Kindle Paperwhite - impossible to reset

pete11 · 02-15-2018, 01:33 AM

Hi everyone have had a search and can't find any thread about this issue, and Amazon Support has been very unhelpful, so I'm posting here now as a last try.

Downloaded content started to randomly vanish from the kindle, I couldn't download new content, or delete already downloaded content. It's as if the kindle's memory has frozen in time and won't remember any changes.

Resetting does not work, and tried all the methods I could find by googling including manually deleting content via USB and wiping the kindle drive via USB. It is somehow strangely impervious to any attempts to reset it.

Whenever I content amazon I get hopeless staff who tell me to download and install the latest update. I do that, tell them it fails, and they say they will get back to me after checking with the technical support. They never get back to me, so when I contact again they repeat the whole script, and after 5 or 6 attempts I gave up contacting them. They even asked for the diagnostics files from my kindle then never replied after I sent the files over. Hopeless.

Please share any ideas you might have

HarryT · 02-15-2018, 01:43 AM

Unfortunately, that sounds very much to me as if the Kindle's flash memory has failed. If that is so, there's no fix for it.

pete11 · 02-15-2018, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately, that sounds very much to me as if the Kindle's flash memory has failed. If that is so, there's no fix for it.

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any idea what might have caused this?

I'm wondering if it's safe to get a new one. The price now is somehow more expensive than when I bought mine, and after only 2 years feel quite let down, and safer spending money on physical books.

HarryT · 02-15-2018, 01:53 AM

Just bad luck, unfortunately. It's not a common failure, but it does happen from time to time. It can happen to any device from any manufacturer. You would be monumentally unlucky to have it happen twice.

HLS · 02-16-2018, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pete11

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any idea what might have caused this?

I'm wondering if it's safe to get a new one. The price now is somehow more expensive than when I bought mine, and after only 2 years feel quite let down, and safer spending money on physical books.

''

All your books should still be stored on your amazon account. If its too expensive to get a new paperwhite try the 7" fire tablet or the basic kindle for now.

datanoise · 02-19-2018, 07:46 AM

There are discount from time to time, quite regularly. A recent second hand unit could be an option to consider, too.

Jooles999 · 02-25-2018, 05:11 PM

Had same problem.
This worked for me:
Assuming that you have a PC.
1) Create a blank file in Notepad titled DO_FACTORY_RESTORE
Remove the .txt extension from the file you created in File Explorer

2) Connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB cable.

3) Copy the file you created into the root directory (don't put into any folder) of your Kindle.

Do a reset of the Kindle by holding down on the power button (20 secs, not the short restart) till the Kindle restarts. It should (fingers crossed) perform a factory reset.

hope this worked. You will of course have to reconnect your kindle to your account and re download all books

ken205726 · 09-20-2018, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jooles999

Had same problem.
This worked for me:
Assuming that you have a PC.
1) Create a blank file in Notepad titled DO_FACTORY_RESTORE
Remove the .txt extension from the file you created in File Explorer

2) Connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB cable.

3) Copy the file you created into the root directory (don't put into any folder) of your Kindle.

Do a reset of the Kindle by holding down on the power button (20 secs, not the short restart) till the Kindle restarts. It should (fingers crossed) perform a factory reset.

hope this worked. You will of course have to reconnect your kindle to your account and re download all books

***************
I did this very easily and the Kindle Restored to factory. If I look at the Kindle on my PC my books etc are gone and the RESTORE file is gone but the display stays stubbornly locked.
So the battery must be working. The reboot sequence worked. The memory must be working.
It is a stubborn little devil!

robko · 09-20-2018, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken205726

***************
I did this very easily and the Kindle Restored to factory. If I look at the Kindle on my PC my books etc are gone and the RESTORE file is gone but the display stays stubbornly locked.
So the battery must be working. The reboot sequence worked. The memory must be working.
It is a stubborn little devil!

That sounds very much like you have a cracked screen substrate. Whatever was on the screen last will remain and won't change. Usually you'll see at least some sort of diagonal line or distortion on the screen.

fezon · 11-19-2018, 02:06 AM

Hi,

I have a Kindle Paperwihite 2 and i´m facing the same problem as pete11 does. Yesterday I was contact Amazon support but they just say that the device i broken and they offer me a good price for a new one. The support helped me to try to update my device due to I´m not running the latest. My device has firmware 5.9.4 and when I´m trying to install the new one the device just start up with 5.9.4.

When I add new books to the memory after a while the device reboot and the new book it´s gone. Just like pete11 wrote: It's as if the kindle's memory has frozen in time and won't remember any changes.

Does any one know if there is a solution?

BR

fezon · 11-19-2018, 02:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fezon

Hi,

I have a Kindle Paperwihite 2 and i´m facing the same problem as pete11 does. Yesterday I was contact Amazon support but they just say that the device i broken and they offer me a good price for a new one. The support helped me to try to update my device due to I´m not running the latest. My device has firmware 5.9.4 and when I´m trying to install the new one the device just start up with 5.9.4.

When I add new books to the memory after a while the device reboot and the new book it´s gone. Just like pete11 wrote: It's as if the kindle's memory has frozen in time and won't remember any changes.

Does any one know if there is a solution?

BR

Beside this problem my Kindle works perfectly on books I have added before this problem started.

HarryT · 11-19-2018, 03:50 AM

Please see my post #2 above.

fezon · 11-19-2018, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Please see my post #2 above.

It´s crazy that the device not can be fixed. I mean beacuse it´s runs perfectly on already added books so it´s hard to realize that the device is broken.

You wrote in post #2 that the flash memory has failed. Can this hardware be replaced? Or maybe some kind of "hard" reset so the memory forgot the information?

stumped · 11-19-2018, 05:08 AM

when flash memory faiis, it sometimes does that in way that means no changes can be written to memory.

so the books you already added are still readable, but add/delete books is broken.

it is not practical or cost effective to try to extract and replace only the memory. you need to buy a new unit. This is a good week for doing that. the PW4 is £30 off

HarryT · 11-19-2018, 05:21 AM

You could replace the motherboard, but unless you enjoy doing that kind of thing it's just not an effective use of one's time (IMHO). These are "throw-away" devices.

02-15-2018, 01:33 AM	#1
pete11 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2018 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Kindle Paperwhite - impossible to reset Hi everyone have had a search and can't find any thread about this issue, and Amazon Support has been very unhelpful, so I'm posting here now as a last try. Downloaded content started to randomly vanish from the kindle, I couldn't download new content, or delete already downloaded content. It's as if the kindle's memory has frozen in time and won't remember any changes. Resetting does not work, and tried all the methods I could find by googling including manually deleting content via USB and wiping the kindle drive via USB. It is somehow strangely impervious to any attempts to reset it. Whenever I content amazon I get hopeless staff who tell me to download and install the latest update. I do that, tell them it fails, and they say they will get back to me after checking with the technical support. They never get back to me, so when I contact again they repeat the whole script, and after 5 or 6 attempts I gave up contacting them. They even asked for the diagnostics files from my kindle then never replied after I sent the files over. Hopeless. Please share any ideas you might have

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02-15-2018, 01:43 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Unfortunately, that sounds very much to me as if the Kindle's flash memory has failed. If that is so, there's no fix for it.

02-15-2018, 01:53 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Just bad luck, unfortunately. It's not a common failure, but it does happen from time to time. It can happen to any device from any manufacturer. You would be monumentally unlucky to have it happen twice.

02-19-2018, 07:46 AM	#6
datanoise Groupie Posts: 175 Karma: 14110 Join Date: Aug 2016 Device: SuperNote A5X	There are discount from time to time, quite regularly. A recent second hand unit could be an option to consider, too.

02-25-2018, 05:11 PM	#7
Jooles999 Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2018 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Had same problem. This worked for me: Assuming that you have a PC. 1) Create a blank file in Notepad titled DO_FACTORY_RESTORE Remove the .txt extension from the file you created in File Explorer 2) Connect the Kindle to your computer using a USB cable. 3) Copy the file you created into the root directory (don't put into any folder) of your Kindle. Do a reset of the Kindle by holding down on the power button (20 secs, not the short restart) till the Kindle restarts. It should (fingers crossed) perform a factory reset. hope this worked. You will of course have to reconnect your kindle to your account and re download all books

11-19-2018, 02:06 AM	#10
fezon Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2018 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2	Hi, I have a Kindle Paperwihite 2 and i´m facing the same problem as pete11 does. Yesterday I was contact Amazon support but they just say that the device i broken and they offer me a good price for a new one. The support helped me to try to update my device due to I´m not running the latest. My device has firmware 5.9.4 and when I´m trying to install the new one the device just start up with 5.9.4. When I add new books to the memory after a while the device reboot and the new book it´s gone. Just like pete11 wrote: It's as if the kindle's memory has frozen in time and won't remember any changes. Does any one know if there is a solution? BR

11-19-2018, 03:50 AM	#12
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Please see my post #2 above.

11-19-2018, 05:08 AM	#14
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	when flash memory faiis, it sometimes does that in way that means no changes can be written to memory. so the books you already added are still readable, but add/delete books is broken. it is not practical or cost effective to try to extract and replace only the memory. you need to buy a new unit. This is a good week for doing that. the PW4 is £30 off

11-19-2018, 05:21 AM	#15
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	You could replace the motherboard, but unless you enjoy doing that kind of thing it's just not an effective use of one's time (IMHO). These are "throw-away" devices.

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