When your trusty reading companion, the Kindle, crashes, leaving you unable to enjoy your e-books, you think you have a problem. The touch screen refuses to respond and attempts to turn it off are unsuccessful. The situation gets even more complicated when you try to connect it to the network and to your surprise it doesn’t load either. What can you do?
It is undoubtedly a popular device for reading e-books, but sometimes you may experience unexpected crashes and become unresponsive. Although not common, you may find yourself in the frustrating situation of having a Kindle stuck and unresponsive. Before you want to contact customer service, sell it on Wallapop or buy a new one, we tell you how to fix it.
It is not normal for it to crash
When your device freezes or stops responding, it’s likely due to a combination of factors, including:
- Processor Overload – These eReaders have limited processing capabilities, so if pushed too hard, it can burn out and crash. This problem usually occurs when using the web browser to access pages with heavy or complex content.
- Memory issues – They also have a limited amount of memory, and when it gets filled with a large amount of data, it can lead to device crash. This can happen if you download and store a lot of eBooks, files, etc.
- Low Battery – A low battery can affect performance and cause crashes. When the battery is low, the device may not have enough power to function properly, which can result in freezing and slow responses.
- Outdated Firmware : If your Kindle hasn’t received firmware updates for a while, it may be using an outdated version of the software. This can lead to incompatibilities and conflicts with the latest features and apps, which could eventually lead to device bricking.
It’s important to be aware of these potential issues when dealing with a locked Kindle. Identifying the root cause can help take the appropriate steps to resolve the issue and restore normal functionality.
Effective solutions
In situations where your Kindle crashes, it may be possible to fix the problem by restarting it. If the crash is due to an overload of the processor or memory, a reset will wipe everything and restore normal operation of the device. However, if this doesn’t work, there are other solutions you can try.
- restart the device
When your ebook crashes, the most effective way to solve the problem is to restart the device. If you prefer, you can wait a few minutes to see if it unlocks, but resetting it is a quick and easy process that won’t erase any data. To restart it if it’s not responding, press and hold the power button until the screen flashes, then release the button. The device will reboot and you can resume reading.
- Charge the eReader
In some cases, your locked Kindle may not restart even if you hold down the power button for 40 seconds or more. If that happens, try charging it first. After doing it for several hours, check if it works correctly. If it’s still locked, leave it connected to the charger, and then press and hold the power button. The screen should flash after about 10-40 seconds and the will reboot.
- Update the firmware
If you experience recurring crashes, your Kindle firmware may be out of date. After restarting it using one of the methods described above, it tries to update the firmware. Visit Amazon’s software update page and download the appropriate update. Then connect it to your computer using a USB cable and drag the firmware update file onto your eReader. Disconnect it and touch Menu (three vertical dots) > Settings > Menu (three vertical dots) > Kindle Update.
- Factory reset
If your Kindle continues to experience freezing issues, it may help to perform a factory reset. Please note that this will erase all data on your device, so you will need to reconnect to your Amazon account and download the books again.
To restore factory settings, swipe down and touch Menu > Settings or All settings > Device options or Menu > Reset (on older devices, select Reset device again) > YES.
