Hacks Prevent Kindle Scribe firmware update during registration

[RequisiteAngle]

After I set up my Kindle Scribe, it immediately required me to upgrade the firmware before allowing me to actually use the device. From what I can see, the current firmware version is 5.16.1, (from a text file found in user accessible storage) but as of the time of writing, the latest firmware is 5.16.6. Since LanguageBreak only works on 5.16.2.1.1 and older, I would like to be able to keep the option of jailbreaking and not update to the new firmware. Is there any known way to bypass this upgrade?

Or, if I were to upgrade, what's the likelihood of having to wait, let's say, two years until the next jailbreak is found for 5.16.6? I am not familiar with the pace at which people work on jailbreaks, but it would be helpful if someone could reply with the typical jailbreaking timeframe so I can get an idea if it's worth it to just upgrade and wait for the next jailbreak to come along.

[Quoth]

There is no assurance of a next jailbreak.

[RequisiteAngle]

Originally Posted by Quoth

There is no assurance of a next jailbreak.

Yes I'm aware of that, but my hope is that if I can get an idea of how often they come out, I can at least weigh my options. I followed some advice from Frogm4n:

"You'll have to be vigilant to only turn on the wifi for a very, very, short time to do a sync and then immediately delete the partial update download, or fill the storage so that there isn't room for the update to download and keep it that way, or go ahead and do the jailbreak and then install & activate the RenameOTABin package. There's no simple way to get around the update and still use the device normally."

From this post here https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=357314

Since my firmware download already started, I turned off my wifi and filled up the Kindle's storage with junk (less than a mb of space left). I have not deleted the junk files, and I have not found the firmware update file. It only gives a nonspecific error message after this stage. Maybe I need to delete the update file and redo this?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by RequisiteAngle

Yes I'm aware of that, but my hope is that if I can get an idea of how often they come out

Essentially random depending on someone spotting an exploit and then later they or another writes and debugs jailbreak using the exploit, which can involve bricking a Kindle.

[JSWolf]

It's possible that this could be the very last jailbreak for a Kindle. It's a crap shoot if you upgrade to a firmware that cannot be jailbroken.

[mergen3107]

Before you sign in and upgrade, you need to follow instructions for LanguageBreak and install JB in demo mode. Then upgrade, restore JB, downgrade, restore JB again.

See my instructions here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=484

[RequisiteAngle]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

Before you sign in and upgrade, you need to follow instructions for LanguageBreak and install JB in demo mode. Then upgrade, restore JB, downgrade, restore JB again.

See my instructions here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=484

Thank you so much for the instructions, I really wish I saw this earlier. Unfortunately, I may have screwed some things up already. I have already connected it to a WiFi network, registered a throwaway account, and partially started the update. I stopped the update partway through and attempted to bypass the rest by filling up the storage with junk files.

If I start from step 2 in your instructions, will there be any problems, or is there anything I can do to restore the device state?

As well, I don't quite understand the instructions in step 9. What is the hotfix reinstallation step referred to here? Is it hitting the Update Your Kindle option?

[RequisiteAngle]

I just checked, my firmware version is 5.16.0 according to version.txt, and my directory folder does not contain any partial update files - it seems to have only downloaded some media files like book ads in the time that I gave it to download the update.

I do have more questions about these instructions: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=484

It seems like steps 4 and 5 in your post refers to steps 2 to 17 in the Jailbreak section under the thread's OP, and then the original step 18 no longer applies?

In step 6 of your post, what is meant by the two hotfixes? I assume Marek's is the one referred to in Post Jailbreak step 2 in the OP (ie. Update_hotfix_languagebreak___.bin), but I couldn't find any reference to NiLuJe's hotfix. Are both installed the same way (copying the file to root directory?

I hope I'm not being too pedantic, I just don't want to irreparably mess up the process.

[mergen3107]

Sorry, don’t have time to go through all questions in details.
Pointers: two hotfixes are Marek’s and NiLuJe’s. First is in LB archive, second is in NiLuJe’ Snapshots thread in Kindle Dev Corner.

Both are installed via mrpi, unless installed the first time.

Many more details are in LB thread, I am pretty everything you ask here have been answered before.

Good luck!

[RequisiteAngle]

Hi Mergen, thanks for the help you've given me already, I just want to confirm two things:

Marek's hotfix is the "update_hotfix_languagebreak" hotfix from LanguageBreak, and NiLuJe's hotfix is JailBreak-1.16.N-FW-5.x-hotfix.zip? Am I correct in that this is following cordon's post here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...postcount=431?
I haven't had time to go through much of the LanguageBreak thread, so sorry for repeating some things that I haven't been able to find yet.

In case I mess up, what's the procedure to factory reset the Kindle Scribe? In its current state, my device is registered with an account, firmware 5.16.1, and partially downloaded an update (though with no partial download file to be found). Can the factory reset keep it at 5.16.1? Thanks in advance!