Troubleshooting Fried K3

[SampleAndy]

OK, I'm not really looking for troubleshooting info. A friend gave me his girlfriend's K3. Seems she left it out in the sun on a hot day and it hasn't worked since. The screen still looks clear, showing the text of the book she was last reading. Trying to charge the Kindle just gives a orange light that may go out after time, but never goes to green. Holding the power button for up to one minute has no effect.

My question is: What is the most likely cause of death? Would trying to replace the battery be of any value? Would this be considered a possible donor to a Kindle with a cracked screen, or can the eInk be damaged by extreme temperatures?

Almost any comments are appreciated.
Andy

[pidgeon92]

The device can definitely be damaged by hot temperatures. The max operating temp is 95F. A long charge on a wall outlet might revive it if it was a battery issue, but I would wager the thing is a goner. Some parts might be salvageable, but I wouldn't want to use them knowing the unit's history.

[hawhill]

Typically, ICs have termal protection of some sort, so they should not really get damaged (and simply stop working instead). My guess is on the battery, but there's not much to test this hypothesis.

[HarryT]

Or it's possible that it's the usual culprit of a fractured screen substrate, and the "leaving it outside" was simply coincident in time.

[SampleAndy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Or it's possible that it's the usual culprit of a fractured screen substrate, and the "leaving it outside" was simply coincident in time.

Harry, would a bad screen cause the failure to charge symptoms? I took it all apart, and the back of the screen looks as good as the front. I was kinda hoping to see a battery that was distorted or something. The only thing that was odd was that the mother board was stuck to the ... mid board? control board? There was a piece of adhesive that I don't remember being on my other one. No melted solder or exploded capacitors or transistors. Maybe because there weren't any?

[SampleAndy]

Hey, y'all.

I got my working K3g with a broken screen today, so I'm ready to do the mix'n'match thing. The question today is... What is the right way to disconnect the 3G antenna from the modem? It looks to me like it should slide off, in the direction as if you would pull on the wire. I've done it twice, and it worked once that I know of, but it didn't come off the way I expected it to. It feels like it just turns around, and then pouf! it's not there any more. I don't have a lot of money invested here, but I'd still like to get it right.

Thanks for your help,
Andy

[knc1]

Originally Posted by SampleAndy

Hey, y'all.

I got my working K3g with a broken screen today, so I'm ready to do the mix'n'match thing. The question today is... What is the right way to disconnect the 3G antenna from the modem? It looks to me like it should slide off, in the direction as if you would pull on the wire. I've done it twice, and it worked once that I know of, but it didn't come off the way I expected it to. It feels like it just turns around, and then pouf! it's not there any more. I don't have a lot of money invested here, but I'd still like to get it right.

Thanks for your help,
Andy

That thing is a tiny coax connector for very tiny coax.
It is a "right angle entry" connector that makes it look like a spade connector (but it isn't).

Use a tiny, sharp edged tool (knife blade?) and work the connector straight up from the board by prying up at several places around its circumference.

NOT to either side!
DO NOT bend the coax wire. The center wire is a stiff, solid wire, putting a bend in the coax forces the center wire to cut through the center insulation - making it non-working scrap.

[SampleAndy]

Thanks, guy! You're the best!

Unfortunately, I was too impatient, so I cheated. I just left it connected and moved it around vewwy vewwy cawefully. (chrome thinks I spelled vewwy correctly, but it doesn't like cawefully... go figure)

Put all the pieces from the eBay K3g into the baked K3g screen (using only the front frame and the screen) and put it all together. Screen lights up, battery charges, all keys work, I was able to register it via wi-fi (once I remembered my password) and by disconnecting the wi-fi, was able to download a book sample via 3G! Everything looks great!

Except the pictures of birds and dead people... They look like crap. Come to think of it, the fonts aren't all that great, either. So...

Is this a case where the screen doesn't match the hardware? I seem to remember reading something about... eInk waveform eproms? Is that it or is it more likely that the screen was damaged by heat? I think it was one of your posts knc1 that mentioned there were three different screens used in the K3 series?

I knew things were going too smoothly.

[HarryT]

The wrong screen waveform will result in poor or non-existent grey-scales on the screen. Try to find an image with a lot of different grey scales, load that into your Kindle, and see how it looks.

And congratulations on a successful repair!

[hunnymonster]

Check your screen connector ribbons... Poor contact could cause the symptoms you describe.

[SampleAndy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The wrong screen waveform will result in poor or non-existent grey-scales on the screen. Try to find an image with a lot of different grey scales, load that into your Kindle, and see how it looks.

And congratulations on a successful repair!

Thanks for the congrats, Harry, but I think they're premature at best, but probably misguided. When I was talking about "the pictures of birds and dead people," I was talking about the sleep screens on the non-ad K3. The images are mostly grey scales, and mostly not there. All I'm seeing is an outline of black dots and the author's name. One exception is Mark Twain. I can see his shoulders, but his head seems to be missing.

Originally Posted by hunnymonster

Check your screen connector ribbons... Poor contact could cause the symptoms you describe.

I'm leaning more towards a connection issue or some other form of damage. This opinion comes from my efforts to disassemble and reassemble a K4B I just got with a broken screen. As a result of my labors, I went from a nicely clear 1/3 screen to 1/3 screen very similar to what the K3 shows. The broken part shows no change at all though.

The K3s use a plug connector as shown on the left in picture three, here:
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/kindlehack.html

The K4 uses a ribbon cable, pinched in place by a lock, like the keyboard connector on the bottom right.

I've reset the K4 cable 3 or 4 times with no effect, but I closed up the K3 before I noticed that there was a problem. I'll try reseating the connection, but it's such a pain getting the back cover off and on. This just isn't much fun anymore.

[SampleAndy]

OK... reseating the cable twice more on the K3 didn't help. Here's what it looks like.

Interesting... I hadn't realized there was this much variation in shades:


Virginia Wolfe:


ok... I know I've done it before, but I can't figure out how at the moment. (sigh)

[meeera]

Does this work? It's working in the preview...

Originally Posted by SampleAndy

OK... reseating the cable twice more on the K3 didn't help. Here's what it looks like.

Interesting... I hadn't realized there was this much variation in shades:


Virginia Wolfe:


ok... I know I've done it before, but I can't figure out how at the moment. (sigh)

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Or it's possible that it's the usual culprit of a fractured screen substrate, and the "leaving it outside" was simply coincident in time.

Couldn't it be that leaving it out in the heat could cause the screen substrate to be warped and fracture? I mean heat causes things to expand and I don't imagine there is much room for expansion inside the case of a k3.

[HarryT]

Having black and white, but no grey scales is, I'm afraid, a classic sign that you have a screen with a waveform that doesn't match what the Kindle is expecting. I don't think there's any way to fix this.