Kindle Paperwhite 11th Gen (M2L3EK) not booting - Need Serial Port Pinout

[markog1]

Hello everyone!

I have a Kindle Paperwhite 2021 (11th Gen, model M2L3EK) that is stuck on the boot screen. It will not load the home screen, and it is not recognized by a computer.

I have already tried the standard hard reset (holding the power button for over a minute), as well as a full power cycle by unplugging and reconnecting the battery. I measured battery with multymeter and the voltage was good.

Unfortunately, I live in Serbia where there is no Amazon representation, and the device is out of warranty...

I am now looking to attempt a debricking via a serial port. I was hoping someone could provide any info , a photo, or a description of the location of the serial port pins (TX, RX, and GND) on the M2L3EK motherboard.



Yes, this is what it look like oppened↓
https://imgur.com/a/cFfawSk


Thank you in advance for any help or guidance!

ps. i am sorry if this was coverd somewhere. i am new to the forum and didn;t manage to find it!

[shamanNS]

Hello fellow serbian

PW5 doesn't have serial port connection pads (at lest not on production version of motherboard, pre-production version send to FCC had it next to that orange square heatpad on the last photo seen here). It uses a special USB-C cable for serial / UART / TTL.
And even that cable would be useless to your planned debricking since the UART input is locked until you unlock the bootloader (which you can't do ).

Read this for more details:

https://kb.taktpraha.cz/projects/kindlepw5


So in short: unless you manage to find someone with equipment and know-how to remove the eMMC chip > program / write directly to eMMC > "reball" / re-attach the eMMC back to the motherboard you're not gonna "debrick" that Kindle model.

I had 2 PW5 brick themselves / get stuck in a bootloop after normal OS reboot and never managed to find someone willing to fix it by writing directly to the eMMC chip.

[markog1]

Hi ShamanNS [Pozdrav ]

Than you for the time you took to replay!
Sound like PW5 is nightmare to repair... Mine is stuck on a loading screen, and after reading your replay, i am pretty sure it will stay that way.
Reballing is out of my league.

I still have few things i could try, Let it discharge completely, charge it overnight and then turn it on. Or 1-2 hours in the freezer... But i think all those solutions help if the battery is problematic. I suspect corrupted boot is the reason the booting fails.

I might offer it as "for parts" or wait if someone figures out how to use them for arduino or pi projects....

Thanks a lot again!

[shamanNS]

Don't waste your time with battery discharge and recharge. Nothing you can try will fix the bootloop.
Sell it for parts (if you can find a buyer) or just put it in a drawer somewhere. That's what I did with my brick #1. I even charge its battery every 4 months for past 2.5 years Like if I ever need replacement battery (or anything other than the motherboard 😂 ) on my working PW5 #3 I'll have spare part ready in my drawer. Were the spare part is like 2 years older 😂

[markog1]

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Don't waste your time with battery discharge and recharge. Nothing you can try will fix the bootloop.
Sell it for parts (if you can find a buyer) or just put it in a drawer somewhere. That's what I did with my brick #1. I even charge its battery every 4 months for past 2.5 years Like if I ever need replacement battery (or anything other than the motherboard 😂 ) on my working PW5 #3 I'll have spare part ready in my drawer. Were the spare part is like 2 years older 😂

Well, i will shout here if battery discharge works...
I will try to sell it for parts, but i am also not to optimistic.
I wonder if screens can be swapped easely - in case i find a pw5 with damadged screen?
And if you by any chance need a battery in a decade or so please let me know!

[shamanNS]

If you find one with a broken screen wouldn't it be easier to just take its motherboard and put it into your bootlooped device?

[markog1]

Could be, i never took a kindle appart. but i think its a slim chance to find pw working with the screen broken...

[Neposeda]

The chance is slim but non-zero

I bricked my PW10 unfortunately — The Devil finds work for idle hands to do
Found pack of two PW with broken screen on e-bay and one of them was worked for mu luck…

[markog1]

Originally Posted by Neposeda

The chance is slim but non-zero

I bricked my PW10 unfortunately — The Devil finds work for idle hands to do
Found pack of two PW with broken screen on e-bay and one of them was worked for mu luck…

Out of curiosity, did you try on one and it didn't work? i am trying to understand how safe it is to buy a broken screen PWt 11gen, in ter of will it probably work, or its a gamble.

[Neposeda]

Yes, it's a gamble.

I'm asked the seller if devices are alive before buying but he knows nothing. So I was  tryed my luck.
Fortunately PW4 (10th. gen) have serial port pinouts onboard. So I could connect them to PC by USB-TTL without screen and look for it's activity. And… one of them was totally dead. (Perhaps I tried to assemble it first unsuccessfully, don't remember it clearly)

But my experience quite useless in case of PW5 - there are no serial pinouts. So it's only trial and errors

[markog1]

From all i read i am convinced i now have a kindle "paperweight"