Wolfpup is on to something. Sometimes, a simple reboot does nothing, but a complete factory reset allows you a “do over” in terms of updates. If something is corrupt in the software, it will be corrected with that methodology.
That makes a lot of sense. In that position could have been pressing against the stylus. My mind is now at rest, thanks.
and that’s something customer support has to do, I assume. haven’t made myself contact them yet but still plan to. I really have to be in the correct mood for it.
Don’t own one, but you probably can do it yourself! 
Google, “Kindle Factory Reset”
I will give that a shot but don’t see how it will work since NOTHING changes from the “tree” screen no matter what I do. but thanks, I see a youtube guy with an 8 minute video: I can commit to that.
I just can’t understand why you don’t call up Amazon and say, “Your product is bricked! Help me get it going again!”
well give it another try, since I’ve already said that I have another, older kindle that is working just fine, and that I am not in the mood right now.
the longer answer, since all I’m doing at the moment is eating my mushroom cheese omelette, is my older brother died last July and I am now the PR for his estate.
He didn’t have a will (that was ever found, anyway) so it was a big, long process just getting the authority to do anything, and then there was lots to do. I spent many, many hours on the phone with all kind of customer service reps.
and I find getting things done with customer services people really goes so much better if I don’t do it when I’m not in the mood.
Here’s what you want. Worked for me once in the past.
To factory reset a Kindle using the power button, you can:
- Turn off your Kindle
- Press and hold the power button for 20–40 seconds
- Release the button and wait a moment
- Press the power button again to restart
- When prompted, select Yes to confirm
since this is the pit, let me point out I read that online and fucking did it over and over and over, at least dozen times.
Well alright then. My apologies, I did not read the whole thread but jumped in at the point where you mentioned you couldn’t factory reset from the menus.
Anyway, as a serial owner (and killer) of Kindles, in my non-professional opinion, there’s nothing left that you can do on your end to fix this device. It’s pining for the fjords. In the past, I would expect that the Amazon service rep would quietly replace it. My recent experience is that they will politely tell you, “Too bad, so sad.” and give you a link to a new device.
accepted! I will call them (or text, as suggested upthread) at some point and update for anyone else following along.
finally got in the mood and texted them.
they said since I’ve already tried everything, they could give me a 15% discount on a new one “would that be fine?” when I said, no, I don’t want to buy another one when it could also not work in 2 years, so they said OK will give you a 20% discount. I said no, waiting on the answer.
and “Judith” is no longer sounding like English is her first language, not that there’s anything wrong with that. She sent me a link to buy a better warranty on my next kindle.
the 20% off is good for 24 hours if I leave the chat window open, I guess. she says:
To help you more convenient, I’ll leave the chat window open, So once you contact us later, we will assist you following this conversation. Please contact us within 24 hours
bottom line, get a better warranty because the next new one might only work 2 years.
The End!
I still think you might have gotten better results by going directly to a live person. I certainly did, and when they couldn’t help, instead of offering a discount on a new one, they escalated the problem to second level support. It may just have been the luck of the draw, or their service levels may have deteriorated, but personally I despise “chat assistants” and use this tool called “a telephone” to speak directly with an actual person. Note to kids these days: this is still possible, even if some large companies don’t make it easy by promoting their fucking “assistants” and hiding their call center phone numbers. If they didn’t offer you second level support, you can just bloody well go ahead and demand it, since the first level is obviously incapable of solving your problem.
If the device is out of warranty then they were kind to even offer a discount on a new one. Calling on a phone, waiting an hour, then verbally abusing a customer service rep and demanding to speak to their manager doesn’t change that fact.
and it isn’t like I didn’t reach a real rep: I did; it was not a bot I was dealing with. How that would have been improved by using a phone (and taking up a lot more of my time) I don’t see and I don’t appreciate Wolfpup’s sarcasm.
You can call it kind to offer a discount on a new one, but I still think a device should last longer than 2 years, I really do. So I’m glad I ranted.
I still have one more thing to try: letting the battery run all the way down and then plug it in and attempt the soft reboot. If it makes any difference, I will update.
Meanwhile, back to my older Kindle Fire. Since it doesn’t hold a charge very long, if I plan a trip where I want to bring ebooks I will decide then what to do about it.
I agree, a device like that should last longer than 2 years—if it is properly taken care of and nothing happens to it. Note that I am not suggesting that you did not take proper care of yours, nor that the rep you chatted with responded appropriately. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the customer service reps have gotten calls from people hoping to get a free replacement for something that was their own fault.
My very first iPhone, the very first iPhone model (I waited in line outside an AT&T store to get it on day one) came with a 1 year warranty and was broken about a month after I had it for a year. The sound stopped working so I could no longer hear anyone on a phone call or hear music or videos, etc. Even headphones didn’t work. The best thing we could figure was that something happened to the headphone jack that (1) made the device think that headphones were plugged in so the speaker was always disabled and (2) it also made headphones not properly connect anymore.
My point is, shit happens. It was useless as a phone and the only thing I could have done was buy a new one (I ended up buying a Samsung instead). Nobody owes you anything once the warranty expires.
That’s not at all what I was saying, though I see how the unfortunate wording of the last sentence in my prior post might have sounded like it. The substantive information I was tying to provide in an attempt to be helpful was in the second post of this thread, which was recounting my own experience in a similar situation, where my own Kindle Paperwhite had been similarly bricked. I never suggested abusing anyone or demanding a “manager”. The substantive point I was making in post #2 and the subsequent ones was simply that Amazon technical support has a second support tier for more difficult problems. This is not a “manager”, it’s a second support level. Not everyone may know this, and if your problem is not automatically escalated, it may be beneficial to ask for it.
In thinking through the timelines around my purchase date and the time the problem occurred and Amazon support fixed it, I’m virtually certain it was well past the warranty date. YMMV.
Maybe Amazon support isn’t what it used to be, but at the time, they not only fixed my problem but I recall them also asking at the end of the call if the battery life was still satisfactory. Some Kindles of that era had disappointingly short battery life. I don’t know what they would have proposed had I said the battery was failing, but it sounded like they had some program to deal with it.
I don’t see any sarcasm, and none was intended. I do happen to greatly dislike the stupid “automated assistants” that everyone is trying to make us use these days, and you may have misread something about the tone of my post as being directed at you. It wasn’t. I was relating my own one-time experience in an attempt to be helpful.
This is true. But goodwill is still definitely a thing among companies interested in maintaining customer satisfaction. I’ve received out-of-warranty support both from Amazon and from Dell, and neither one was achieved by being a “Karen” – it was really by doing the opposite.
I found this to be sarcastic no matter how you intended it, and I was not using “chat assistants”: I texted with a live human being.
Bottom line, I let the battery run all the way down to nothing, plugged it in, and attempted the factory reset again. same thing: I only get the tree screen and nothing else.
I’m done.
Sarcastic and extremely condescending.
The only difference between a phone call and a live text chat with a person, aside from the longer wait on a phone, is the opportunity to yell at someone. There is literally no other reason to give that advice.