Please help; K4 constantly rebooting

[olivaresfelipe]

Dear all, I just bought a used black Kindle 4 from Ebay. Long story short: the kindle keeps rebooting on intervals of 5 minutes or so.

I contacted the seller: he/she says it was working fine before; either way, I am in Mexico and shipping the unit back to the US would be prohibitively expensive.

I downloaded Kubrick and successfully managed to flash the firmware. Guess what? The kindle still reboots on its own every 5 minutes. For what is worth, before flashing and after flashing it I noticed that nothing shows up as the Mac address.

What are my options here?

Thanks a lot in advance for your suggestions.

[knc1]

Something outside of the default areas that Kubrick normally re-writes.

Check its options, use **only** the "clear /var/local" option (the K4 is known to fill up their /var/local).

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by knc1

Check its options, use **only** the "clear /var/local" option (the K4 is known to fill up their /var/local).

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm a bit overwhelmed with figuring out how to do this

I think I'm going to call it quits. I'm considering replacing the motherboard... I was just wondering if I could replace the motherboard of a K4B with a K4S motherboard. Has anyone tried it?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by olivaresfelipe

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm a bit overwhelmed with figuring out how to do this

I think I'm going to call it quits. I'm considering replacing the motherboard... I was just wondering if I could replace the motherboard of a K4B with a K4S motherboard. Has anyone tried it?

It is an option in the Kubrick wizard, sorry that I wasn't clear.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by olivaresfelipe

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm a bit overwhelmed with figuring out how to do this

Piece of cake . Simply run Kubrick and check all the options that it shows you. That means, leave "yes, flash the main partition" checked (it's the default anyway). And then, once you get there, check all of "Install Device Jailbreak", "Wipe Internal Storage", and "Reformat External (USB) Storage".

Takes 10 minutes and is well worth a try.

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by knc1

It is an option in the Kubrick wizard, sorry that I wasn't clear.

Thank you for your prompt response. I actually looked for the option to clear /var/local within Kubrick after reading your original post but I could not find it

Mind if I ask you where it is within the menus?

Thanks a lot again.

[ixtab]

It's called "wipe internal storage" in Kubrick

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Piece of cake . Simply run Kubrick and check all the options that it shows you. That means, leave "yes, flash the main partition" checked (it's the default anyway). And then, once you get there, check all of "Install Device Jailbreak", "Wipe Internal Storage", and "Reformat External (USB) Storage".

Thanks for the suggestion; that's what I originally did the first time I ran Kubrick in hope the fresh firmware install would fix the Wifi & rebooting issue. Unfortunately the kindle still behaves exactly the same afterwards

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by ixtab

It's called "wipe internal storage" in Kubrick

Thanks; my mistake: I originally thought you were referring to one of the options within Tequila.

On running Kubrick for the first time, I checked all the options, including "Wipe Internal Storage". Unfortunately the kindle still behaves the same way

Oh well... I think I'm stuck with a faulty motherboard.

Has anyone tried switching the motherboard of a K4B with the motherboard of a K4S?

[twobob]

errrr.....

I haven't.

I think having a really good look around for decent teardown videos of both would be an excellent place to start.

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by twobob

Thanks... I think having a really good look around for decent teardown videos of both would be an excellent place to start.

This is the best one I've found thus far http://youtu.be/SVKiRfTMUWk

A lot of glue though...

[knc1]

Originally Posted by olivaresfelipe

This is the best one I've found thus far http://youtu.be/SVKiRfTMUWk

A lot of glue though...

You do not have to remove the battery to remove the motherboard.
Just consider the battery as part of the "frame" on the K4.

[twobob]

Originally Posted by olivaresfelipe

This is the best one I've found thus far http://youtu.be/SVKiRfTMUWk

A lot of glue though...

Ah yeah. I remember these now.

I think we (read: someone else I was working with) ended up re-seating them (the screens) with double-sided 3M tape. (on the demo units)

Assuming you don't have to take the screen out then a hair-drier/hot bulb should free up the glue a bit.

The joy of Glue.

[olivaresfelipe]

Originally Posted by knc1

You do not have to remove the battery to remove the motherboard.
Just consider the battery as part of the "frame" on the K4.

Ok, so here's what I ended up doing:

I disassembled the K4B and replaced the motherboard (more on that later) with another motherboard from a used K4B I had laying around: profit! Worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by olivaresfelipe

I was just wondering if I could replace the motherboard of a K4B with a K4S motherboard. Has anyone tried it?

Now, before assembling everything back together, I disassembled another K4S from my son; result: no go. You cannot switch motherboards/displays between K4S and K4B.

So, a few notes on my experience assembling/disassembling K4s (I assume you've all seen the video posted above, so these below are a few comments to consider if you want to venture):

• Be careful not the scratch the rear cover of the Kindle; the plastic is soft and prone to dents.
• Avoid putting too much stress on the kindle as you pull off the clips of the rear cover. You will break your screen. Can't stress this enough.
• As shown in the Youtube video, start with the bottom right side of the rear cover and then pull off the two bottom tabs. Move to the top two clips on the sides and remove the top two tabs.
• The glue that binds the rear cover to the battery cover is sticky/hard as hell; Using a blow dryer to heat it up did help a bit.
• By the way, you will break part of the four plastic clips that hold the rear cover to the kindle. Don't worry; everything clips back in place once you're done; not noticeable at all.
• Removing the top bezel was surprisingly easy; start with the bottom right side (pry it through the Page Next Button with a plastic tool)
• Now, the scary part: removing the motherboard... oh boy, the thing is stuck as hell; it is glued to the kindle's frame. Again, warm the board (and thus glue) with the hair dryer. As you pull it out, be careful not to dent the kindle's frame. It's a bit difficult but doable.
• One last comment: before removing the motherboard, remember to first pull off the ribbon that connects to the battery (then the other 3 ribbons); upon assembling everything back together, make sure the battery ribbon is the last one you connect.

Hope this helps other users.

[knc1]

A nice summary, thanks!

I indexed it for you:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/K4_I...FModifications

Our index pages are simple wiki pages, anyone can edit them.