# My Kindle acting weird...



## Rose Gordon (Mar 18, 2011)

I bought a Kindle 2 in September and here's what's going on:

1. My battery life is nearly nonexistent. I can charge the thing until the light goes green, but then I can either leave it sleeping for 3-4 days or have it on and reading for about 5-6 hours (if I'm lucky) before the low battery warning comes on.

I don't have a ton of books on there, in fact, I think I have 5 pages of titles, that's it--I think I've used less than .1 of the 3.5 GB space that came on it. 

2. It keeps freezing. What I mean is I'll turn it on, but then I can't get it to switch to the next page so I'll try to put it to sleep and it won't go. Then I do a manual shut down by holding the switch, but when it comes back on, the screen saver will come on, but it won't let me into the book again until I plug it into the computer and eject it.

I haven't dropped the thing, nor have I gotten it wet. Any suggestions?


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

I suggest you call customer support.  Sounds like a bad battery to me!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Rose Gordon said:


> I bought a Kindle 2 in September and here's what's going on:


First, just want to confirm you're talking about the Kindle 2 and not the Kindle 3. The Kindle sold directly via Amazon in September is the Kindle 3 model. You could, of course, have purchased a Kindle 2 second hand. It makes a difference in terms of warranty coverage. 


> 1. My battery life is nearly nonexistent. I can charge the thing until the light goes green, but then I can either leave it sleeping for 3-4 days or have it on and reading for about 5-6 hours (if I'm lucky) before the low battery warning comes on.


Have you checked for indexing: do a search on a nonsense string . . .something you know there are zero instances of in any book. Once you do the search, you'll get a page that says zero results found. It may also say xxx items not indexed. If it does, that's a sign that you have a corrupt file. The Kindle keeps trying to index it but can't and that's why the battery is draining so quickly. On the current Kindle (K3) if you click on that message you'll get a list of books that are not indexed. I think it works the same on the K2. Page through until you find one that's grayed out. Note the title, go back to the home page, and delete it completely from the device. Then leave it to finish indexing. Check it again in a half hour or so. . . .the number of titles should be going down. If the number of titles _hasn't_ gone down, there's probably another problem book. Do the page through again and find it and delete it as you did the first one.

The above will almost always resolve battery problems. Note also, however, that if you leave wireless on all the time, the battery will drain faster than if it's usually off. 


> I don't have a ton of books on there, in fact, I think I have 5 pages of titles, that's it--I think I've used less than .1 of the 3.5 GB space that came on it.
> 
> 2. It keeps freezing. What I mean is I'll turn it on, but then I can't get it to switch to the next page so I'll try to put it to sleep and it won't go. Then I do a manual shut down by holding the switch, but when it comes back on, the screen saver will come on, but it won't let me into the book again until I plug it into the computer and eject it.


 This could, again be due to a corrupt file. BUT, if it is a K3 and you are using the stock Amazon cover that has no light, try using it without the cover for a few days and see if the problem goes away. Not every cover causes a problem (for instance, mine never has) but there have been enough reports that the hinge system causes a short or something that it's worth it to try that before just sending the thing back. IF it IS a K3, and you have no problems for a week or so with the cover off the device, contact Kindle Support and tell them what you've told us. The 'call me back' feature works well. Tell them you'd like to have the price of the cover refunded. They will likely not give you any trouble.


> I haven't dropped the thing, nor have I gotten it wet. Any suggestions?


If neither of the above work, do a hard restart. . . .hold the switch a long time -- like 30 or 40 seconds -- maybe longer -- until the device restarts. Don't let go until it does. That may clean out any stray bits and bytes. (You might first try a restart via the Settings menu if you can access it.) Note that this isn't the same as turning it off and then turning it back on. . .though I'm not sure exactly why. 

If it's still having issues, I'd again suggest contacting Kindle Support. A K3 is definitely still under warranty and, while they may have you do some other things to verify, they'll no doubt replace it without any hassle. If it's a K2, it might be out of warranty, but they may still help you out -- their customer service is generally really great. They want to keep Kindles in the hands of their customers! 

Good Luck!


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## Rose Gordon (Mar 18, 2011)

Thanks, Ann.

You're right, it is a Kindle 3. Thank you for the advice and I'll work through those steps and see if it helps the problem.

Thanks again for taking the time to type all that out.


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