KS Softbricked my Kindle Scribe, now trying to find an unbrick method

[Archalium]

Long story short, I bought a blacklisted Kindle Scribe, and I accidentally got it stuck in demo mode. Demo mode still requires registration, and it seems to disable USB mass storage, so I resorted to unbricking using the serial port.

Interestingly enough, the serial port does exist on the Scribe. Hooked up the 3 wires, and it seems to work on PuTTY. However, the output is completely different to other screenshots, it turns into garbage halfway through the boot process, and I don't see any indication of a recovery mode. However, spamming the enter key during the boot process would kick it into Fastboot mode, and the Kindle would report as an Android ADB device.

Strangely enough, all the Kindle based fastboot tools can't find the Kindle, but normal Android ADB fastboot tool can communicate with the Kindle just fine. I'm not sure though how to boot it into diagnostics, and that's where I stopped.

At this point, I mostly written this Kindle off as spare parts for another Kindle with a broken screen, but I'm curious if anyone has any ideas on how to at least factory reset it, or even get it to a functional state.

[mergen3107]

Interesting!
If you still can boot into demo mode, search for the term ;uzb in the search bar. This will enable the USB mass storage. But yes, it won’t be much usable without registration…

[mergen3107]

Also, how was the teardown process? Were you able not to crack the plastic border around the screen?

[Archalium]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

Interesting!
If you still can boot into demo mode, search for the term ;uzb in the search bar. This will enable the USB mass storage. But yes, it won’t be much usable without registration…

I'm still stuck behind the registration screen with no access to a search bar. I can't seem to find a way to bypass that. Demo mode disables the Wifi settings, so I can't use the hotspot trick.

Disassembly was surprisingly simple. It was mostly just jamming an iFixit guitar pick between the aluminum back cover and the screen bezel, unlocking each metal tab until the entire back cover falls away.

[Archalium]

Another day of experimenting. I've tried different forks of the kindle fastboot, and I tried both Windows and a Linux VM. All Kindle versions can't detect the scribe, yet the Android fastboot tools can detect it just fine. The Setvar command is missing on the Android version of fastboot, and there are several variable missing when probing with the getvar command. (getvar all) is also invalid. oem commands are restricted. Attempting to wipe userdata using (fastboot -w) completely fails. Using reboot recovery or reboot diags doesn't work.

I kinda don't want to wipe partitions blind, but I'm all out of ideas.

I just purchased another kindle with a cracked screen, but if anyone has any ideas, I'd be happy to test them.

[JSWolf]

Mobilread is not the place to go asking for help to get your blacklisted Kindle working. You'll need to go elsewhere.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mobilread is not the place to go asking for help to get your blacklisted Kindle working. You'll need to go elsewhere.

Moderator Notice
You have been warned about this before. People can have legitimate reasons to have a blacklisted Kindle and MR takes no position on helping those with issues. If you personally don't want to help, don't. But do NOT continue to repeat your personal opinion as MobileRead policy. In short, don't do this again.