Kindle Fire Bricked!
The Amazon Kindle Fire has been a raging success so far due to its low price despite its fairly low end specs. This has made the device popular with the Android Mod community keen to get Android goodies and the latest Android OS Ice Cream Sandwich (or ICS) onto the device.
Would be Kindle Fire modder’s beware, several reports are emerging from users that managed to Brick their devices in gaining root access. Details are sketchy as to the exact cause. Probable causes include the recent Amazon update, bad permissions and even the mere presence of Vending.apk (Android Market) itself. In the worst case the device goes into a recovery boot loop with the message:
“Your Kindle has detected a problem and must clear app storage. The recovery process will erase some applications and data from your device. Apps from the appstore are stored in the cloud and can be reinstalled later.
This will reset your kindle to its original factory settings. you will need to re-register your kindle prior to downloading items from your Amazon account.
Please press power button to proceed.”
However, after following the prompt the Fire reboots itself back to the same screen. The dreaded boot loop or bricked state where the device cannot be communicated with over USB. Congratulations your Kindle Fire is now as useful as a brick, albeit an expensive one! This is a serious issue as in many cases there is no adb shell or Fastboot access to the device leaving it impossible to fix without sending it back to Amazon. One solution remains – the factory cable fix.
It appears the device can be brought up in factory mode by using a factory cable. This is a special micro usb cable that has an pin 4 connected to +5V, a pin that’s not normally used. You might be lucky searching online for a Motorola factory cable. If you have a little DIY experience with a soldering iron its easy to make one yourself. BE WARNED!!! This has the added danger of blowing up your Kindle Fire and PC USB port if done wrong!!! Details on how to make one can be found below. When the factory cable is connected the device comes up in Fastboot mode which means custom ROM’s can be flashed to the device. Right now we’re days away from a CM7 build and will no doubt see a CM9 ICS build early next year.
UPDATE:Be warned that larger system partitions such as system can’t be reflashed due to fastboots’ memory limit. The latest favored fix is to use TWRP 2.0 recovery tool to restore which uses the smaller recovery partition, more here.
Making a DIY Factory Cable
WARNING: REQUIRES SOME PREVIOUS SOLDERING EXPERIENCE AND A STEADY HAND AS PARTS ARE SMALL
DISCLAIMER: WE ACCEPT NO LIABILITY IF YOU SHORT CIRCUIT OUT YOUR PC IN THE PROCESS!!!!!
REALLY!!!
What you will need:
- USB->Mini/Micro-B USB cable
- Sharp model knife
- Soldering Iron and Solder
- Soldering tools: pliers, wire stripers, desolder
- Small piece of insulated wire (red)
- Elecrical tape
- Continuity Tester
- Optional: In case you butcher the micro end of your USB cable a handy alternative is the Sparkfun USB MicroB Plug Breakout Board, its way easier to solder and avoid shorts this way.
If your device manufacturer uses this method to flash their device your device should boot into factory mode
Once you’ve used the factory cable for recovery purposes do not use it for normal use!
Did the second half of the article get deleted or not posted? You never actually tell us what to do, you only show us a picture that doesn’t show both connection points for the wire.
Pin 1 already has a red wire soldered to it, Pin 4 should be empty. Once assembled and connected you should be able to connect the fastboot program (on platform of choice) to flash over new system partition images. You will have to search for these yourself due to the unofficial nature of the process.