Original "Simple" debricking methods for K5-Touch, K4-Mini, & K3-Keyboard

[augusto]

Hello to all, this is my first post so is a little introduction.

I have a Kindle 4, and with the new update i tried to update downloading the firmware Update_kindle_4.1.0_B00E.bin but error U006 showed after a failed update.

My mistake in the first place was not to keep the original ad remover to later know what to uninstall.

As a solution I found forensic images and tried to flash them to my kindle. Used the guide provided by this thread, fastbooted and flashed the 4.0.1 images.
After the last reboot command the device didn't start.

Summary
Symptoms: can't boot kindle to default state, kindle always in HID-Mode, MfgTool appears not to change boot mode (although it runs OK). Fastboot keeps in < waiting for device >.
Host OS: Windows 7 x64
USB HID/PID: 15A2/0052 REV_0001
Fastboot tool used: the one provided in guide (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2001683).
Device detected as: NS Blank CODEX

I charged the whole night plugged to the pc via usb and still the same problems, seems as MfgTool is not doing anything.

I would really appreciate some ideas to unbrik the device. Be assured that any other info, if needed will be provided.

Thanks!

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by augusto

Hello to all, this is my first post so is a little introduction.

I have a Kindle 4, and with the new update i tried to update downloading the firmware Update_kindle_4.1.0_B00E.bin but error U006 showed after a failed update.

My mistake in the first place was not to keep the original ad remover to later know what to uninstall.

As a solution I found forensic images and tried to flash them to my kindle. Used the guide provided by this thread, fastbooted and flashed the 4.0.1 images.
After the last reboot command the device didn't start.

Summary
Symptoms: can't boot kindle to default state, kindle always in HID-Mode, MfgTool appears not to change boot mode (although it runs OK). Fastboot keeps in < waiting for device >.
Host OS: Windows 7 x64
USB HID/PID: 15A2/0052 REV_0001
Fastboot tool used: the one provided in guide (https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2001683).
Device detected as: NS Blank CODEX

I charged the whole night plugged to the pc via usb and still the same problems, seems as MfgTool is not doing anything.

I would really appreciate some ideas to unbrik the device. Be assured that any other info, if needed will be provided.

Thanks!

Windows 7 x64 is not win32. Win32 fastboot requires the libusb-win32 device drivers. x64 windows cannot use 32-bit drivers. You need to do this in a 32-bit windows (on a different PC, or in a VM with USB passthrough support, such as VirtualBox). Or you can use a linux fastboot.

MfgTool does not save fastboot bootmode. You can boot to diags and save fastboot mode from the diags exit menu "install fastboot bundle" option. Then you can connect the kindle to a different computer to run fastboot (or reboot the computer from a linux liveCD distro to run linux fastboot).

[augusto]

Hello geekmaster, and thanks for your reply.

To be clear I can't get to diags boot mode, kindle screen is frozen and no possible normal boot.

What steps do you recommend to start fastboot on windows and then fastboot images from linux?

Any way of starting fastboot mode from ubuntu?

Regards.

[geekmaster]

You need win32 (not x64) to run MfgTool. Booting to fastboot mode using MfgTool is temporary. Fastboot mode drops out when the USB connection is reset or disconnected. You can use MfgTool to boot to diags. In diags you can SAVE fastboot mode by selecting "install fastboot bundle" in the diags exit menu. Then the kindle will boot to fastboot on powerup. Fastboot mode does not change the eink screen. It only changes the USB VID/PID to 1949/d0d0. Then you can use any fastboot (win32, linux, or mac versions). There is NO fastboot version for win64.

[augusto]

Thanks again, i will try from win32 and report again.

[kerotan]

I've been following silver18's guide (which is very helpful, kudos ) and have been particularly stuck at the step where the Device Manager of Windows detects the kindle as a Linux USB Ethernet/RNDIS Gadget device. But here's my problem: when I run the putty.exe and plug in the necessary information (IP address etc.), putty.exe freezes and puts out an alert box saying Network error: Connection timed out. In other words, I can't get into logging in as root and mario as password step. What could be wrong?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kerotan

I've been following silver18's guide (which is very helpful, kudos ) and have been particularly stuck at the step where the Device Manager of Windows detects the kindle as a Linux USB Ethernet/RNDIS Gadget device. But here's my problem: when I run the putty.exe and plug in the necessary information (IP address etc.), putty.exe freezes and puts out an alert box saying Network error: Connection timed out. In other words, I can't get into logging in as root and mario as password step. What could be wrong?

Stuck in what way? What are the symptoms? Does windows detect the RNDIS device? If so, does windows install a device driver for it? If not, you can download and install a device driver. Did you manually assign an IP address to the RNDIS network interface? What did you do? What did or did not work? Did you charge the kindle battery?

EDIT: Can you ping the kindle from a command prompt? What is the output of the DOS command "ipconfig /all"? You did not supply enough information for us to help you. Please answer the questions.

[kerotan]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Stuck in what way? What are the symptoms? Does windows detect the RNDIS device? If so, does windows install a device driver for it? If not, you can download and install a device driver. Did you manually assign an IP address to the RNDIS network interface? What did you do? What did or did not work? Did you charge the kindle battery?

Hello geekmaster! Thanks for your work! I've somehow managed to get past that stage with help from silver18. I've manually assigned an IP address (192.168.15.2 as per your instructions). Yes I've charged the kindle battery (for so long I might add).

Now I've come to the point where I'm entering the code rm /mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS but putty keeps saying: rm: can't remove '/mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS': no such file or directory. What could be wrong? Should I skip this line and just enter idme -d --bootmode main?

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kerotan

Hello geekmaster! Thanks for your work! I've somehow managed to get past that stage with help from silver18. I've manually assigned an IP address (192.168.15.2 as per your instructions. Yes I've charged the kindle battery (for so long I might add).

Now I've come to the point where I'm entering the code rm /mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS but putty keeps saying: rm: can't remove '/mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS': no such file or directory. What could be wrong? Should I skip this line and just enter idme -d --bootmode main?

You cannot delete that file because there is no file to delete. That step was just IN CASE you had a file. You can ignore the error message. We are trying to keep the instructions as simple as possible, instead of making you type extra commands to see if there is a file to delete and then decide whether or not to delete it. Just do the command and ignore that particular error message. What happened when you continue with the next command? Or did you stop at that point? If you look up what that command does, you can see that it deletes a file. The error message you showed indicates that the file is ALREADY deleted -- so it should be obvious that there is nothing wrong (just continue to the next step).

[kerotan]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

You cannot delete that file because there is no file to delete. That step was just IN CASE you had a file. You can ignore the error message. We are trying to keep the instructions as simple as possible, instead of making you type extra commands to see if there is a file to delete and then decide whether or not to delete it. Just do the command and ignore that particular error message. What happened when you continue with the next command? Or did you stop at that point? If you look up what that command does, you can see that it deletes a file. The error message you showed indicates that the file is ALREADY deleted -- so it should be obvious that there is nothing wrong (just continue to the next step).

Sorry for my ignorance! I'm blindly following these things. I should use my brain more. Now I've done the necessary steps, my kindle rebooted a couple of times only to show me the Repair Needed screen with and ! in the middle. It says Your Kindle Needs Repair. Oh boy. What now? I followed every step line by line.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kerotan

Sorry for my ignorance! I'm blindly following these things. I should use my brain more. Now I've done the necessary steps, my kindle rebooted a couple of times only to show me the Repair Needed screen with and ! in the middle. It says Your Kindle Needs Repair. Oh boy. What now? I followed every step line by line.

You need to reset the boot counter (preferred), OR zero out /dev/mmcblk0b3 (which will erase your settings and collections). I have posted how to do that MANY times. Here is one of those posts: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2033285

[kerotan]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

You need to reset the boot counter (preferred), OR zero out /dev/mmcblk0b3 (which will erase your settings and collections). I have posted how to do that MANY times. Here is one of those posts: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2033285

I have erased the /var/local partition as per silver18's guide (the code that is: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p3 bs=4k count=1k). However, just to be sure, I'll rerun the steps again and try the code: echo 0 > /var/local/upstart/lab126_gui.restarts

Thank you for your patience. I'll try it now.

EDIT: WOW. Just WOW. My kindle touch is up and running again. Thank you very much silver18. And thank you very much geekmaster. I'm sorry if I stroked your angry side because of my stupidity. I ran the code: echo 0 > /var/local/upstart/lab126_gui.restarts in addition to everything in the guide. And it worked! Back to

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kerotan

I have erased the /var/local partition as per silver18's guide (the code that is: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p3 bs=4k count=1k). However, just to be sure, I'll rerun the steps again and try the code: echo 0 > /var/local/upstart/lab126_gui.restarts

Thank you for your patience. I'll try it now.

If you have the "YKNR" screen, it either means that your boot counter reached 3 after you erased that partition, or that is an old screen and you are not booting far enough to update the screen. That could be from a dead battery. Bricked kindles are not good at charging the battery. You could try putting it in fastboot mode and letting in charge there...

[kerotan]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

If you have the "YKNR" screen, it either means that your boot counter reached 3 after you erased that partition, or that is an old screen and you are not booting far enough to update the screen. That could be from a dead battery. Bricked kindles are not good at charging the battery. You could try putting it in fastboot mode and letting in charge there...

I've edited my previous post. Nevertheless, thank you. That code worked. My KT is up and running again.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kerotan

I have erased the /var/local partition as per silver18's guide (the code that is: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0p3 bs=4k count=1k). However, just to be sure, I'll rerun the steps again and try the code: echo 0 > /var/local/upstart/lab126_gui.restarts

Thank you for your patience. I'll try it now.

EDIT: WOW. Just WOW. My kindle touch is up and running again. Thank you very much silver18. And thank you very much geekmaster. I'm sorry if I stroked your angry side because of my stupidity. I ran the code: echo 0 > /var/local/upstart/lab126_gui.restarts in addition to everything in the guide. And it worked! Back to

The bold text did not indicate anger. It was just to draw your attention to those points. A lot of people only read a little of my posts and respond to what got their attention (sometimes missing the important points), so I often bold the most important points to draw their attention. No anger. Just exercising my "infinite" patience.

I am glad that you successfully debricked your kindle, and I will add your post to the success list in the first post.