Kindle DX monitor freezing when battery charged

EinkMonitor · 07-14-2014, 05:53 AM

Hi,

I'm using the kindle dx as a monitor due to a severe light sensitivity disease with my eyes.

Im using this hack: http://www.techhive.com/article/2595...c_display.html

Im also using another hack which runs the kindle dx in 1 bit mode (i believe). This makes the screen refreshes just fast enough to use the computer, control the mouse cursor, etc.

I have had a problem since i started using it as a monitor where it randomly freezes. The command prompt in putty just stops and the eink screen is frozen.

After observing it for the last 6 months i believe that it is only freezing once the kindle battery reaches a full charge. So during the night i discharge the battery and this gives my 4-5 hours of freeze-free use of the kindle as an eink monitor. But once the charge gets to 100% it starts freezing again.

Does anyone know if there is a way to fix this? Some sort of software hack to do with the battery?

Im tossing up on whether to crowd fund a project to build an eink monitor screen... as i cannot use a regular LCD display due to my light sensitivity. BUT if this was only a small hack to fix this freezing of the kindle dx monitor i might not have to.

hawhill · 07-15-2014, 05:51 AM

It really sounds like a hardware problem, like a flaky powering. Chances are that the power management IC (which likely won't be much configurable by software) will power the Kindle via external power (USB) and if that is "dirty" (not unheard of with USB ports...), that might crash the Kindle. Did you try to put a powered USB hub between PC and Kindle? I'd experiment a bit with the hardware.

07-14-2014, 05:53 AM	#1
EinkMonitor Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 60632 Join Date: Nov 2013 Device: Kindle DX	Kindle DX monitor freezing when battery charged Hi, I'm using the kindle dx as a monitor due to a severe light sensitivity disease with my eyes. Im using this hack: http://www.techhive.com/article/2595...c_display.html Im also using another hack which runs the kindle dx in 1 bit mode (i believe). This makes the screen refreshes just fast enough to use the computer, control the mouse cursor, etc. I have had a problem since i started using it as a monitor where it randomly freezes. The command prompt in putty just stops and the eink screen is frozen. After observing it for the last 6 months i believe that it is only freezing once the kindle battery reaches a full charge. So during the night i discharge the battery and this gives my 4-5 hours of freeze-free use of the kindle as an eink monitor. But once the charge gets to 100% it starts freezing again. Does anyone know if there is a way to fix this? Some sort of software hack to do with the battery? Im tossing up on whether to crowd fund a project to build an eink monitor screen... as i cannot use a regular LCD display due to my light sensitivity. BUT if this was only a small hack to fix this freezing of the kindle dx monitor i might not have to.

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07-15-2014, 05:51 AM	#2
hawhill Wizard Posts: 1,379 Karma: 2155307 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Goettingen, Germany Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Kobo Mini	It really sounds like a hardware problem, like a flaky powering. Chances are that the power management IC (which likely won't be much configurable by software) will power the Kindle via external power (USB) and if that is "dirty" (not unheard of with USB ports...), that might crash the Kindle. Did you try to put a powered USB hub between PC and Kindle? I'd experiment a bit with the hardware.

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