Kindle PW1 bricked/frozen after book download from Amazon

[Donwbtr]

Greetings,

I apologize if this is not the correct thread on which to post but it did seem that there are some posts made on normal troubleshooting problems. I originally posted on this problem at the regular Kindle forum but so far nothing has worked, that thread can be found here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...29#post2921329

and this was my first post on it:

1st gen Paperwhite 3G- froze after downloading a book from Amazon via 3g (Amazon warned that loading times might be longer than usual because of file size) When the download was complete I went to settings, when I touched "airplane mode" to turn off the 3g connection the Kindle froze, the "on" button is still dark and the time displayed is when the freeze occurred. The battery was adequately charged, the PW1 has had the large update (don't remember the version but it was the one that changed the interface to resemble the PW2) although it had to be done manually

I've tried the press and hold the power button several times with no success, the display doesn't darken after several seconds or anything else, while on the phone with Amazon support we went through all their variations without success. The Kindle is not recognized by Win7 when plugged in via the micro USB port, although I have received the message "installing NS Blank Codex" while windows seemed to be searching for a driver.

I have browsed the threads here and on the Kindle Developers forum, if I understand them correctly attempting to reflash the BIOS through a utility on a USB stick will not work in the situation, I would very much like to be wrong. Is there any more useful information I can supply?

Is there any chance that removing and then replacing the battery would work? From what I can tell the Kindle doesn't have a conventional cmos cell. Any other suggestions? Since it is 1.5 years old Amazon's only suggestion is that I can buy an equivalent remanufactured PW2 for $163.

I have followed the procedures on the "forcing device drivers" here thread without success, the Kindle isn't recognized as even an unknown device, and I have used a generic micro usb cable in addition to the one that came with the Kindle. I have tried all the varieties of power button reboot, charging battery, battery removal etc. without success, the screen is still frozen as it was when the problem occurred.

Does anyone here have some addition suggestions or should I accept that sometimes a brick is just a brick?

Many thanks,
Don

[knc1]

Disclaimer:
I do have PW-1 devices but have never seen that problem myself.

The bad news:
I think you will need a serial port connection at this point to learn anything useful about what is happening (and maybe fixing it).

[Donwbtr]

Originally Posted by knc1

Disclaimer:
I do have PW-1 devices but have never seen that problem myself.

The bad news:
I think you will need a serial port connection at this point to learn anything useful about what is happening (and maybe fixing it).

That's what I'm afraid of, when I first connected it there was the Windows plug in noise and the message that it was "installing NS Blank Codex" but it was never recognized even as an unknown device under device manager.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Donwbtr

That's what I'm afraid of, when I first connected it there was the Windows plug in noise and the message that it was "installing NS Blank Codex" but it was never recognized even as an unknown device under device manager.

It is true that this is more difficult to work on under Windows, but ...

Regardless of what your PC is running -
The "de-bricking" of the PW devices is made very difficult by Amazon design decisions.

- - - -

Leave the device plugged into your wall charger while looking for a solution to your problem.
Sometimes (rare) these devices will "fix themselves" after a few days on external power. (Reason unknown.)

[NiLuJe]

Is it still showing up as something over USB, or was that a one time thing? (Because if it is, that vaguely looks like in might be in USB downloader mode, which *might* be used to make things right, but as knc1 said, a PITA on Windows).

[Donwbtr]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Is it still showing up as something over USB, or was that a one time thing? (Because if it is, that vaguely looks like in might be in USB downloader mode, which *might* be used to make things right, but as knc1 said, a PITA on Windows).

That was a one time thing, it doesn't show up even as an "unknown device" in "other devices", "disk drives", or "network adapters"