# PC Won't Recognize Kindle 2



## ultrarunner (Aug 17, 2011)

I have had my Kindle for almost 2 years but until today, I'd not connected it to my PC with Windows XP as all the books I'd purchased on Amazon were downloaded via the 3G wireless. I recently completed a 4 month cycling trip through Africa from Cairo Egypt to Capetown and used an Acer Aspire One netbook with a Linux Lite OS. I bought books over the internet on this computer while during the trip, downloaded to the Acer and transferred them to my Kindle via USB connection with no problem.

Today, however, I purchased several pdf ebooks online, downloaded them to my PC here at my home and connected the Kindle to the PC. Nothing is showing under My Computer for the Kindle. The Kindle charge light comes on ok, but I get no sound from the computer that it was connected, nor is it recognized My Computer. It shows a mass storage device under Device Mgr but no drive number. The other interesting thing, is that when I disconnect it and try to restart my computer, it is locked up..won't restart. I have done the following:

- Restarted the Kindle..no change
- Reset the Kindle (twice)...no change
- Switched cables...no change
- Tried all 5 of my USB port connections...no change
- Called Amazon Kindle Tech Support; they could offer nothing and couldn't figure it out.
- Disconnected the power cord on the computer to the wall and let it sit for 15 minutes then turned back on. 
  When I then connected the USB for the Kindle, I got the sound that it was connected but still isn't shown 
  under My Computer. It shows under properties that it is working properly (and says Amazon Kindle).
- I now cannot get computer management to open Disc Management...it just keeps saying "still connecting, 
  please wait.
- Hit the safely remove hardware and clicked on stop mass storage drive then waited, and plugged back in again. Now I don't get the sound that the Kindle has been connected.

I'm at a loss of what else to do. I can't use the Acer Aspire One any longer as the Linux OS is corrupted and I can't load the software any longer.

Anyone got any other brainstorms? It kind of p...s me off that Amazon Kindle tech support can't figure this out as obviously it's in the Kindle. When I talked with Tech support they said "we've not heard of this problem before" and yet I can find hundred's of reports through a Google search.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

ultrarunner said:


> It kind of p...s me off that Amazon Kindle tech support can't figure this out as obviously it's in the Kindle.


I'll be honest, there's nothing in your description that makes me think this is a fault with the Kindle. I'd stake my reputation on it being a problem with the PC, most likely something screwed up (technical term) in the hardware detection stuff within XP.

The easy way to check is, of course, to try connecting the Kindle to somebody else's PC. If it works OK there (and I'm pretty sure it will) then at least we know the problem is with the PC.

Unfortunately this sort of problem is almost impossible to diagnose remotely. It's possible that it's just the drive letter allocation bit that's not working. I know you say you have problems with disk management, but I'd try this and see if you get anywhere:

Restart the PC
Open Disk Management - hopefully this should open after a clean boot.
Connect the Kindle - hopefully (even more so!) the Kindle will appear as a disk
Right click on the disk, pick "Change drive letters and paths" and assign a drive letter to the Kindle.

If that doesn't work (and I suspect it won't) then there's not a lot I would like to recommend remotely, since most things to fix this may have damaging effects on your PC. It may be that a repair install of XP will bring it back to life - see http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystems/ss/instxprepair1.htm - but that's a risky business unless you've got good backups.

There is one workround you could consider - you can email the files to your Kindle using your kindle.com address and receive them via 3g, but you'll have to pay the small Amazon charge for the cost of sending them since Kindle 2's don't have wifi.


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## Bigal-sa (Mar 27, 2010)

Agree with Morf, it sounds like an XP problem, especially as you say it shows under device manager. Can you view other USB storage devices such as a flash drive? If yes, check one of those on the linux machine for extraneous files - it could be you have a virus on your PC which is trying to write itself to the Kindle.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

You should be able to email yourself PDFs using your free.kindle.com email address for no charge (unless that's only a latest generation feature).


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

valleycat1 said:


> You should be able to email yourself PDFs using your free.kindle.com email address for no charge (unless that's only a latest generation feature).


The free kindle address only works with wi-fi, so can only be used with a K3. If the OP has had the Kindle for almost two years, then it's not a K3.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Morf said:


> I'll be honest, there's nothing in your description that makes me think this is a fault with the Kindle. I'd stake my reputation on it being a problem with the PC, most likely something screwed up (technical term) in the hardware detection stuff within XP.
> 
> The easy way to check is, of course, to try connecting the Kindle to somebody else's PC. If it works OK there (and I'm pretty sure it will) then at least we know the problem is with the PC.


Yep. If it works with the netbook and not with the desktop machine, it's almost certainly a problem with the desktop machine, not the Kindle. Try it with another computer to make sure.

Mike


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

Samething happens with our desktop computer that is running Vista and my cousin's laptop that is running Window's 7.  All the other laptops in the house have XP and the Kindles works just fine with them so I thought it was a Vista/Windows 7 issue


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