Troubleshooting PW2 goes silent after flash erase

cursive · 07-14-2026, 11:28 AM

I have an old PW2 that couldn't boot up. I soldered a serial adapter and used PuTTY to access the terminal. At first, I could access the terminal and send commands, but could not boot into diagnostics, it got stuck in a loop, and was sending out error code -110. I then mess around, and I got stupid, so I pressed erase MMC0. Now, the terminal is silent, and there is absolutely no messages sent from the kindle to the terminal. When unplugging and plugging the micro usb port, there is a connect chime on my laptop.

Is there a way to recover from this? After looking around, it seems that most people are still able to access the terminal after erasing, but in my case, it goes silent completely. When holding down the power button, it still does the 5 flashes and reboots, as i can hear a disconnect then connect chime on the laptop.

cursive · 07-16-2026, 10:36 PM

Please help me. I really have no idea if it's broken or not. When I erased mmc0, it stopped midway, like, only going to around 20-30%, then the terminal went silent. Is this recoverable?

haertig · Yesterday, 12:40 AM

If you ask Google, it comes back with some instructions (see attached screenshot). And it also comes back with a reference to these forums, 12 years ago

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=253510

cursive · Today, 04:19 PM

Thank you for your reply. It seems I might have a bad eMMC. After using imx-usb-loader and loading new uboot and uimage in, I'm getting:

MMC: FSL_ESDHC: 0, FSL_ESDHC: 1, FSL_ESHC: 2
esdhc_send_cmd: data2 transfer fail status=0x100000
mmc read failed
idme_get_var error! Couldn't read vars from partition

The uboot and uimage is from the popcorn jailbreak.

07-14-2026, 11:28 AM	#1
cursive Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2026 Device: none	PW2 goes silent after flash erase I have an old PW2 that couldn't boot up. I soldered a serial adapter and used PuTTY to access the terminal. At first, I could access the terminal and send commands, but could not boot into diagnostics, it got stuck in a loop, and was sending out error code -110. I then mess around, and I got stupid, so I pressed erase MMC0. Now, the terminal is silent, and there is absolutely no messages sent from the kindle to the terminal. When unplugging and plugging the micro usb port, there is a connect chime on my laptop. Is there a way to recover from this? After looking around, it seems that most people are still able to access the terminal after erasing, but in my case, it goes silent completely. When holding down the power button, it still does the 5 flashes and reboots, as i can hear a disconnect then connect chime on the laptop.

Yesterday, 12:40 AM	#3
haertig Wizard Posts: 2,047 Karma: 36586022 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3, Galaxy Tab A9+, Galaxy S25FE	If you ask Google, it comes back with some instructions (see attached screenshot). And it also comes back with a reference to these forums, 12 years ago https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=253510 Attached Thumbnails

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
PW2 PW2 and others debrick from Erase MMC successful!	Santatic	Kindle Developer's Corner	0	02-22-2024 02:37 AM
PW2 Replace japanese PW2 screen on a french-bought PW2?	Narval	Kindle Developer's Corner	6	05-17-2019 06:36 PM
PW2 is there a way to flash the firmware back?	gzcwnk	Kindle Developer's Corner	38	03-31-2017 02:51 AM
n516 - how long to erase flash	Beebeeee	OpenInkpot	6	06-24-2011 03:22 AM
Can't get new f/w - flash site broken again and non-flash not updated	jusmee	Astak EZReader	8	03-13-2010 11:26 AM

07-16-2026, 10:36 PM	#2
cursive Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2026 Device: none	Please help me. I really have no idea if it's broken or not. When I erased mmc0, it stopped midway, like, only going to around 20-30%, then the terminal went silent. Is this recoverable?

Today, 04:19 PM	#4
cursive Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2026 Device: none	Thank you for your reply. It seems I might have a bad eMMC. After using imx-usb-loader and loading new uboot and uimage in, I'm getting: MMC: FSL_ESDHC: 0, FSL_ESDHC: 1, FSL_ESHC: 2 esdhc_send_cmd: data2 transfer fail status=0x100000 mmc read failed idme_get_var error! Couldn't read vars from partition The uboot and uimage is from the popcorn jailbreak.