Kindle problems with Windows 10 AU

[ottdmk]

(Note: As a sci-fi fan when I see "AU" I tend to think "Alternate Universe", not "Anniversary Update" )

The Inquirer (UK tech site) is claiming a lot of people are seeing their Kindles cause a Blue Screen of Death when they're plugged in.

Just curious if anyone around here is seeing this behaviour.

[jhowell]

Some, including myself, reported having this problem in the Anniversary Update thread a while ago. And another thread was also just started on this subject.

[fardeenah]

i have the same exact problem with my paperwhite

[HarryT]

No problems for me. It seems to affect only a small number of PCs (not that that makes it less annoying for those affected by it, of course). It's been reported that it can generally be solved by connecting the Kindle before booting the PC.

[oneillpt]

I have also experienced bluescreening immediately on connecting my PW3, but only after firmware version 5.8.2 downloaded and installed. I had no problem connecting under the previous firmware version even though Windows 10 AU was already installed.

After two bluescreens and finding virtual memory fragmented into over 60,000 fragments (it had been unfragmented before the bluescreens), taking multiple reboots to defragment fully, I am now using email only to transfer files and charging via a power supply until I see confirmation that this problem has been resolved, whether by Amazon or by Microsoft. The absence of any problem with the previous firmware suggests that the problem may have been introduced by 5.8.2, and so may need a new firmware update from Amazon.

[HarryT]

Have you tried booting your computer with the Kindle plugged in at the time that you boot? This is reported to fix the problem for most people.

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Have you tried booting your computer with the Kindle plugged in at the time that you boot? This is reported to fix the problem for most people.

Also you can plug in the kindle while the computer is a sleep then wake up the computer.

Also I use a USB hub that lets me turn on an off each of the usb ports. I turn the port off that I am using for the kindle then I turn the port on. I have not had an issue with the kindle causing Blue Screens.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by oneillpt

After two bluescreens and finding virtual memory fragmented into over 60,000 fragments (it had been unfragmented before the bluescreens), taking multiple reboots to defragment fully

What does this mean? While it is possible to determine how physical memory is fragmented, or how any one process's virtual memory is fragmented, neither of these things are particularly meaningful, nor is either a persistent thing: both are cleared on reboot.

I suspect you are referring to fragmentation of the userstore (the USB partition accessible when you plug the thing into the computer) as reported by some disk defragmentation program. Fragmentation of this is harmless, since the problem with fragmentation on conventional rotating media is that they incur seeks, and seeks are really slow when you have to move a physical lump of metal around. The flash used for storage on a Kindle has no moving parts and can switch from reading in one place to reading in another in zero time, and in any case the "disk" you see is cobbled together out of various pieces scattered across the flash storage by the wear-levelling machinery. Running a disk defragmentation tool on it does nothing but wear the flash out very fast indeed, since any given eraseblock of flash has a limited number of writes before it is useless, and defragmentation often involves a lot of tiny writes widely scattered across the virtual disk surface, and that's more or less the worst case for wear-levelling algorithms.

Never, ever defragment flash. It cannot help and is sure to prematurely age your flash chip -- and since the Kindle's flash is not user-replaceable, that means prematurely aging the Kindle itself.

(Disk fragmentation cannot cause bluescreens anyway. It's routine and ubiquitous and, even on rotating storage, is only harmful to performance when there's a lot of it.)

[oneillpt]

Originally Posted by NullNix

What does this mean? While it is possible to determine how physical memory is fragmented, or how any one process's virtual memory is fragmented, neither of these things are particularly meaningful, nor is either a persistent thing: both are cleared on reboot.

...

Never, ever defragment flash. It cannot help and is sure to prematurely age your flash chip -- and since the Kindle's flash is not user-replaceable, that means prematurely aging the Kindle itself.

(Disk fragmentation cannot cause bluescreens anyway. It's routine and ubiquitous and, even on rotating storage, is only harmful to performance when there's a lot of it.)

It is the Windows pagefile which was fragmented into over 60,000 fragments. A user managed pagefile of fixed size is persistent, and not cleared on reboot. Even if it were system managed, clearing on reboot was an option to be chosen, at least up to Windows 8.1. I avoid a system managed pagefile as these are prone to fragmentation. The fixed size user manage pagefile only fragments on BSOD, which was not a problem until this Kindle connection issue.

The Kindle is not being defragmented. The BSOD occurs immediately the USB connection is plugged in. I am reluctant to try fixes such as plunning in before boot or while sleeping. I reboot infrequently, and even one BSOD is more hassle than I need.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by oneillpt

It is the Windows pagefile which was fragmented into over 60,000 fragments. A user managed pagefile of fixed size is persistent, and not cleared on reboot. Even if it were system managed, clearing on reboot was an option to be chosen, at least up to Windows 8.1. I avoid a system managed pagefile as these are prone to fragmentation. The fixed size user manage pagefile only fragments on BSOD, which was not a problem until this Kindle connection issue.

The Kindle is not being defragmented. The BSOD occurs immediately the USB connection is plugged in. I am reluctant to try fixes such as plunning in before boot or while sleeping. I reboot infrequently, and even one BSOD is more hassle than I need.

Ah, that makes more sense. Alas, defragmenting a pagefile seems likely to have minimal effect to me: by its very nature swapin I/O is intensely seeky whether or not the pagefile is fragmented (because access to memory is highly random). It would be nice if it worked, but I suspect it won't. (Swapout I/O is not seeky and might be sped up by doing this, I suppose.)

[Penny_Dreadful]

I was having the SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED partmgr.sys BSOD problem on both my desktop and laptop after the Anniversary Update, but I seemed to have solved it.

Grab USBDeview and find the Kindle Device in the list and uninstall it from the system (right click in the list and uninstall). I had to use uninstall twice before it was removed from the list completely but then I could plug in my Kindle Paperwhite with no more BSODs!

I really hope this helps others!

[FritzM]

Originally Posted by Penny_Dreadful

. . . . but then I could plug in my Kindle Paperwhite with no more BSODs!

I really hope this helps others!

Sorry but it dosn't work on our two PC.

Fritz

[obyrm]

Originally Posted by FritzM

Sorry but it dosn't work on our two PC.

Fritz

The mentioned solution has worked for me.

No more BSOD after removing the Kindle driver from the laptop. Prior to this I had to boot the laptop with my KOA plugged into one of the USB ports.

[JSWolf]

The problem has supposedly been solved by installing all of the updates for Win 10AU. So update your Win 10AU before trying any other sort of solution.

[barryem]

I put a book on my Voyage and on my Paperwhite 3 using my Windows 10 laptop yesterday. It worked just fine. No problems. A few days ago that kept crashing it as soon as I plugged one of those in. So I guess it's fixed.

Barry