Problem updating K3 from 3.2.1 to 3.3, strange wifi issue

[vermontcathy]

I refurbish K3s as a hobby - I like keeping them out of a landfill. So this isn't my first rodeo. But this K3 has me stuck. It's a B008 on 3.2.1. I have the update Update_kindle_3.3_B008.bin , copy it to the kindle, update, and first it says the update was successful, then it reboots, then it says again that it's updating, says "stage 1 of 2" in the bottom right corner, then says the update failed, reboots, and is still on 3.2.1

I factory reset it and have the same problem.

One other odd thing is that when I try to connect to wifi (I know I can't register it, but connecting to wifi once is sometimes needed to get sort order by most recent to work), the wifi networks all seem to be missing the first and last characters! For instance, if my wifi is MyHomeWifi, what I see listed is "yHomeWif". And it won't connect (even though I'm putting in the right password).

I always update to 3.4.3 because if someone who buys it wants to jailbreak it, that's what they'll need. And I actually sell some already jailbroken. So I'll have to say in my eBay listing that I can't seem to update it.