Odd behavior with Paper White

astrodad · 08-03-2017, 09:31 AM

Hi gang,

It's been a long time since I visited this forum, but glad to see it's alive and well.

I have a strange problem. I wanted to side load some books onto my Kindle Paperwhite (not sure which version, honestly, but it's quite old) but when I plug in the USB cable (any cable, to any port on any computer), the Kindle flashes the Disk Mode screen briefly, and then goes into a very bizarre series of on-screen flashes where the backlight turns on and off, and the Home screen refreshes itself over and over for about two minutes. This continues even after I unplug the cable. My Mac (and my Windows system as well) don't recognize the Kindle and I have to just wait until the strange flashing is finished before I can do anything.

Additionally, I get a popup on the Kindle briefly saying something about Low Memory. But I just did a hard reset and it says I have 1,317 MB Free. This is using Kindle 5.6.1.1.

Any ideas?

AnemicOak · 08-03-2017, 09:49 AM

Some kind of short/connection problem? Try a different cable?

astrodad · 08-03-2017, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Some kind of short/connection problem? Try a different cable?

I tried about five of them, but it took the sixth this morning to finally work. Not sure what was going on with the other cables.

knc1 · 08-03-2017, 11:22 AM

Battery was left discharged too long.
Leave it on a wall charger for a few days, up to as long as two weeks, until you can access the USB storage.
(You might try that once every other day while waiting for it to 'fix' itself.)

Then put at the top of visible USB storage the file named:
DO_FACTORY_RESTORE
No extension, no contents, all capitals.
Remove USB cable and re-boot the Kindle.
If it is slow to come back up (depends on what all it has to fix), put it back on the wall charger and wait some more (measured in days if required).

astrodad · 08-03-2017, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knc1

Battery was left discharged too long.
Leave it on a wall charger for a few days, up to as long as two weeks, until you can access the USB storage.
(You might try that once every other day while waiting for it to 'fix' itself.)

Then put at the top of visible USB storage the file named:
DO_FACTORY_RESTORE
No extension, no contents, all capitals.
Remove USB cable and re-boot the Kindle.
If it is slow to come back up (depends on what all it has to fix), put it back on the wall charger and wait some more (measured in days if required).

That's an interesting tip! The battery was fine, I had been using it for several days without any problems. I just hadn't tried to plug it in to the computer for a while. Using a brand new cable seems to have fixed the problem.

coplate · 08-03-2017, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrodad

That's an interesting tip! The battery was fine, I had been using it for several days without any problems. I just hadn't tried to plug it in to the computer for a while. Using a brand new cable seems to have fixed the problem.

Is there any chance you plugged into a different USB plug this last time, while you were changing around cables?

Could be a bad ground or something on one of the ports on your computer.

astrodad · 08-03-2017, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coplate

Is there any chance you plugged into a different USB plug this last time, while you were changing around cables?

Could be a bad ground or something on one of the ports on your computer.

I tried every one of my ports, and on two computers.

How do I mark this thread as solved?

knc1 · 08-03-2017, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrodad

- - - -
The battery was fine, I had been using it for several days without any problems. - - - -

That is information you did not provide with your first description.
I can only go by what you write.

Threads do not get marked 'solved' here.
They remain open for the next lurker who has the same or similar problem.

Cinisajoy · 08-03-2017, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrodad

I tried every one of my ports, and on two computers.

How do I mark this thread as solved?

If you no longer wish to be notified about this thread go to User CP and unsubscribe to this thread.

08-03-2017, 09:31 AM	#1
astrodad Guru Posts: 962 Karma: 568242 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle Oasis 3, Kindle Paperwhite 1, iPad, iPhone	Odd behavior with Paper White Hi gang, It's been a long time since I visited this forum, but glad to see it's alive and well. I have a strange problem. I wanted to side load some books onto my Kindle Paperwhite (not sure which version, honestly, but it's quite old) but when I plug in the USB cable (any cable, to any port on any computer), the Kindle flashes the Disk Mode screen briefly, and then goes into a very bizarre series of on-screen flashes where the backlight turns on and off, and the Home screen refreshes itself over and over for about two minutes. This continues even after I unplug the cable. My Mac (and my Windows system as well) don't recognize the Kindle and I have to just wait until the strange flashing is finished before I can do anything. Additionally, I get a popup on the Kindle briefly saying something about Low Memory. But I just did a hard reset and it says I have 1,317 MB Free. This is using Kindle 5.6.1.1. Any ideas?

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08-03-2017, 09:49 AM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	Some kind of short/connection problem? Try a different cable?

08-03-2017, 11:22 AM	#4
knc1 Going Viral Posts: 17,212 Karma: 18210809 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Central Texas Device: No K1, PW2, KV, KOA	Battery was left discharged too long. Leave it on a wall charger for a few days, up to as long as two weeks, until you can access the USB storage. (You might try that once every other day while waiting for it to 'fix' itself.) Then put at the top of visible USB storage the file named: DO_FACTORY_RESTORE No extension, no contents, all capitals. Remove USB cable and re-boot the Kindle. If it is slow to come back up (depends on what all it has to fix), put it back on the wall charger and wait some more (measured in days if required).

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