K3 automatically restarts

maianhvk · 08-05-2013, 02:24 AM

Hi everyone, long time no see.

My K3 wifi has been having problem. It repeatedly and automatically restarts without any indication. One moment, I'm reading. The next, it shows Amazon logo and the % bar. Sometimes it successfully restarts, sometimes it takes several times to finally load the home page.

When I connect the device to my laptop, nothing's wrong. Calibre still recognizes it and sends items alright.

I did factory reset, but it didn't fix it.

I desperately need your help

HarryT · 08-05-2013, 03:51 AM

This is generally a sign of a corrupt book file. Do another Factory Reset - does it still crash without any books on it? If it does, you need to contact Kindle Customer Service.

If it's stable without any books on it, re-add your books a few at a time, letting indexing of each batch complete before adding the next. You'll probably find that adding one batch of books will make it crash. Remove that batch and re-add the books one at a time until you find which one is causing the problem.

maianhvk · 08-05-2013, 09:00 PM

Harry, thanks for your quick response. I have one or two questions, though:

1. Do you know why it happened out of the blue? Before the incident, I hadn't added any new books to the device.

2. I haven't got a chance to reset it, because when I got home yesterday, I saw that the screen had got all blank and K3 is now unresponsive to the power button. Can you offer other tricks?

pidgeon92 · 08-05-2013, 10:29 PM

Plug it in, to a wall outlet if possible, for several hours or overnight.

If that doesn't wake it up, try a USB connection to a computer and see if that wakes it up, or if the device is available as an external drive.

maianhvk · 08-06-2013, 10:51 PM

@ pidgeon92: I plugged it, the LED blinked once and dimmed immediately. I then did a hard reboot (hold the power button for 15-30 secs), it then showed the progress bar, but stopped at perhaps 2%.

Then, I slightly knocked on its back, and the screen turned dark. It has stayed that way until now. My gosh, where did I go wrong?

(Haven't got a chance to connect it to computer. Will try tonight.)

pidgeon92 · 08-07-2013, 12:09 AM

I agree with Harry that a bad book file is the likely culprit. Plug it into a wall outlet and let it alone for several hours or overnight.

Once it has a full charge, then see if it starts. Then try a restart. If that fails, I'd try hooking it up to a PC and deleting the contents of the documents folder. Then I'd do another restart, and if successful I'd do a Factory Reset, and load just a book or two to make sure everything is working properly for a few days before adding more.

If all that fails, I'd flash the firmware. This is something I've fortunately never had to do, but you can get help from others in this forum (and the developer's subforum) on how this is accomplished.

maianhvk · 08-07-2013, 01:58 PM

Alright. So I plugged it, the LED went on for some seconds and then dimmed. I left it for several hours anyway.

Now, it still doesn't register the power button. So no wake-up, no restart, nothing but a dark screen. Laptop doesn't recognize the silly thing, either. I still have it plugged, but seeing there's no LED on, I guess that means it doesn't charge?

So I'm stuck at what to do next. In the Kindle developer's corner, there are some how-to threads that mention 'debrick' and 'black screen'. I am now very worried

twobob · 08-07-2013, 02:04 PM

hmm... sounds a bit dead.
oh oh.

pidgeon92 · 08-07-2013, 06:26 PM

How old is the unit? It sounds like the battery is kaput. The battery can be replaced without a tremendous amount of difficulty, if you can get one where you are located.....

http://www.newpower99.com/Amazon_Kin...kindle%203.htm

The screen being black isn't an indication of anything in particular. If there were lines or zigzags it would be different. My money is on a dead battery.

twobob · 08-07-2013, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

How old is the unit? It sounds like the battery is kaput. The battery can be replaced without a tremendous amount of difficulty, if you can get one where you are located.....

http://www.newpower99.com/Amazon_Kin...kindle%203.htm

The screen being black isn't an indication of anything in particular. If there were lines or zigzags it would be different. My money is on a dead battery.

I'd probably have a flutter on that bet.

EDIT:
I have seen some pretty crazy deaths now though. With zero obvious cause.
But battery seems a safe bet.

maianhvk · 08-07-2013, 09:30 PM

It is certainly old. Judging from the fact that I am the third owner, and have been for a while, I guess it should be 3 years old now.

I happen to have 2 other K3s at home. One has broken screen, the other died without reason. Perhaps I should try breaking them apart and assembling the components? If all that fails I'll get a new battery from a local provider.

twobob · 08-07-2013, 11:00 PM

yeah.

unclick the edges of the casing
like 10 little screws if you want the whole thing to come to pieces
another set of screws for the battery IIRC

done

pidgeon92 · 08-07-2013, 11:02 PM

There is a teardown video in the link I posted above. It's pretty easy to take apart.

SampleAndy · 08-09-2013, 11:59 AM

If all you want to do is replace the battery, there are only two screws holding it in. Be careful not to lose the two little spacers between the battery and the motherboard. (look like little silver hats with holes in them)

The hardest part is getting the back unclipped, but compared to a K4, it's a piece of cake. Just be patient.

SampleAndy · 08-09-2013, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maianhvk

It is certainly old. Judging from the fact that I am the third owner, and have been for a while, I guess it should be 3 years old now.

I happen to have 2 other K3s at home. One has broken screen, the other died without reason. Perhaps I should try breaking them apart and assembling the components? If all that fails I'll get a new battery from a local provider.

Mixing 'n' Matching pieces can be fun, but it's not always successful. Remember, YMMV.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=218788

08-05-2013, 02:24 AM	#1
maianhvk whimsical Posts: 2,779 Karma: 88193939 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in darkness Device: current: PPW 4. brick: K3 & Voyage.	K3 automatically restarts Hi everyone, long time no see. My K3 wifi has been having problem. It repeatedly and automatically restarts without any indication. One moment, I'm reading. The next, it shows Amazon logo and the % bar. Sometimes it successfully restarts, sometimes it takes several times to finally load the home page. When I connect the device to my laptop, nothing's wrong. Calibre still recognizes it and sends items alright. I did factory reset, but it didn't fix it. I desperately need your help

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08-05-2013, 03:51 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	This is generally a sign of a corrupt book file. Do another Factory Reset - does it still crash without any books on it? If it does, you need to contact Kindle Customer Service. If it's stable without any books on it, re-add your books a few at a time, letting indexing of each batch complete before adding the next. You'll probably find that adding one batch of books will make it crash. Remove that batch and re-add the books one at a time until you find which one is causing the problem.

08-05-2013, 09:00 PM	#3
maianhvk whimsical Posts: 2,779 Karma: 88193939 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in darkness Device: current: PPW 4. brick: K3 & Voyage.	Harry, thanks for your quick response. I have one or two questions, though: 1. Do you know why it happened out of the blue? Before the incident, I hadn't added any new books to the device. 2. I haven't got a chance to reset it, because when I got home yesterday, I saw that the screen had got all blank and K3 is now unresponsive to the power button. Can you offer other tricks?

08-05-2013, 10:29 PM	#4
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	Plug it in, to a wall outlet if possible, for several hours or overnight. If that doesn't wake it up, try a USB connection to a computer and see if that wakes it up, or if the device is available as an external drive.

08-06-2013, 10:51 PM	#5
maianhvk whimsical Posts: 2,779 Karma: 88193939 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in darkness Device: current: PPW 4. brick: K3 & Voyage.	@ pidgeon92: I plugged it, the LED blinked once and dimmed immediately. I then did a hard reboot (hold the power button for 15-30 secs), it then showed the progress bar, but stopped at perhaps 2%. Then, I slightly knocked on its back, and the screen turned dark. It has stayed that way until now. My gosh, where did I go wrong? (Haven't got a chance to connect it to computer. Will try tonight.)

08-07-2013, 12:09 AM	#6
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I agree with Harry that a bad book file is the likely culprit. Plug it into a wall outlet and let it alone for several hours or overnight. Once it has a full charge, then see if it starts. Then try a restart. If that fails, I'd try hooking it up to a PC and deleting the contents of the documents folder. Then I'd do another restart, and if successful I'd do a Factory Reset, and load just a book or two to make sure everything is working properly for a few days before adding more. If all that fails, I'd flash the firmware. This is something I've fortunately never had to do, but you can get help from others in this forum (and the developer's subforum) on how this is accomplished.

08-07-2013, 01:58 PM	#7
maianhvk whimsical Posts: 2,779 Karma: 88193939 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in darkness Device: current: PPW 4. brick: K3 & Voyage.	Alright. So I plugged it, the LED went on for some seconds and then dimmed. I left it for several hours anyway. Now, it still doesn't register the power button. So no wake-up, no restart, nothing but a dark screen. Laptop doesn't recognize the silly thing, either. I still have it plugged, but seeing there's no LED on, I guess that means it doesn't charge? So I'm stuck at what to do next. In the Kindle developer's corner, there are some how-to threads that mention 'debrick' and 'black screen'. I am now very worried

08-07-2013, 02:04 PM	#8
twobob ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°){ʇlnɐɟ ƃǝs}Týr Posts: 6,586 Karma: 6299991 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: uti gratia usura (Yao ying da ying; Mo ying da yieng) Device: PW-WIFI\|K5-3G+WIFI\| K4\|K3-3G\|DXG\|K2\| Rooted Nook Touch	hmm... sounds a bit dead. oh oh.

08-07-2013, 06:26 PM	#9
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	How old is the unit? It sounds like the battery is kaput. The battery can be replaced without a tremendous amount of difficulty, if you can get one where you are located..... http://www.newpower99.com/Amazon_Kin...kindle%203.htm The screen being black isn't an indication of anything in particular. If there were lines or zigzags it would be different. My money is on a dead battery.

08-07-2013, 09:30 PM	#11
maianhvk whimsical Posts: 2,779 Karma: 88193939 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: in darkness Device: current: PPW 4. brick: K3 & Voyage.	It is certainly old. Judging from the fact that I am the third owner, and have been for a while, I guess it should be 3 years old now. I happen to have 2 other K3s at home. One has broken screen, the other died without reason. Perhaps I should try breaking them apart and assembling the components? If all that fails I'll get a new battery from a local provider.

08-07-2013, 11:00 PM	#12
twobob ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°){ʇlnɐɟ ƃǝs}Týr Posts: 6,586 Karma: 6299991 Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: uti gratia usura (Yao ying da ying; Mo ying da yieng) Device: PW-WIFI\|K5-3G+WIFI\| K4\|K3-3G\|DXG\|K2\| Rooted Nook Touch	yeah. unclick the edges of the casing like 10 little screws if you want the whole thing to come to pieces another set of screws for the battery IIRC done

08-07-2013, 11:02 PM	#13
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	There is a teardown video in the link I posted above. It's pretty easy to take apart.

08-09-2013, 11:59 AM	#14
SampleAndy Addict Posts: 271 Karma: 644344 Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA Device: KPW, KFire HD, KFire, KTD 3g, KT, K4B, K4S, K3g, K3g SO, K2, K1	If all you want to do is replace the battery, there are only two screws holding it in. Be careful not to lose the two little spacers between the battery and the motherboard. (look like little silver hats with holes in them) The hardest part is getting the back unclipped, but compared to a K4, it's a piece of cake. Just be patient.