Troubleshooting Kindle Paperwhite bricked by Amazon Update

[tdockter]

I have a kindle paperwhite 7th generation. A couple years old but was still running great until a recent update. I wish I knew which update it was but I didn't record it at the time. It was around the end of November/beginning of December 2017.
Anyways, after installing the update, the kindle rebooted and now will not go past boot-up screen (with the silhouette person reading under a tree). The backlight comes on and the screen just stays there responding to nothing. I can't turn it off either. I can hold the power button for 40 seconds and the screen will flash white and return to the same tree screen. I have completely drained the battery and rebooted several times to no avail. Amazon technical was of no use and suggested I buy a new device as my warranty was long past. I did buy a new one because I my commute is very sad without it but now I would like to see if I can still salvage the old one.

No computers will recognize the device. I have a chromebook with Crouton (Xenial) on it and I used dmesg in the terminal to see what was happening. Sadly, my technical savvy ends there.

If I leave the kindle unplugged and completely run out its battery, and then plug it into my computer it will start charging without turning on and this happens in dmesg:

[21448.145579] usb 2-1.3: new low-speed USB device number 9 using ehci-pci
[21448.235105] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1949, idProduct=dead
[21448.235119] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1,
SerialNumber=0
[21448.235129] usb 2-1.3: Product: USB Charger
[21448.237966] input: USB Charger as
/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.3/2-1.3:1.0/input/input16
[21448.238442] hid-generic 0003:1949EAD.0005: input,hidraw2: USB HID
v1.11 Device [USB Charger ] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.3/input0
[21449.759809] usb 2-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 9


Then after a little bit of charging something wakes up within the kindle. The screen changes to the usb charge symbol and this happens in dmesg:

[21719.929165] usb 2-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 10 using ehci-pci
[21720.020146] usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1949, idProduct=0004
[21720.020170] usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=3
[21720.020188] usb 2-1.3: Product: Amazon Kindle
[21720.020200] usb 2-1.3: Manufacturer: Amazon
[21720.020212] usb 2-1.3: SerialNumber: 90172202514508R4
[21720.025325] scsi7 : usb-storage 2-1.3:1.0
[21721.028996] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access Kindle Internal
Storage 0100 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[21721.041734] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[22860.352727] [drm] Adding LVDS downclock mode
[22981.934109] usb 2-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 10

Then if I hold the power button down for 15 seconds the screen flashes and the backlight comes on. The screen flashes twice more, once staying white for about 5 full seconds, and then back to the same tree screen as before. Nothing happens in dmesg. I can even unplug the usb and plug it back in while the kindle is on and there is no register that I have done anything after I refresh dmesg multiple times.

Thanks for reading! Sorry if formatting is horrible :/ First poster here.

[Cinisajoy]

Put it on a wall charger for no less than 24 hours.

[tdockter]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Put it on a wall charger for no less than 24 hours.

Does it matter if it is a charge only cord or not? I definitely tried this a couple weeks ago when I was still researching the problem but it was with an old charge only cord. I suppose I can try it again with a full speed cord. I've also heard it can take up to several days which I did not try.

[Cinisajoy]

Ok try for 72 hours. Long as it shows charging it should be ok.

[tdockter]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Ok try for 72 hours. Long as it shows charging it should be ok.

Ok, will try that and report back.

[Tarana]

I had a similar problem with a Paperwhite recently roughly about the same time as you did. I charged by using a fast charge cord (for Fire) plugged into wall. I did a complete factory reset 7 or 8 times before it would completely reset and start. Now it works fine and has for the last 2 months. I sometimes held the button down 60 seconds in case 40 wasn't enough.

Don't waste hours of frustration. Just charge it up, put on the telly and repeatedly do factor reset (which is 40-60 seconds of holding down the on/off button). Less frustrating that way.

[tdockter]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I had a similar problem with a Paperwhite recently roughly about the same time as you did. I charged by using a fast charge cord (for Fire) plugged into wall. I did a complete factory reset 7 or 8 times before it would completely reset and start. Now it works fine and has for the last 2 months. I sometimes held the button down 60 seconds in case 40 wasn't enough.

Don't waste hours of frustration. Just charge it up, put on the telly and repeatedly do factor reset (which is 40-60 seconds of holding down the on/off button). Less frustrating that way.

I have had it plugged in now for about a week with no change in the screen so I will try this now. Thanks for your reply!