Kindle Touch 5.0 Jailbreak

[VoxT3R]

Originally Posted by ixtab

I think I just found an alternative way of jailbreaking the device. I actually stumbled upon this while looking for a way to de-brick a KT which is not showing any UI, but is at least capable of booting up to the point of announcing itself as a USB device.

So here's how it goes:
- /etc/upstart/filesystems.conf contains a line to extract, and then delete, /mnt/us/data.tar.gz if present
- this file can be made to contain absolute path locations. ("tar cvfzP").
- This alone only allows us to write to whatever is already mounted read-write. But that includes, for example, "/var/local/system/locale".
- The locale file in turn is sourced from pretty much everywhere ("source /var/local/system/locale"), and can contain shell code.

I'm attaching a proof-of-concept exploit. *RENAME* RUNME.sh.txt to RUNME.sh, then just copy both files to /mnt/us (or even just into the root folder via USB drive). Then reboot. The result should be:
- Three new files in /mnt/us/, namely RUNME.{done,out,err}. For reasons completely obscure to me, sometimes the .out file stays empty, even though it shouldn't. May just be a FS syncing problem though. In any case, the actual execution DID take place in all cases (for me).
- For the proof-of-concept, a copy of /opt/amazon/ebook/config/locales/default.properties has been made as "jb.properties".

As said, this may not only be useful for jailbreaking, but also for de-bricking devices which don't properly get the UI running anymore. As long as USB drive access works, this method should also work. For a bricked device, the reboot is achieved by long-pressing (30 secs?) the power button.

Let me know if this is reproducible.

UPDATE: For newbies: This is NOT a jailbreak!. DO NOT USE THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHY AND HOW TO USE IT CORRECTLY!

Hi all.

Ive just got a Kindle Touch and wanted to use custom screensavers instead of the ad versions on the device.

I'm currently at work, and Im limited in time, and like a complete douche, I didn't fully read the info stating that the data.tar.gz file is not a jailbreak.

So what have I done... well, I copied the data.tar.gz (on its own) from the above post and rebooted the kindle. Now the kindle wont boot past the Kindle tree screen.

I know I should be hung, drawn and quartered for not reading the post, but could someone please help a novice like me restore my kindle into a working state and get it to boot up? I really ain't bothered about a custom screensaver hack anymore, I just need my kindle working.

Thanks in advance for any help offered guys,

VoxT3R

[diba]

Go back to post 217, there is a hint.

[junaid]

Originally Posted by thomass

Here you go: how to use usbnetwork

Please search and read before asking a question and be more specific

There are plenty of such questions on this forum that's the reason of the "angry answers" to your's.

Sorry for the irritating question.

In README of usbnet it is written


1) Copy the installer .bin to your Kindle's USB drive.
2) From the home screen, tap "Menu", choose "Settings"
3) In settings, tap "Menu" and choose "Update Your Kindle"

But my kindle is stuck on screen with tree and a boy due to which i cannot perform the second step

so what i did was
1) I copyied the install.bin to the kindle
2) I ran the Mfgtool in "Kindle main" mode

and i got the following error

"the update was not successful...
UPDATE ERROR: 3"

any suggestion on What should i try next ?

[diba]

MfgTool is doing a reboot, which causes the 003 error. AFAIK MfgTool can not be used to install a bin.

[ixtab]

@VoxT3R, junaid:

look at the sticky debricking thread. It contains the instructions you need to get your Kindle back to work.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by junaid

Sorry for the irritating question.

In README of usbnet it is written


1) Copy the installer .bin to your Kindle's USB drive.
2) From the home screen, tap "Menu", choose "Settings"
3) In settings, tap "Menu" and choose "Update Your Kindle"

But my kindle is stuck on screen with tree and a boy due to which i cannot perform the second step

so what i did was
1) I copyied the install.bin to the kindle
2) I ran the Mfgtool in "Kindle main" mode

and i got the following error

"the update was not successful...
UPDATE ERROR: 3"

any suggestion on What should i try next ?

MfgTool does a "soft reboot" -- it does not change the bootmode var.

Using MfgTool to install a .bin file is like using a screwdriver to open a can of paint. Not its intended purpose, put it can do the job in a pinch.

In this case, the install process needs the bootmode set, so you should first go to fastboot and set bootmode to main, then use MfgTool to boot to main.

[thomass]

Originally Posted by junaid

"the update was not successful...
UPDATE ERROR: 3"
any suggestion on What should i try next ?

may try this:

• use mfgtool to open Kindle in main mode
• copy the update file
• menu>settings>menu>update
• when it stuck on screen with tree use again mfgtool to open Kindle in main mode.

[Admesser]

OK so here's a situation for you.
I have a Kindle Touch, I did the jailbreak on 5.0.3 and all was good... installed the screensaver hack, all good.
Until last week when my Kindle did an OTA update to 5.1 while I wasn't looking.

I've read around and am aware that 5.1 breaks the screensaver hack, some have said that removing the hack fixed the problem. So thats what I did. Only it didn't fix anything. Still no screensaver love.

SOOO (and now I regret doing this) I uninstalled the jailbreak and updated... then did a reset thinking that might do something. Nada. Now I'm stuck with a non JB Kindle that apparently has no functioning screensaver. The device still works, so it's not bricked, just a little handicapped.

Anyone have this issue? Any idea what can be done?

[VoxT3R]

Sorted out my problem!!

Thanks anyway guys.

[Portia]

I've got the same problem as Admesser. When the OTA 5.1 update installed (last night, since I hadn't left wireless on for awhile), it killed all screensavers. It is not bricked. I can turn the device on and off, and it works to read, and appears to have full functionality except it just no longer has any kind of screensaver at all. Thanks to reading Admesser's post, I have not tried to uninstall the jailbreak (data.tar.gz method).

Now I've checked the Kindle Touch Hack wiki page and it says the screensaver hack I used (not yifanlu's) apparently does not work with the 5.1 update, but that the work around is to use yifanlu's simple version. So I'll wait until I get home tonight and try downloading that one. (Hopefully the underlying jailbreak is still working.)

[dwallersv]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Not so much "angry" -- just tired of answering the same old worn-out questions over and over and over and over and ...

Gawd, wouldn't be nice if the board S/W had a bot running all the time that could spot these sorts of questions (there's plenty of really good search engines out there, some of them free), reject the post, and pop up a link(s) to the thread/FAQ/post with the answer to their question? Include a somewhat obscure mechanism to force the posting through, should the poster still have trouble figuring it out.

Isn't that what computers are supposed to do? Make things easier?

[ixtab]

Well, I guess we're all learning...: it's actually a good sign that those recent questions about screensavers simply go unanswered.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Well, I guess we're all learning...: it's actually a good sign that those recent questions about screensavers simply go unanswered.

Like the one I answered a few hours ago about how to "randomize" screensavers?

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Like the one I answered a few hours ago about how to "randomize" screensavers?

I'm not listening, not answering.... (covering my ears, singing to myself) ....
lalalalalalalalala

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by ixtab

I'm not listening, not answering.... (covering my ears, singing to myself) ....
lalalalalalalalala