PW3 Jailbreaking a paperwhite with firmware 5.8.7.0.1

[Hammaster]

I want to jailbreak my paperwhite, but because I haven't connected it to the internet in years it's running pretty old firmware. I thought this would be a good thing and make it simpler to jailbreak, but I can't find any guides for this version, they're all for later ones. This is probably also due to my incompetence in navigating a forum like this. Getting newer (but not so new that it can't be jailbroken) firmware would also be fine, but I don't know where to get that either.

Please help.

[j.p.s]

There is a PW3 jailbreak specific to firmware 5.9.6.1 the is discoverable by searching on the tag "pw3 jailbreak"
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=313086

Update to 5.9.6.1 than apply the jailbreak. 5.8.11 is the last to support kindlets so you might want to downgrade to that later.

[Hammaster]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Update to 5.9.6.1 than apply the jailbreak. 5.8.11 is the last to support kindlets so you might want to downgrade to that later.

The problem is I don't know how to update the firmware. Well more specifically I don't know where to get specific firmware versions. Amazon has the latest one, but that one can't be jailbroken as far as I know.

I don't care much for kindlets support since I plan to install koreader on it afterwards.

[j.p.s]

Actually, you can update using the jailbreak download.

To get old firmware, you can modify the firmware version in the amazon URL for downloading the latest version. There is no thread about that since it is a bit hard to describe to anyone that doesn't understand the previous sentence.

There are individual posts in long threads that do so. I can search around for one, but it might be a while before I can get to it.

You need to read the wiki page referenced in the first post I linked to and carefully read that entire post. If you read the various recent jailbreak threads you might come across a post explaining how to get old fw versions. After reading the first few posts in each thread, you might have the best luck by reading them backwards from the ends of the threads.

[j.p.s]

There is a good explanation of how to get old firmware in the Firmware updating tutorial section at the very end of the first post in the kindlebreak thread.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=338268

[Hammaster]

I think I figured it out. The url amazon gives you is just https://www.amazon.com/update_Kindle_Paperwhite_7th_Gen, but I put it into jdownloader2 and was able to figure out that the actual file it links to is "https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredownloads/update_kindle_all_new_paperwhite_[VERSION_NUMBER].bin. So I put in https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...te_5.9.6.1.bin and got the older firmware file, hope that's the right thing.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hammaster

I think I figured it out. The url amazon gives you is just https://www.amazon.com/update_Kindle_Paperwhite_7th_Gen, but I put it into jdownloader2 and was able to figure out that the actual file it links to is "https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredownloads/update_kindle_all_new_paperwhite_[VERSION_NUMBER].bin. So I put in https://s3.amazonaws.com/firmwaredow...te_5.9.6.1.bin and got the older firmware file, hope that's the right thing.

Yes, amazon has made it even harder to do and to describe.

You just have to be sure you got the one for the PW3.

You also have to download the JB firmware, which is large.

[Hammaster]

Well I managed to get koreader installed at the end of it all. Just went with the 5.13.4 firmware and used the latest jailbreaking guide. All works now, thanks for all your help.

[j.p.s]

5.13.x is pretty aggressive in attempting automatic updates. Even if you intend to keep wifi off, you should consider installing the rename OTA binaries extension to KUAL.

[Hammaster]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

rename OTA binaries extension to KUAL.

Thanks, that's really useful. Although for some reason I can't connect it to my wifi network anyway, so it's not like it's gonna be updating itself in any case.