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Topic: Hardware

If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

Summary: A hard reset should do the trick, if you're having any issues with your Kindle Fire. Read more to see how to perform one.

Joel Evans

By for The Mobile Gadgeteer |

There have been many reports of Kindle Fire devices randomly freezing up, or no longer turning on. I'm happy to say that I haven't experienced this, and have owned a couple of Kindle Fires since November 17th. That said, I received a number of e-mails from people with the issue, and even one from David Ruiz urging me to write about it, if only to get Amazon to take notice of the issue.

So, if you're having a problem with your Kindle Fire (frozen screen, battery issues, trouble downloading content to your Kindle Fire), Amazon recommends that you perform a hard reset.

Before performing the hard reset, make sure to charge your Kindle Fire for approximately 30 minutes. Then try this:

Step 1: Hard Reset: Press and hold the power button for 20 seconds and then release.

Step 2: Power it back on: Wait until the device has completely turned off, then press the power button to restart your Kindle Fire.

If the above doesn't work, Amazon recommends that you try charging the Kindle Fire longer and then trying the hard reset again.

If you still can't get your device to work, you can contact Amazon at either amazon.com/contact-us or by phone at the numbers below:

U.S. and Canada: 1-866-216-1072 Kindle Support: 1-866-321-8851 International: 1-206-266-2992

Are you having issues with your Kindle Fire? If so, comment below.

Update: It looks like our own David Gewirtz reported something similar last week. Amazon, please respond before others unwrap their new Kindle Fires and experience the same "is my Kindle dead?" feeling.

Topics: Hardware, Mobility

About

With more than 15 years of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently the VP of Strategy Integration for Mobiquity, an enterprise-class mobile solutions provider.

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25 comments
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  • Are things too slow at ZDNet???

    I seem to have read this same article a week ago from David Gewirtz. Are things that slow that the ZDNet bloggers have to copy each other?
    linux for me
    Reply Vote

  • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

    The problem I am having is related to the sensitivity of the Kindle Fire touch screen. Very often I have to do a touch command several times before it actually goes through. I am also upset that the Kindle Fire does not have an open architecture allowing its users to run whatever Android apps they desire.
    mdiaz0429
    Reply 1 Vote

    • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

      @mdiaz0429
      Odd, I don't have any sensitivity issues. What I have seen is it confusing a drag for a click. This is most noticeable while web browsing, but has happened in other places in the UI.
      And you can load any android app you can get the APK for. Google Earth was the first thing I got. While I wish Amazon would move faster of getting Apps up there, I understand their desire to pre-test anything for the masses.
      mdemuth
      Reply Vote

    • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

      @mdiaz0429 - you might want to get an iPad, it has nearly liquid response, isn't limited in software (yes, the kindle and nook iPad apps run great) plus you know you have a quality device since Apple engineered it.
      -
      Yes, fully open is a nice theory, but it never works out once deployed. look at Linux, it crashed and died, and Android did the same thing when people started to use it. So move up to an iPad and free yourself of glitches and poor quality software.
      Pederson
      Reply Vote

  • Too many issues

    Mine is going back. The lack of response from the screen is very frustrating and it's too small. Going to spend the extra $ and get an iPad.
    dondico@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

      @dondico@... Lol, that is the unofficial first troubleshooting step: Buy an iPad.

      I suggest a ASUS Transformer too. They are very quick, cheaper then they were, and have lots of great custom roms and stuff you can put on them. I have yet to run into a problem with mine.
      Bates_
      Reply Vote

      • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

        @Bates_ - but ASUS products are such poor quality, so not sure why anyone would want to go that low within the spectrum. just buy the best, then you won't regret your purchase.
        Pederson
        Reply Vote

    • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

      @dondico@... - Yes, the iPad is only about $150 more, plus you'll have great resale value in 2 years when you upgrade. The Fire is more of a gimmick to sell people books and movies, it doesn't do much else.
      Pederson
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  • marketing spam?

    As always, an iPad or 2 flogger lurks.
    albionstreet
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  • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

    When I transfer .mobi content into the "books" folder and then disconnect, the content does not show up. If I reconnect, I can see that the content is there, but can't see it through the kindle.
    u15986
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    • Mobi books on the Kindle Fire

      There's a great free software called calibre at calibre-ebook.com/.
      It helps manage your ebooks and will convert any or most formats to suit your Fire.
      The Fire has a slightly different format than Mobi. Calibre is all I use for my Fire and I only use a small portion of its capability.
      fred.steltman
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  • RE: If your Kindle Fire is having issues, follow these instructions

    Does anyone know how to rememdy the problem concerning the "Removable Disk F" drive appearing instead of the Amazon Kindle Icon when trying to transfer files from PC to Kindle Fire?
    rkharp99
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  • weird symbols on my kindle fire

    I often get a white triangle and an exclamation mark in it and then it goes to a black screen with red writing. Does anyone know whats going on.
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  • Keep Trying

    I've had a few crashes where I've had to do a hard reset.
    The most recent, I had to reset 3 times before it finally came around. Had me quite worried.
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  • kindle freezing

    I had my first Kindle and within 17 days it froze and would not turn on. I returned it and got another. It took 3 weeks for it to freeze. I charged it and tried and tried and finally I went to take it back and when I pulled it to show the cusyomer service perso it magically turned on. It has happened one time since which was 2 weeks later. This is so frustrating. Is it an app that causes it?
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    • kindle freezing and won't power on

      I got my Kindle Fire for Christmas, 2011. I have absolutely loved it and have had no problems until today! I was reading a book, went to turn the page, and it froze. From there it shut off and I cannot get it to start again. It was charged, but I plugged it in anyway and waited 15 minutes. Still nothing! The charge light won't even stay on. I am glad my hubby bought the extended warrenty from Staples!
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  • Music app couldn't launch- Kindle Fire has several Issues

    I have at present follwoing problem-
    Every time I tap on "Music" it gives a message saying "Couldn't launch Music app".
    This problem doesn't go away even after I factory reset kindle fire. I'm contacting support but so far have not got its resolution. Besides that I faced following issues-
    1. Gallery app crashes randomly. As it is random I didn't report it but this one occurs very frequently to me.
    2. Browser crashes randomly.
    3. Browser shows half of the top page blank. This issue can be resolved with hard reboot. I'll attach video if it occurs next time.
    4. Audio is not automatically routed to speaker if I remove headphone. This issue is also resolved after restart.

    I'm facing lot of issues with the kindle fire. I'm not at all happy with its quality. Its pathetic and would not recommend it to anyone.
    a2lkulkarni
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  • Virus

    Since you connect your kindle via the internet, what keeps it from recieving viruses? With computers you have an antivirus.
    clroberts1221
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  • Prob. with reading email via browser

    Has anyone had problems with viewing emails via browser? My wife's Kindle had no problems with displaying emails until recently when we changed internet providers. What is weird, is my wife can see her emails through the browser from our previous provider, but when she goes to the browser to see her new emails from the new provider, the screen flashes and goes white.
    spider76
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