KT3 Help required unlocking Demo White Kindle Basic 2 (2016) 8th Gen KT3

[Mr Macphisto]

Hi all,

I am a first-time poster and could sorely use your expertise.

I legitimately purchased a demo Kindle White Kindle Basic 2 (2016) 8th Gen KT3 (Model SY69JL), first 6 of serial number are G000KA. It was a UK purchase and I am UK based. Please note this is a demo kindle and I am trying to upload stock firmware to make it useable. I am not trying to do anything more.

I have been doing my best to follow the various forum posts and have managed to install a serial port and communicate to my computer. I have managed to obtain the serial number from the cmd line however as it is a demo kindle I do not know what firmware it is running.

I have been following the instructions here

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=392

I have managed to reach step 12 using a serial port however I cannot seem to load the firmware file onto the kindle as it is a demo unit and therefore not recognised by my PC and therefore unable to continue.

I have spent hours combing through various stickies etc to try and do it myself however I have yet to figure out how I can get my PC to recognise the unit for me to upload the update.bin.

I'm only very slightly technical so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I am using Win 10 PC.

Many thanks

[katadelos]

Originally Posted by Mr Macphisto

Hi all,

I am a first-time poster and could sorely use your expertise.

I legitimately purchased a demo Kindle White Kindle Basic 2 (2016) 8th Gen KT3 (Model SY69JL), first 6 of serial number are G000KA. It was a UK purchase and I am UK based. Please note this is a demo kindle and I am trying to upload stock firmware to make it useable. I am not trying to do anything more.

I have been doing my best to follow the various forum posts and have managed to install a serial port and communicate to my computer. I have managed to obtain the serial number from the cmd line however as it is a demo kindle I do not know what firmware it is running.

I have been following the instructions here

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=392

I have managed to reach step 12 using a serial port however I cannot seem to load the firmware file onto the kindle as it is a demo unit and therefore not recognised by my PC and therefore unable to continue.

I have spent hours combing through various stickies etc to try and do it myself however I have yet to figure out how I can get my PC to recognise the unit for me to upload the update.bin.

I'm only very slightly technical so any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I am using Win 10 PC.

Many thanks

That method is.. not great. Get back into recovery-util then select this option:

E. Export FAT partition

When the Kindle appears on your PC, create an empty file in the top level directory called "DO_FACTORY_RESTORE". Once you've done that, reboot the device by holding down the power button. This should take the device out of Demo Mode.

[Mr Macphisto]

Hi @katadelos.

Thanks ever so much for your suggested solution. I tried this multiple times, however it did not work for me.

However, exporting the FAT partition using the recovery-util as you suggested did allow the kindle to be recognised by my computer. I then tried the following, but no luck as yet:

1) I then transferred the firmware update file into the top-level folder and tried rebooting. The file automatically installs however upon reboot however upon completion it just reverted back to the demo mode.

2) I then deleted the DEMO top-level folder and repeated step 1. Once installation is finished it just boots and all I see are screensavers.

3) The update file automatically deletes itself after it tries installing

I was thinking is this because the kindle could perhaps be still locked? I tried unlocking with root however everytime I reboot it does not seem to save the unlock. Furthermore, the screen does not seem to respond when I am in diagnostic mode for it to allow me to tap 5 times to become a developer and transfer via USB. The kindle is disassembled and out of its case at the moment. I did read somewhere this may be because the 8th gen uses IR instead of capacitance touch. Unfortunately, the presence of wires and the pin header makes it impossible to fully reassemble.

Grateful for any assistance you may be able to add!

Thanks

[Mr Macphisto]

Was also just wondering if I could enter developer mode through the terminal? I run the command run diags_boot which gets me into the diaostic mode, is there a run command that would then allow me to push the update from PC to the Kindle without dragging and dropping?

Thanks

[katadelos]

Originally Posted by Mr Macphisto

Was also just wondering if I could enter developer mode through the terminal? I run the command run diags_boot which gets me into the diaostic mode, is there a run command that would then allow me to push the update from PC to the Kindle without dragging and dropping?

Thanks

If the previous method that I mentioned didn't work, you should enter diags, drop to a shell by typing exit login, login as root (the password might be mario - if not, you can obtain it by downloading and running KindleTool) then run these commands:

rm /var/local/system/DEMO_MODE
rm /var/local/system/no_transitions

[Mr Macphisto]

@Katadelos,

One step forward for two steps back...

Unfortunately, a solder pad where I had connected the wires for the serial port ripped off. I googled how to get around this and apparently the way to do so is to lightly scratch off some of the top layer of the circuit board to get access to the copper connector underneath. I re-soldered and thought I was out of the water. however when I connected back up to the PC I realised although I could see the data in the shell passing, I realised the shell wasn't accepting any keyboard inputs.

Any recommendations how to salvage?

[eddie.t.h]

See this thread, especially the last photo should interest you https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=327055

When you solder new wires, protect them from being torn out with capton tape.

[Mr Macphisto]

@eddie.t.h, thank you very muchf or the pointer, it worked like a charm.

@Katadelos, thank you for your suggestions. After a bit of playing around, I was able to get a firmware onto the device and update. No more demo mode. Hurrah!

That said, the device is now telling me that Bluetooth, wifi and aeroplane mode are disabled and that this is a managed device and that I should contact my system administrator. When I check system settings

Any ideas how to resolve this last step?

Thanks so much for your input.

[eddie.t.h]

Have you tried to do a factory reset?

[Mr Macphisto]

Eddie.T.H.,

A number of options are greyed out in the menu. In device options, Update your kindle, device passcode & reset are all disabled.

[Mr Macphisto]

I was also wondering, is there any way I can basically wipe everything (the equivalent of formatting a hard drive) and reinstall from scratch?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=334186

At the last post in the above thread the user has been kind enough to post a backup copy of his KT3, how would I go about wiping mine and flashing a fresh copy with those files? I assume this would unlock everything and make me good to go?

Thanks

[Mr Macphisto]

Originally Posted by eddie.t.h

Have you tried to do a factory reset?

Apologies, it only just occurred to me that you might have meant dropping a DO_FACTORY_RESTORE file into the top-level folder, which I did.

This seems to have cleared up the issue and the kindle now seems to be fully working.

Thank you @katadelos & eddie.t.h for both your assistance!


PS. With that now cleared up, I have started to look at an old Kindle Touch 4th Gen that is stuck on the charge battery screen. I initially thought this was because it had been not used for years and the battery may need a jump start. Charging at the wall for a few days did nothing, so I took out the battery, charged it with a battery charger and popped it back in with no luck. Any ideas as to why nothing? Do you think a new battery would solve the issue?

[eddie.t.h]

Originally Posted by Mr Macphisto

PS. With that now cleared up, I have started to look at an old Kindle Touch 4th Gen that is stuck on the charge battery screen. I initially thought this was because it had been not used for years and the battery may need a jump start. Charging at the wall for a few days did nothing, so I took out the battery, charged it with a battery charger and popped it back in with no luck. Any ideas as to why nothing? Do you think a new battery would solve the issue?

Is it detected somehow by the computer? Check if you can see anything on the serial console.

[Mr Macphisto]

Thanks. I will need to wire it up and have a look. I will let you know in a few days!

[Mr Macphisto]

Originally Posted by eddie.t.h

Is it detected somehow by the computer? Check if you can see anything on the serial console.

Hi guys,

I have tried changing the battery on the 4th Gen Touch but still no luck, still shows the battery charging screen. I can't find where to attach the serial port, can anyone point me to any pics?

Please let me know if I should start a separate thread.

Thanks!