Paperwhite stuck at update error 3 screen

[el_topo50]

Hello everyone!
Yesterday I was reading a book in my old PW (1st gen, WIFI), having a good time, when disaster happened…

I changed the fonts a couple of times (from the menu Font), kept reading a couple of minutes and something went terrible wrong. The Kindle rebooted itself and I was welcomed with an error screen: the update error: 3.

The problem is that now Im stuck there. If i keep the power button pressed, it goes to a white screen, black screen, tries to update like for half a second, and end up in the update error 3 screen again. The PW is not recognised under MacOsX, Windows XP or Win 7 via USB.

I was jailbroken, 5.3.5 firmware (I think), rescue pack installed, usbnet (dont know what is it and never used it), koreader and a couple of hacks (kual, backdoor lock, bbb, screensavers, fonts, etc, nothing too weird).

Didn’t do any advanced action like messing with partitions, boot sector sor anything like that, because I am a newbie. Only reading with stock os or Koreader, a couple of custom fonts and screensavers and thats it. Wifi was off, backdoor activated, partial folder trick to prevent silent updates, and didnt try to update anything.

The only risky thing I can think of is that I used to have Duokan 2014 installed, which I uninstalled with the option given by that evil OS (Koreader is way better!!!) 10 minutes before my Kindle decided to go to the limbo…

Am I screwed? Is there any solution? Any help or advice would be highly appreciated and thanks in advance!!!!

PS: sorry for my English!
PS2: I did a lot of googling and tried really hard to search the forum, but couldnt find a solution (probably because of my lack of knowledge).

[NiLuJe]

You have a stray (broken) update package (given what you've said, I'll be guessing some Duokan crap) stuck in the USB root. The updater should take care of removing it when hitting that error. That this isn't happening is not a good sign.

If you installed the Coward's Rescue Pack and not only the Rescue Pack, hard-reboot the device while plugged to a computer and try to fix it from diags.

If not, you're probably screwed unless you open it up for serial access.

Of course, all of this is assuming Duokan doesn't do some weird and evil crap to the rest of the system...

[el_topo50]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

You have a stray (broken) update package (given what you've said, I'll be guessing some Duokan crap) stuck in the USB root. The updater should take care of removing it when hitting that error. That this isn't happening is not a good sign.

If you installed the Coward's Rescue Pack and not only the Rescue Pack, hard-reboot the device while plugged to a computer and try to fix it from diags.

If not, you're probably screwed unless you open it up for serial access.

Of course, all of this is assuming Duokan doesn't do some weird and evil crap to the rest of the system...

Thank you for your quick reply!!!!
Not only its a shi*y chinese system but they are hijacking my device hahahaha

Yes, I'm pretty sure i have installed the Cowards pack too. I remember thinking: Ok, just in case...

Hard rebooting is keeping power button pressed for 30 secs while its connected to the PC? If that's correct, I've tried several times. The screen goes white (like when its off), then black, then it tries to update something (no idea what because wifi was off and didnt copy anything manually to the root) and I end in the update error 3 screen again. Over and over...

ps: By the way, i REALLY like your work, man. Thank to you, and others gurus here, my kindles rock! At least the Voyage does now hahahaha

[NiLuJe]

Right, yeah, that makes sense, my bad (the update check is way earlier than the CRP's).

OTOH, can't think of any other way than serial access to break the cycle earlier than the factory updater...

[knc1]

That's right.
The update process in initramfs is having the error, long before the filesystem is mounted, let alone started.

• Install serial port.
  Follow the "Serial Port Jailbreak" sticky up to the point you have a working serial port.
• Type 'enter' at the second point you can break into the boot sequence (the "press enter for Recovery Menu" message).
• Export fat file system
• Delete anything update_*.bin you find in the root of the USB storage.
• Delete anything Doukan* you find in USB storage.
• The USB storage will "un-export" when you remove the cable.
• Re-boot the system, either from the menu or with the power button.
• When the system returns to normal operation -
  Using the serial port connection do a: rm -fr /var/local.
  (You will loose bookmarks, annotations, etc (and also Doukan left-overs)).
• If you have many (hundreds) of books on USB storage, delete those, (that would be: rm -fr /mnt/us/documents/* )
• Reboot (again)
• Wait until whatever you left on USB storage to index.
• Side-load the current Amazon update per their instructions.
• UYK and confirm
• Send your sincere thanks to the people at the Duokan project.
• Now finish out the "Serial Jailbreak" thread steps.

I have been at this too long - the above was from memory.

[el_topo50]

Really thanks to both of you!!!
@knc1 you are another guru around here, kinda techno hero for me!

I will study your solution, but I think its waaaaay over my skills. Specially the soldering part... if only I get to that part without breaking the screen or loosing some pieces hahaha

Seriously, the soldering step kind of spooks me...

I will read and re read the tutorial and decide if Im up to the task (or take the plunge even if I don't feel up to the task).
If not, i will paste a picture of one of those fuc**ng Duokan guys on the PW, and fill them with holes!!!!

I dont think Ill be able to boot up the device again, but Im pretty sure Ill feel relaxed!!!

BIG thanks to both of you, you are awesome!!!!

[knc1]

The tutorial has links to threads about making the connections without hot soldering.

That (hot soldering) is a special skill, and was a show-stopper for many people.

[el_topo50]

Originally Posted by knc1

The tutorial has links to threads about making the connections without hot soldering.

That (hot soldering) is a special skill, and was a show-stopper for many people.

Will try that then! Thanks again!!!