Likebook Alita bricked (stuck at no battery screen)

[Diazepam04]

Hi all,

Last month I bought a Likebook Alita at the used market (pretty much the only way of getting a non-kindle e-reader in my country without paying double the price due to import fees + shipping). The reading experience was stunning, but it kept freezing (during activity and even boot) if the battery charge was under 80%. I remained using it nonetheless.

That was the only problem with it until a few days ago. Between July 17 and 18, I noticed a battery drop from ~67% to 46% while the Alita was idle. Using it during the day reduced the battery further to 41%. This was the last time I could actually read on it.

On the next day (July 19th), I went on to use it and found the Alita stuck at the bootup screen. I pressed the power button three times (what used to restart it after a freeze) and the no battery screen appeared. Naturally, i plugged the charger and tried to boot it up - without sucess. I've noticed that the red light at the bottom of the screen just wasn't turning off - even if the charger were unplugged.

To resolve this, I decided to open the device and manually unplug the battery (a common occurence for Android phones 10 years ago): with this, the red light turns off, as expected, but plugging the charger returns it to the previous state (not booting; red light always on). I've also tried to connect to the charger while the battery was unplugged - the red light remains on while the charger is connected, but it just won't boot.

I left it charging overnight - the light remained red, not turning green (fully charged). The battery is in fact charged (though maybe not fully?), since it is possible to turn off the red light by unplugging the battery and to turn it on again by pressing the power button once the battery is plugged again, but none of this could actually make it boot.

I've read a few threads about flashing a firmware, but my Alita is not getting recognized via USB. Also, this thread shows that the other problems I was facing may be due to a faulty battery - in my case, I believe I could only get a generic replacement.

Does anyone have any tip? Should I try a generic battery? Is there a way to flash a new firmware in this state? Thanks in advance.