AMAZON CUSTOMER SERVICE'S OFFICIAL ADVISORIES ON KINDLE BATTERY MAINTENANCE This is a popular blog-article which is being highlighted for newcomers and Kindle-blog edition subscribers. During my vacation I'll be including the more popular tips and guides. Kindle-blog edition subscribers will not have had these on their Kindles before and the subscription (99c per month) allows offline-review of the last 25 blog articles.
10/21/09 - This collection of battery maintenance advisories by Amazon Customer Service applies to the new International Kindle as well. It was updated when the Kindle DX was released. How to make best use of the battery, whether to turn the Kindle off or let it just "go to sleep"
-- these are two of the most commonly asked questions on the Amazon forums.
UPDATE 7/13/09 - Originally published 3/19/09 when I began the blog, and updated in June with an additional quote from Amazon customer service representatives.
I'm updating and moving this article to a current spot because now that the 9.7" Kindle DX is apparently selling too well and interest in the 6" Kindle 2 is higher than before because of the price drop, many on Kindle forums are asking again:
(1) whether it's better to let the Kindles "sleep" or shut them off, and
(2) whether to charge them regularly or let the batteries drain as with older-type batteries.
The lithium ion/polymer battery for the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX isn't user-replaceable and would have to be sent back to Amazon for any needed replacement. That replacement, if needed in the first year, would be covered by the 1-yr basic warranty. This type of battery is expected to last over 2 years, used or not though. Word was that if a replacement were needed in the 2nd year, the cost would be $59 to send it to Amazon and back. {The DX battery is essentially the same as the one in the Kindle 2: a 3.7V Lithium Polymer 1530mAh rating.}
UPDATED PARAGRAPH - 6/14/09: (Original posting was 3/19/2009 11:01 PM)
Amazon Customer Service representatives posted an "Official Amazon.com Customer Service post" on February 26, 2009
" We learned from the first generation Kindle that changing the battery was rarely needed, so Kindle 2's battery is not user replaceable. The battery is covered under the initial one year warranty as well as the extended warranty offered on Amazon.com. Once outside the one or two year warranty period you can get it replaced for a $59 fee (plus $8 shipping & handling). If you encounter any kind of power or charging issues during the life of your Kindle 2, you can contact Kindle Support for assistance. "
Kindle owners of any model (basically same type of battery) have worried a bit: 'Should we turn it off when we're not using it? Is it draining the battery when it's left 'On' in 'sleep' mode? Should we drain our batteries the way we used to with the old nickel-cadmium ones?" (No) but ... will most owners have seen the Amazon Customer Service's ongoing advisories on the Amazon Kindle forums?
The advisories have been very enlightening. Here are a few written statements of customer service policy and guidance at the Amazon boards that I collected:
1. CHARGING YOUR KINDLE BATTERY
"With Kindle 2's battery you don't need to fully drain the battery before recharging, or wait until the battery is fully charged to start using it again. The Lithium-ion battery is optimized in such a way that incomplete charging won't affect the battery life. For example, if you drain the battery halfway two days in a row while fully charging both times at night, this would only count as one charge cycle.
Leaving Kindle in extreme temperatures, like in your car, will have the most negative impact on the overall life of your battery.
Leaving wireless turned on or sustained use of the wireless functions will cause the battery to drain faster. If you would like to turn the wireless off, select menu from the home screen. Use the five-way controller to select "Wireless Off". Also, downloading a large number of books at once will cause the device to index new content. If you have recently transferred or downloaded a large number of books it is recommended that you leave the device turned on and connected to the charger overnight."
2. RECHARGING KINDLE 2's BATTERY
"With Kindle 2's 25% longer battery life, you can read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to 2 weeks. If you use the wireless feature frequently, we do recommend keeping the battery at 25% at least. There is no specific need to let the battery drain out before recharging it; many owners do keep their devices plugged in each night, and this does not have any adverse effect on overall battery life."
3. LAST PAGE READ
"You do not need to power down Kindle 2 between reading sessions, it is best to leave the device in sleep mode.
Holding the switch at the top to power the device off is similar to pulling the power cord on your computer without shutting down the Operating System. If you turn the device off while in the middle of the book, the device cannot save that location. We save the location when the device goes into sleep mode or when you leave the book, so if you do need to power the device off then be sure to go to the Home screen first - this will save your last place in the book.
4. WIRELESS SIGNAL IN SLEEP MODEThe Kindle 2 and Kindle DX are delivered with WIRELESS *On* as a default. Without reading the manual first, many new owners never guess that wireless should be turned off nor how that would be done in the software menus. Also, the battery takes a few charges before it reaches maximum power.
"Kindle's wireless signal uses low power while in sleep mode so that your subscriptions can download overnight. If you are in a low coverage area, this could cause the device to use more battery power as it continually tries to maintain a signal. Unless you are subscribed to periodicals that you want to receive overnight, we recommend turning wireless off (Press the Menu button and select "Turn Wireless Off" of the menu options) before leaving the device in sleep mode. This will further conserve battery power."
=== END of some of the Customer Service thread topics at the forum ===
The older, nickel-cadmium batteries no longer in vogue used to require full draining, but the lithium ion/polymer based batteries are the opposite. Forced drainings below 25% can actually weaken it and cause problems if battery power is needed while the Kindle is downloading material or when the unit is busily indexing additional Kindle contents after downloads or when we're using the wireless to browse the Kindle store or the Web. And now with the Kindle DX's ability to read PDF's, those files will tend to be image-intensive and loading (opening) them will use the battery a bit more. Amazon's statement was strong about trying to keep the battery power above 25% remaining, for best long-term results.
Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
NOTES on newer Kindles.
| US: Updated Kindle Fire Basic 7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free but slow web Kindle DX - | UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149 Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK - £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 | OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189 Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle |
* Kindle Fire HD to be released October 25, 2012 in listed European areas above;
Paperwhite to be released November 22, 2012 there.
For daily free ebooks, check the following links:
| Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by: Publication Date Bestselling High-ratings UK: PubDate Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"? Battery Care Highly-rated under $1, | Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK): Top 100 free UK-Only: Top 100 free Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard (U.S. only, currently): 99c Notepad 1.1, 99c Calculator, 99c Calendar, |
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I'm surprised how few people are mentioning the serious battery problems many Kindle owners are having. (See the reviews for the Kindle 1 replacement battery at Amazon.com).
ReplyDeleteMany of the batteries are failing after 3 months or less and some users have experienced this repeatedly with several batteries. My newly refurbished Kindle 1 will only hold a charge for about 1.5 to 2 days of non-use with WiFi off -- then it's dead as a doornail.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI'm still on vacation, now in Jordan, and missed this comment earlier.
I think the reason may be that the old Kindle 1 device has a user-replaceable battery for
$20. Your new Kindle 1 should hold a charge for the normal time. After 1.5 years or so it would have to be replaced.
Your refurbished Kindle 1 is guaranteed for a year. So call Amazon Kindle support at 866-321-8851 and tell them about your problem and they should send you either a new Kindle 1 or a new battery.
Good luck, and please let me know what they decide to do and how it works out.
Thanks,
- Andrys
My father ordered a Kindle for Europe last week, and the thing discharged completely after only 2 days. Then, it was impossible to recharge. He tried to plug it in several different places and left it charging for 24 hours, in vain. The thing isn't charging at all. We can't even turn it off or put it in sleep-mode. It is blocked on a screen saying that the battery is totally empty. We couldn't find any information on the Net about what to do in this situation, besides contacting Amazon (with a 6-hours time difference), which we haven't been able to do so far, because of our own work schedule.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteThat's a very painful situation.
It's best to call Amazon direct - and when outside of the U.S. - at 206-266-0927
In the meantime, have you tried charging it via the USB cable part of the power cord attached to a fast 2.0 USB port of a computer?
If it works, it would mean a bad power charger -- but best to call them. It's more likely a bad power mechanism in the Kindle. Let me know what happens. Thanks.
I had Amazon send me a kindle2 to Greece, and had to pay 141 euros to UPS to get it cleared by customs. After one day I got 'your battery is empty' did the hard reset and it charged again, but shortly after got the 'battery empty', since then, after many attempts, I can't get it to hard reset. At the moment it's been sitting for 5 days saying the battery is empty. How moronic to design a device that you can't switch off when the battery is low? I could send it back to Amazon, I'm sure they'd replace it, but then I'd have to pay another 140 euros for customs clearance. I think I may just use it as a coaster and buy the sony touch screen reader.
ReplyDeleteFunniest of all, I bought it specifically to take on a holiday trip that I'm on at the moment, in order to 'travel light'. Instead of travelling light I'm carrying around this useless piece of junk until I return home in a month and decide what to do with it.
Anonymous, that's outrageous. re the UPS clearance at customs. Have you tried another wall outlet? Could be just the charger that is bad.
ReplyDeleteTo hard reset, best is to hold the power slider for about 17 to 20 seconds and then release it. Go away for a few minutes. By the time you get back, it should be resetting.
But when there is no juice whatso ever, trying it with the charger in might be better though it is said to work better unplugged.
If you can, call Amazon Kindle Support at 1-206-266-0927 and tell them your predicament.
They may be able to get around that customs clearance with a replacement. In the meantime, they should know what you're going through.
Good luck on that. Let us know, if you can.
On holiday? Is the charger using the right adapter for the country by any chance? Probably you'd know what to use. I just came back from a trip where I had to use adapters or have a non-working thing.
ReplyDeleteRe empty battery.
ReplyDeleteI tried to charge it with various usb chargers and via usb ports on two different (new) notebooks, no difference. I didn't try the amazon charger because I didn't have a us/europe adaptor to plug it into.
Yesterday I played with it for an hour or two without success (holding the slide for 30 seconds then waiting etc).
As where I'm staying has a us adaptor (but 220v 50hz) I tried the amazon charger, did a hard reset with it plugged in - and it worked!! I immediately plugged it into my notebook downloaded and transferred the latest software update, plugged it into the charger again and tried to install the update, It told me it couldn't install the update because the battery was too low, even though it was charging. Anyway I left it on, and charging, after a while it automatically installed the update, and fully charged. It now seems to be working!!!!
I haven't dared switch it off and on as my wife is reading a book and would kill me if I experiment and it doesn't work again. It does go into sleep and out again, and has been working for a day so it looks hopefull.
So, possibly an issue with chargers, possibly the software update has fixed a few bugs.
My other usb chargeable devices won't charge from the computer when completely drained. For example Nokia N97 uses similar usb adapter. If I drain the battery completely and then plug it into my computer to charge - it won't. I need to plug the power adapter to jump start the nokia about 5% and if I then plug it into my computer USB it will charge fine.
ReplyDeleteSo, you might be experiencing something similar with your Kindle overseas.
hello, please forgive me if it is one here and I just over looked it. My question is, is there a way to turn the kindle completely off? i mean off being, so there screen is off with no screen saver. I always have a random photo on my kindle when it is off.
ReplyDeleteTodd,
ReplyDeleteYou're doing what the customer service reps recommend - just putting it into sleep mode where it doesn't drain the battery if the screen 'saver' is on.
However if you want to turn it off completely, you move the power slider to the right and then hold on to it for about 5 seconds and then it will go completely off.
That's in the user's manual too. I do find it confusing though to hold it for a few seconds to turn it off.
Great! Thanks. =)
ReplyDeleteHi Andrys,
ReplyDeleteI have another question. Can you download eBooks for the Kindle from other sites or can you only download/buy ebooks from the Amazon site?
Thanks for much for your help.
TODD
Todd,
ReplyDeleteYes, you can download ebooks from several sites but those are usually public domain or classic ones. The new books from Barnes and Noble or Sony store are rights-protected in different ways and can't be read on the Kindle and vice versa, though any of us can read books we buy at either place - readable via their free readers for computers (but not on our ereader devices).
I have info on about how there are almost a million books downloadable from other sources including the half-million free google books and documents.
See my free & lowcost books reminder.
I think you'll like what you can find there.
THANKS!!!! =)
ReplyDeleteamazon should be paying you =)
:-)
ReplyDeleteGlad to help.
i charged mine via usb worked great then my friend in india decided to use a universal converter and i have green light fully charged and works fine but will only go into sleep mode you think after some use it will use some of the battery power so i can turn off or just forget about it? it works fine just will not shut off only go to sleep..????
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteThat type of battery will use some of the battery power whether it's on or off and it hardly uses anything when left in sleep mode.
If you really want to shut it off, you just hold the power slider for a longer time, like 4-6 seconds. Then it shuts off.
But Amazon customer reps recommend you just leave it in sleep mode.
Glad it's working well for you.
I have a kindle 2 and It won't shut off. It will go into sleep mode. When I try to shut it off it simply reboots. It's very frustrating. I enjoy everything else about it. Keeping it in sleep mode for days at a time is kind of creepy and doesn't lend any confidence to the product's quality. I've had it for almost a year and although I've been able to successfully shut it off a few times, but if rebooting and going into sleep mode is normal behavior when you try to shut it off I may have to eventually go to an ipad or a sony reader. -Maria
ReplyDeleteMaria,
ReplyDeleteWhen you shut off the Kindle, you slide the power thing over to the right and hold it for about 4-5 seconds. And it shuts off.
If you hold it for another 10 seconds or so, it'll reboot. Maybe you're holding it too long?
In any case, contact Customer Service for Kindle and go over this with them so they can decide whether, after going over it with you, you might need a replacment or not.
1-866-321-8851
I don't find keeping it in sleep mode creepy - it's what I do and no battery drain happens unless the image changes. Have had no problems on that.
Again, contact Kindle support as I mentioned but if you feel you need to go to the expensive but fun iPad or a Sony, maybe that'd be better for you.
Hi Andrys,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! Its most helpful for a new Kindle user.
I just hung up with Amazon tech support, and some of their answers might help other readers (below). And I have 2 questions for you:
1. If my library has downloadable ebooks (epub), can I use them on the kindle? Converting epub is possible, but even library books?
2. Is there any way to convert audio files to .aa?
These were my questions. Hope they help others. If people have tips, I’d love to hear them!
Q: What's the best way to maintain battery life?
A: Keep it off wireless
Q: What's the threshold between sleep and shutting off (in other words, for how long must I not use the kindle to warrant shutting it down)?
A: Sleep indefinitely if no wireless
Q: Can I still have a table of contents in converted (to azw) files
A: No
Q: If I travel, will it drain the battery by charging it outside the US?
A: No problem if between 110 and 220. Otherwise, use a computer to charge.
Q: Can I change the author’s name?
A: Unfortunately, no
The Knyght,
ReplyDeleteThanks for forwarding the answers you were given.
Re library ePubs -- they generally carry digital-rights protection so that they can make them disappear from your reading after 14-21 days.
If so, you can't convert them. You CAN convert any ePubs they have that are not rights-protected though. But then most of those are free at Amazon and downlaodable to your Kindle right away.
Re converting to .aa - I guess you want that for the Audible books bookmarking?
See http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=7554.
I would just put mp3's (for separate chapters) into the 'music' folder. They play in the order you put them into the folder. You can then read the book with your eyes while hearing it.
You might want to investigate what Calibre can do with file management and changing of some metadata.
What I wouldn't want is to have the changes interfere with Amazon recognizing the book for backup purposes of last-page-read, annotations, etc. But they seem to think of everything, and it's worth exploring.
Is there a way to permanently disable the wifi / 3G connectivity on the Kindle?
ReplyDeleteJan,
ReplyDeleteJust turn it OFF and never turn it on again. And, no, I wouldn't open it up and mess with it.
i was trying to turn my kindle on and the screen started to turn on and it just stopped, I've tried to charge it, to connect it to my computer, to turn it on and off, its new and i'm worried the warranty will run out
ReplyDeleteTo "I can't tell..." (should change "to young" to "too young" in your user ID)
ReplyDeleteTry this (as written in the blog recently)
Slide the power button to the right and hold it for about 21 seconds.
Then let it go.
Go away.
Come back in about 5 minutes and it should be starting up again but let it take its time correcting everything.
If that doesn't work
then plug it in
Wait 10 minutes (go away)
and do the same steps as above.
Good luck :-) Your warranty is good for a year and you can return a Kindle within 30 days if you don't like it...
I am in the UK and and trying to find all the free books everyone is talking about. So far I only know how to get books directly from Amazon. Are there other Kindle-friendly sites. A friend told me I have to download free stuff from my computer and then use my wires to switch it from my computer to my kindle. Is this correct?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your help.
Anonymous in the UK,
ReplyDeleteAt the bottom of every post for the last few months I include a link to
http://bit.ly/kfreelow3
You'll see a lot of non-amazon sites linked there (as well as the usual Amazon ones --
When you gt a free book from Amazon it can be sync'd with your other devices because Amazon has the book)
There are the usual non-Amazon ones like
feedbooks.com, mnybks.net ...
Also see (mentioned on that linked page):
Project Gutenberg books direct from Project Gutenberg to your Kindle (no charge) using 'the Magic Catalog':
http://bit.ly/kgutenb
and
How to convert any of 1 million or so free Google books to Kindle-readable books:
http://bit.ly/milkbooks
and
The Internet Archive's 2 million+ free texts, most readable on Kindle - see the article here at
http://bit.ly/kwarchiveorg
That should get you started. There is also a link on that http://bit.ly/kfreelow3 page to the Amazon Kindle Community message thread in which other Kindle users give you information on how to get Kindle-readable books from other sites.
Hello, I never shutted of my Kindle, but instead would use a sleep mode. A couple of days ago, I put my Kindle to charge, and I might have overcharged it cuz afterwords I couldn't turn it back on, and now ther is no image on the Kindle...I can't turn it back on...please help Marina
ReplyDeleteMarina,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I forgot to get to this and hope that you received some help in the meantime from the Amazon Community Forums.
I never shut mine off either. There's no way to overcharge the Kindle, as there is an auto-shutoff point, at which time it turns Green.
Try the following:
This works for Kindle 2, Kindle 3, and Kindle DX's.
Slide the power button to the right and hold it for about 21 seconds.
Then let it go.
Go away.
Come back in about 5 minutes and it should be starting up again but let it take its time correcting everything.
If that doesn't work
then plug it in
Wait 10 minutes (go away)
and do the same steps as above.
That works most of the time and is called a "Restart" or "Reset" and is similar to doing a soft reboot of your computer when it's not responding due to memory conflicts, etc.
Let me know if you were able to solve your problem. If not, then you should call Kindle Customer Service at 866-321-8851 if in the U.S.
If outside the U.S., sometimes using the Call Me form works too.
Johann
ReplyDeleteFrom South Africa
To Andrys Basten
Hi Andrys
Just want to thank you for this blog, it helped me tremendously!
Take care
Johann
Johann,
ReplyDeleteGood to hear/read. Thanks very much!
I opened the Kindle I bought for a gift to see how it looks. Now I want to bring back the opening page for the true recipient. How do I do that?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can bring back the initial message. What you CAN do is to press Menu and select Settings and then REGISTER the device to your friend's name. He or she can change the details of it later (name of Kindle and the way they want their name to appear etc.)
Their email address also...
What a nice gift !
hey i need help now please my kindle has a block of a screen saver that wont go away. customer support told me i should be able to shut it off by holding the power bar for five seconds but that didnt work please help soon
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteSorry I had to be gone most of the night. Had some celebrating to do.
A block of a screen saver? A remnant that just stays there?
Sometimes, just pressing Alt-key and 'g' key at the same time (alt-g) will make it go away.
What the customer support person told you will just turn OFF the Kindle.
You need to hold the power button to the right for about 21 seconds. The screen will go blank eventually. It will be 'resetting' itself.
Go away for a few minutes. After about 2-5 minutes, the Kindle will fix whatever was confused inside and will restart the machine and slowly put itself back together again.
Let me know if you tried this or anything else that may have been told you.
all of the sudden, my kindle 3 has this fadded block image of a screen saver picture that won't go away. I've done hard reset many times and it didn't help. What should I do?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteMy empathy! But you didn't say what kind of Kindle you have. Did you do a 16-21 second wait holding it that long while sliding the power thing to the side if you've a Kindle 2 or later?
Did you then try it with the charger In instead and do that again? Then you need to go away for a few minutes to see if it'll start up after a few minutes.
If it doesn't, then call Kindle Customer support (daytime support seems more responsive) at 866-321-8851 if you're in the U.S.
If you're not, then go to http://bit.ly/kcall_me to have them call you if that's possible where you are. If that doesn't prove possible because of where you are, then fill out the email form there. But normally the phone call will do the trick.
Let me know how it goes. They call back quickly. But the U.S. phone given is picked up quickly too.
Oops, sorry Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou did say you have Kindle 3.
If it's in a non-lighted Amazon cover, remove it from the cover also. But that's not really a symptom of a freeze caused by that cover's metal hooks that are part of a non-lighted cover.
Kailynsauntie,
ReplyDeleteApologies, I almost forgot about this one.
I wrote a blog article about this very thing. The update is at http://bit.ly/kwkcvr.
The first story, the day before this, should also be read.
The upshot is that if you've been having problems with that cover (like the ones you described) Amazon will offer a refund and sometimes more. Check those stories for how to contact Amazon.
Andrys - thank you so much! I got a new lighted cover for free from them! Your help was MUCH appreciated! ~Lynn
ReplyDeleteLynn,
ReplyDeleteThat's great about Amazon coming through for you like that. Thanks for taking the time to come back to this entry to let us know.
=======
(For some reason your original note about your problem disappeared here and I'll include it here to complete the record...)
You wrote:
"I am finding that when I have my Kindle in a Non-lighted cover it constantly shuts down and re-starts etc. Is this common? Is there a way to get a refund for the cover? My son spent his hard earned money on it for me and I would like to protect it. What have you heard?"
=======
my kindle will not wake up i dont know what to do. i left it sit on the charger for 36 hours... please help what ever you can do to help me will be wanted.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteDid you get help with this? I was not around this weekend and missed this.
Do you have an Amazon leather case that has no built-in light? Some of those have caused problems for Kindles in that they make it hard to re-start the Kindle, or they cause sudden reboots.
I wrote about it at http://bit.ly/kwkcvr.
If you have that case, remove the cover to see if your problems stop. If they do, follow the instructions in my article about calling Customer Service and what they're doing about this.
In any case, if your Kindle doesn't respond,
Slide the power button to the right and hold it for about 21 seconds.
Then let it go.
Go away.
Come back in about 5 minutes and it should be starting up again but let it take its time correcting everything.
If that doesn't work
then plug it in
Wait 10 minutes (go away)
and do the same steps as above.
That works most of the time and is called a "Restart" or "Reset" and is similar to doing a soft reboot of your computer when it's not responding due to memory conflicts, etc.
If the Kindle still doesn't respond to that (rare) AND removing the cover doesn't help, call Kindle Support at 866-321-8851 or contact them at the Kindle Support web page by clicking on the gold-colored "Contact us" button on the right at that page and choosing the Tab for 'phone' if you can, otherwise, choose form mail.
You can get there by clicking on http://bit.ly/kcallme.
If you get this reply, let us know whether any of this helped or whether you solved the problem already. Good luck!
Andrys Basten:
ReplyDeleteYou are my HERO!!! I got my Kindle out of sleep mode!!! I was getting worried!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteVery glad it helped ! Thanks for letting me know :-)
Anonymous and others,
ReplyDeleteFor the earlier note above (January 24), I'm correcting the link that was given above re the Amazon Contact support link.
It should be "You can get there by clicking on http://bit.ly/kcall_me."
Hi Andry,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all teh suppots about kindle - they gave a lot of important information.
I bought my Kindle (Wi-Fi) on 19th March 2011 and I'm still new to it.
I'm wondering whether I can set the screen saver to change its image while the kindle is in sleep mode. Or would the same image be there for whole sleep time?
This has been a very useful series of posts to read. My newly purchased Kindle was fully charged overnight. I then downloaded about 30 relatively short books. I left the 3G / wireless function on, and when I came back to the Kindle it was displaying the 'charge' page and I had to charge it again overnight. My question is - was this likely the result of the number of books downloaded and the wireless being left on, or do I still have a weaker battery than I should?
ReplyDeleteregards and thanks in advance,
Rory
Rory,
ReplyDeleteWith a new Kindle and 30 new books, your battery should normally be fine after a download of them (even if indexing 30 books for keyword searches will drain battery some), but if your cell phone reception (I guess your home has no WiFi network) is only 1 bar, the reception is very weak.
When the reception is barely there, your modem will keep 'retrying' on the sending of a segment of a file and when unsuccessful, it'll keep trying to resend it.
See my blog entry on how to try another AT&T cell phone tower to see if your reception is improved by one. That's at http://bitly.com/kw311 and it tells you how to do this.
If that doesn't work, I'd do what is covered in the blog article also, which is to contact Kindle Support, and the blog entry tells you how.
Let me know how it turns out for you.
Can you supply any guidance on replacement AC-USB chargers? Logically, one would think that any device that converts 110 AC to USB output would be fine (since all computer USB output seems to be fine), but I'd like to be sure I won't damage my Kindle by experimenting. What minimum and maximum output voltage and amperage would be okay for the Kindle?
ReplyDeleteActually, this might be worth a separate blog post now that Amazon is no longer supplying adaptors with the new Kindles.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
I have just been gifted a Kindle Keyboard (3). I know I don't have to worry about the battery for a year and a half, but what happens then? I am in Kolkata, India and sending the Kindle to USA for battery replacement is an impossibility. What would be the solution? Is there a service centre in India? Please advice. My email ID is bissal@rediffmail.com.
ReplyDeleteMy kindle 2 discharges within a day without use even though fully charged overnight. Is it time to send it in to Amazon. I am in Africa now (where I live). What are my options?
ReplyDelete@Richyrich, make sure your wireless is turned off.
ReplyDeleteMy Kindle 1 has the screen saver frozen on the bottom half of the screen. I turned it off, back on, it is still frozen in place. What else can I do to get the screen saver to disappear?
ReplyDeleteJackie
Jackie,
DeleteWow, it's lasted since 2007 or 2008!
Maybe this will work:
1. Put your Kindle 1 charger into the Kindle and wait until the light turns yellow
2. Open the back, put your clip-end, or whatever, into the reset spot but press down on it for at least 10 seconds. 15 would be fine.
3. Release the clip
4. Go away for a bit
5. It should slowly start up sometime after that if the unit is okay.
The silver scroll thing starts to stir after a minute or more and just very sluggishly starts getting it back together again.
If this doesn't work, then call Customer Service at
1-866-321-8851
and describe what you've gone through already.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Hi, if I bought a book from Kindle then accidentally turned my Kindle off without waiting for it to download will it download next time I turned my Kindle on.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - yes, it will. Any Kindle book you purchase from Amazon stays in your 'Cloud' area (on their servers) and can be re-downloaded at any time.
DeleteAnonymous - yes, it will. Any Kindle book you purchase from Amazon stays in your 'Cloud' area (on their servers) and can be re-downloaded at any time.
DeleteHi, I have a kindle paperwhite 2 that I left on sleep mode for about a month without touching it and when I picked it up later it was at critical battery. Is this normal for the battery life or should it be lasting much longer? I had the wifi off and the brightness down to the lowest and there were no indexing books in the background also. Next time should I just turn it off instead of leaving it sleeping? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous on June 4, 2016: Sorry I missed seeing your post. In normal use, it should last a couple of weeks. And it should last a bit longer than a month. But if you let it sleep, there are background processes that watch for any 'sign' that it should wake up. And the lowest setting of light is still an 'On' state, using some energy. I -would- turn it off if you know you won't be using it for that long. With the 9v power cord, it should be fully powered in well less than 2 hours though...
DeleteThat's alright. Okay, that makes sense. I will do that. Thank you for answering! :)
DeleteI'm glad you were able to get back to see it when it had taken me so long to reply. Hope you enjoy your Paperwhite 2 more now that you won't worry about it as much. Thanks for your patience!
DeleteHi I have Paperwhite 2 reader but when I not use it the battery down about 2-3 days since the last firmware update. 5.8.10 Is it normal? Thanks in advance
ReplyDeleteTamas, I don't know if it's normal (most older devices will lose charge strength over time), but maybe you'll find a solution from some discussions on the Paperwhite battery situation at the Kindle forums. Here's a page listing discussions of that at the Kindle Community forums. Hope that'll help.
DeleteTamás, I'm just adding this note with a link to your blogger ID to make sure you see the reply I just made today. Sorry for the delay! I haven't been active on the blog but hope to change that.
Delete