# Kindle 3G Frozen on Screensaver



## womprat99

Hello, everyone.  I apologize if this has been covered before.  I'm at my wit's end on this one.

My wife's Kindle 3 recently froze on the screensaver.  We followed the troubleshooting script on the Amazon site --  we charged it overnight, tried hard reset, etc -- and called Amazon customer service.  They repeated the process with us and told us that they would replace it... for $89.  Our warranty expired a couple of months before.

So, my question is if there is a way I can fix this myself.  Can I drain the battery completely to reset the memory or somehow reset and restart the device?

Thanks,
Mike


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## SusanCassidy

You said you already did a hard reset, which is as hard a reset as you're going to get, outside of a reset to factory defaults.  It sounds like it is dead.  I'd get the replacement.


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## Morf

A couple of things that are not always made clear in the Amazon scripts...

Make sure it is fully charged - make sure the green light has come on.

Then *disconnect* it from the cable.

Then hold the power switch over to the right for at least 40 seconds. Don't be fooled by any flashing of the light, stick with it until your finger hurts! 

Then release the switch, wait a few seconds, then flick the switch as normal as if to power it on - then wait at least 30 seconds before you do anything else.

Nothing actually happens when you hold the switch to do a restart, which makes people think it hasn't worked and give up. This is made worse because the e-ink screen will keep its display regardless of whether there is any power or not. The Kindle doesn't actually restart until it's powered on again.

If all that fails - and I'd try it several times before giving up - there are some videos around showing how to crack open the K3 case, once you've done that you may be able to disconnect the battery. However, as I'm sure you're aware, taking any such drastic measures are really only a last resort.


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## Roos Mom

I am having the same problem with my kindle 3G Wi-Fi and i'm not sure i am doing the reset right. Someone said after the reset i should look of any updates but that is impossible since i can only see the bottom of the screen.  If i start from the beginning what should i do and in what order before i toss it under my tractor trailer and kiss it up to the Kindle gods. Any help would be great at this point.  I am leaving tonight for vacation so i would love to take care of this problem ASAP.  I'm not good with directions so please speak slowly.  I still have a sense of humor fancy that.  Thank you and maybe sometime i can return the favor.  M. Day


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## Ann in Arlington

What do you mean by "I can only see the bottom of the screen?"  To me, this sounds like part of the screen is stuck and the other part isn't. . . . .that's definitely something you need to contact Amazon about.  Use the information in the 'Kindle Support' thread sticky at the top of this forum.

As for the restart, if you can't access the device controls, you do that by sliding and holding the switch for 30-40 seconds.  Then put the thing down and walk away.  When you come back a few minutes later -- say, 5 -- it should have restarted and be on a screen saver.  You can turn it on the usual way and it should be fine.  If that doesn't happen. . .contact Kindle Customer Support.

(The above assumes you have the 'keyboard' model; if you have the Touch model the restart is the same except the switch is button so you 'press and hold' rather than 'slide and hold'.)

Note that if you're still under warranty they will likely offer to send you a replacement.  If you're out of warranty, they may still replace it, or may offer you a discount on a new one.


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## Morf

Ann in Arlington said:


> As for the restart, if you can't access the device controls, you do that by sliding and holding the switch for 30-40 seconds. Then put the thing down and walk away. When you come back a few minutes later -- say, 5 -- it should have restarted and be on a screen saver. You can turn it on the usual way and it should be fine. If that doesn't happen. . .contact Kindle Customer Support.


Not quite... when you hold the switch for 30-40 seconds and release it, the kindle first switches off, then with the continued hold it resets the Kindle processor which is the same as a cold boot.

However, at this stage your Kindle is switched off, you then need to switch it back on again with another flick of the switch at which point it will go through the startup process.

I do agree, though, that if you can only see the bottom of the screen - ie the top of the screen has the screensaver permanently on it - then this is a serious problem. Personally I'd suspect a cracked screen - see http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,73465.msg1181744.html#msg1181744.

A call to Kindle CS is definitely the thing to do.


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## Ann in Arlington

Huh.  My experience with my keyboard kindle has been that I hold the slider for a while and then put the thing down and then it restarts itself.  I come back and it's on the 1st sleep picture.

I can't remember how the basic Kindle has behaved. . .I've only had to do a hard restart on it once.


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## Morf

OK, I've just tested it (K3) and I'm wrong, you're right!

From the "holding the switch" the Kindle then sits there with a blank screen for quite a while - 30 seconds or more. If you flick the switch during this time, it will start up which led me to believe that this was needed.

However, leaving it sat, it does indeed start up all by itself.

Apologies to the OP, please ignore my earlier post.


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## Ann in Arlington

No worries. . . .I've heard from others. . .especially with the 'button' kindles rather than slider kindles. . . .that it does indeed completely shut down.  And then you have to manually restart it.  At least. . .I think that's what I've heard. . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter

Not that the OP cares, but I just tried it with my K4, holding the button in till it shut down and then about 20-30 seconds more.  I released the button and then it started by itself after about 5 or 10 seconds.

Betsy


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