# Help! Custom screensaver killed my Kindle!



## Khabita (Oct 28, 2008)

I got my dalmatian skin from decalgirl yesterday, and spent last night carefully skinning my Kindle.

Today, I thought I'd get the custom screensaver.  Downloaded it, installed it according to directions, and it showed up fine. But when I hit alt-aa to get out of sleep mode, it would not go away. I tried a couple of times more, then went here to Kindleboards for some help. Well, I tried some more things, including what I thought were the right steps to remove the custom screensaver, but it's still there. And I still can't get my Kindle out of sleep mode, and now when I unplug the USB cable the activity indicator just keeps running. 

Please help!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

O.K. First. deep breath.

Now, you may have tried these things but I'm going to throw them out in case, in your alarm, you forgot any. First. . .soft reset: ALT SHIFT R.

If that doesn't work turn it off. Let it rest a minute or two and turn it back on.

Next thing to try is a hard reset.

If you can't get the Kindle to act normally after any of these things, it might be time to call customer service. At the least you can tell them what you've already tried.

Have you checked out the thread about where the screensavers live on the Kindle -- I'm afraid I can't be much help there as I don't have any but what came with it but it seems to me the thread was pretty specific. I think it's this thread: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,1477.0.html. I should probably learn more since I AM supposed to be moderator in this forum. 



Khabita said:


> And I still can't get my Kindle out of sleep mode, and now when I unplug the USB cable the activity indicator just keeps running.


I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this. In general, don't just unplug the Kindle, be sure to use the 'safely remove hardware' icon. Is it your computer that thinks Kindle is still connected? Again, sad to say, my first suggestion would be to re-boot it. 

That's all I can think of off hand, but there may be other members who've had and solved a similar problem who can help you.

I feel for you! Good Luck.

Ann


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## qotdr (Nov 22, 2008)

I had this happen too. A hard reset solved the problem.


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## irabren (Nov 9, 2008)

You might try - take battery out - put back in - turn back on


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Khabita said:


> I got my dalmatian skin from decalgirl yesterday, and spent last night carefully skinning my Kindle.
> 
> Today, I thought I'd get the custom screensaver. Downloaded it, installed it according to directions, and it showed up fine. But when I hit alt-aa to get out of sleep mode, it would not go away. I tried a couple of times more, then went here to Kindleboards for some help. Well, I tried some more things, including what I thought were the right steps to remove the custom screensaver, but it's still there. And I still can't get my Kindle out of sleep mode, and now when I unplug the USB cable the activity indicator just keeps running.
> 
> Please help!


Khabita, please let us know what your status is on this. Have you tried recharging it also? The hard reset and total charging saved mine the one time it wouldn't come out of sleep mode.

Betsy


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## Khabita (Oct 28, 2008)

Thanks for all the advice, especially the most basic and most important: Take a deep breath!

I was so upset with what I had done that I had to set my Kindle down and walk away from it for a couple of hours. I think I was secretly hoping that I'd come back to it only to find that the whole problem had just been a bad dream, and everything was working fine.

But on returning to my Kindle, I still had the same problem. The screensaver would not go away when I hit alt-Aa. And if I plugged my Kindle into the USB, and then unplugged it, the USB indicator would start spinning as if it was still attached to the USB and was still moving stuff from/to my PC.

I went back to a couple of the posts I'd already read here about custom screensavers, and finally went and deleted the screen_saver folder that was on my Kindle. Then I did a reset using Alt-Shift-R. And I think that was what finally did the trick. My Kindle restarted, and my old screensavers are back!

Thanks so much for all the help, and for the moral support! I am always taking such excellent care of my Kindle, and I baby it and try to keep it dust-free and protected from falls . . . and then I went and installed a silly screen saver and kapow! My Kindle stopped working!

I think I'll stay away from custom screen savers for the time being.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Khabita, glad to hear you're up and running again, great news!

Betsy


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## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

Khabita happy your problem is resolved. My screen has froze once and I freaked out!


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

When I first installed my screensaver I thought it was hung up in sleep mode too... Actually it turns out that when you first take that full screen shot of your screensaver and save it as such, when you go to sleep mode you see the screensaver... when you take it out of sleep mode it returns to the full size picture of the screensaver since that was what was on the kindle last. All you do is hit the home button to move to something else and problem solved.


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2008)

Angela said:


> When I first installed my screensaver I thought it was hung up in sleep mode too... Actually it turns out that when you first take that full screen shot of your screensaver and save it as such, when you go to sleep mode you see the screensaver... when you take it out of sleep mode it returns to the full size picture of the screensaver since that was what was on the kindle last. All you do is hit the home button to move to something else and problem solved.


Hey, I did that my first time to! Then I realized what was going on. Had me confused for a bit though.


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## Khabita (Oct 28, 2008)

Wow! Thanks for that tip! I was stupidly just hitting the sleep/wake buttons over and over again, while panicking at the fact that the screensaver would not go away. Now I feel brave enough to reinstall the custom screensaver -- I think I have enough information now to keep me from getting completely locked out of my Kindle again.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie has added two more "Q's" to her FAQ stuck at the top of this forum with step by step directions to load and delete. . . .thanks to Bicardi Jim for the suggestion.

Ann


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## JoAnn (Nov 10, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> Hey, I did that my first time to! Then I realized what was going on. Had me confused for a bit though.


Same here. I thought my Kindle froze - but I was actually seeing the screensaver and then the full-screen picture.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

Khabita said:


> Wow! Thanks for that tip! I was stupidly just hitting the sleep/wake buttons over and over again, while panicking at the fact that the screensaver would not go away. Now I feel brave enough to reinstall the custom screensaver -- I think I have enough information now to keep me from getting completely locked out of my Kindle again.


Glad we all could help!


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## Wannabe (Nov 6, 2008)

Thanks so much for posting this problem, Khabita. Thanks also to those who responded. I just got my new skin today and while DH was applying it, I decided to check the boards for any tips or problems. So glad I stumbled onto this thread because when I got finished downloading my screensaver, I had the same thing happen. When I tried to get out of sleep mode, my Kindle appeared to be frozen. I was slightly panicked even though I knew from this thread that all I needed to do what press the home key. All is well now and Harper is all dressed up for Christmas in her new skin and screensaver. 

Thanks again and happy holidays!


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

And, Wannabe, what skin is Harper wearing? Inquiring minds want to know!


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## Wannabe (Nov 6, 2008)

Leslie said:


> And, Wannabe, what skin is Harper wearing? Inquiring minds want to know!


She's all decked out in Iceberg blue- b-e-a-u-tiful!


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