugged them in, two of them came up fine (both 3G + WiFi) but the 3rd didn't show 3G, so assumed it was WiFi only. Then, after testing the first two (upgraded them, factory reset them, and registered and deregistered them) I took a closer look at the 3rd Kindle (of course, the newer one in the best shape) and that it showed that it WAS 3G, after all. But I couldn't get 3G to come up -- tried factory reset, rebooted, tried the "311" menu I found here (showed two sets of AT&T 2G and 3G) but nothing "took hold." So, logged into my WiFi without issue, tested the Experimental browser (which worked), so I was on line and then I tried to register. I got this error ...

Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, restart your Kindle from the menu in Settings and try again.

Obviously I was in "wireless range" because I can "surf" on the Web (if it can be called "surfing" on a Kindle). I haven't called Amazon yet, but I'm guessing that this might mean the Kindle has been blacklisted or "deactivated." Or does this error point to something else? I can't see how it could be a hardware issue if I can browse on the Internet.

At any rate, I'll contact Customer Support. Just curious if anyone has had this issue?

UPDATE: Chatted with Amazon support (didn't know I could do that at this time of night). Unfortunately the Kindle was reported lost or stolen. I did pay an extra dollar for each of these Kindles for a 30 day "no questions asked" return. I'll let them know what Amazon told me.

[soulfuldog]

I guess that's always the danger of buying from a pawn shop. At least you have two working Kindle's.... and I wonder if the pawn shop will just try to resell it anyway?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by l_macd

I guess that's always the danger of buying from a pawn shop. At least you have two working Kindle's.... and I wonder if the pawn shop will just try to resell it anyway?

I don't know. At $10 the temptation is to just keep it and side-load books to it. I'm surprised Amazon doesn't request you send these Kindles back to them. They just wanted me to return it to the pawn shop(?)

I know now that, if the used Kindle is a 3G model and 3G doesn't come up, that there's a pretty good chance it's been "deactivated." But none of these were charged, so I had no way of knowing even if they were 3G. It would be nice if they somehow let you reunite the Kindle to its owner, but then the owner could have just reported the Kindle lost or stolen for insurance purposes, or out of vindictiveness after losing it the pawn shop. It would be interesting to find out if the one who sold it to the pawn shop was the registered owner, or not.

All and in all it was still a fantastic deal for the ones that work.

[montalex]

I would suggest changing the motherboard:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Amazon...e-p-20683.html

Every motherboard I've ordered from Powerbook Medic has registered with no problem. $10 + $25 = a good price on a Kindle Keyboard.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by montalex

I would suggest changing the motherboard:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/Amazon...e-p-20683.html

Every motherboard I've ordered from Powerbook Medic has registered with no problem. $10 + $25 = a good price on a Kindle Keyboard.

Didn't even think about that. Thanks. Looks like a fairly easy job.