Aaagh! Kindle updated itself!

[GrahamGo]

My first post! With the help of threads on this Forum I successfully downgraded my PW2 to firmware 5.4.0, rooted, installed K5 rescue pack, got collections manager installed. Again, thanks to contributors on the Forum.....

Everything was wonderful, Calibre was perfect, my Kindle Paperwhite 2 was syncing and working perfectly. My collections all sorted.


Then yesterday I wanted to download a book from Amazon. So I turned the wifi on and got the book. I returned to the PW2 a little later and found to my horror that Amazon had pushed the latest update to my device and it was already being installed. There was nothing that I could do to abort the process.

The PW2 now has ver 5.4.3.2 installed. As an e-reader it is working fine. BUT when I plug in a USB cable to my PC, I get the "ding dong" connecting sound, and sometimes in Windows Explorer I do see the Kindle appear as a drive on G:\Kindle. But I cant seem to access the files, also if I leave the Kindle connected to the USB the PW2 periodically flashes the screen and I see the main memory briefly and then it goes back into the USB Drive mode.

Clearly the update has messed things up and I am nervous about what to do to revive what was a perfect setup. So I have a few questions.

1. Could someone with more experience than I, guide me into what the best steps / action is to take. Thank you!

2. Assuming I can get back to a working situation and on ver 5.4.0, is there a foolproof way to stop Amazon upgrading again? (or what I view as a downgrade!).

Thank you.

[NiLuJe]

@GrahamGo: While suspicious because of the update, that sounds more like a bad cable/flaky USB controller. Check with another data cable, and on another computer if possible?

Also, because it's actually relevant here, and I have to say it: Have you tried turning it off and on again? (Seriously, restart the device and your computer ).

As for the rest: yup. BackDoorLock does just that. (As well as the BBB firewall filters, although as a 'side effect' of their main purpose ).

[eschwartz]

Also, for preventing updates (once everything is fixed):

There are two solutions.

1. Reserving the update filename. Create this folder in the root of the Kindle userstore (otherwise known as the Kindle Drive. On Windows this is often "E:\" ** (, although I manually changed to "K:\" on my computer); on linux it is usually "/media/Kindle/"):

   [userstore]/update.bin.tmp.partial/

   The updater uses that as a temp download filename, but since it is a folder already, and the unix/linux command to delete a folder is different from the one to delete a file, the updater cannot figure out how to remove the folder to download the update to that location.
   This no longer works on firmware >=5.6.0 -- Amazon noticed us.
2. Install the BackDoorLock hack, which will interrupt the updater process (but leave the update.bin on the Kindle, at least on non-touch devices).

** -- That's right, the one with the "documents" folder in it.


EDIT: Thanks eureka for pointing out the touch models do not download the update. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2451671

EDIT2: I suggest you do both, just in case. Amazon may "fix" the first one, or break the second, so use both as a failsafe.
It certainly cannot hurt.

EDIT3: What did I say? They "fixed" it...

[NiLuJe]

@eschwartz: Gah, I always forget about the folder trick! Has it been written down somewhere on the wiki?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@eschwartz: Gah, I always forget about the folder trick! Has it been written down somewhere on the wiki?

Neither this nor the BackDoorLock hack appear to be anywhere on the wiki.

[GrahamGo]

@NiLuJe Some success, I took your cue and tried the Kindle+same cable on another PC.It did the "ding dong" installed the Kindle driver and now I can access the Kindles files. I suspect the 1st PC's Kindle driver is corrupted, because that PC works fine with other devices (Android phone,Garmin Navigator etc). I will look into it.

@eschwartz Darn!, two solutions to prevent the updates. I should have read more, I never expected Amazon being able to update without my permission to do so. Question. Does No.2 Really prevent updating 100%, or should I do No.1 (or even both?)

As to fixing the unit. It does now appear that I will be able to use K5 rescue pack. But what do I have to do. Downgrade, Root, etc etc?

I was scared stiff that I was going to brick the device the 1st time, now do I have to repeat the whole process, or just a part of it?

Thank you!, any advice will be gratefully accepted. First Mexico get knocked out of the soccer, now this......

[NiLuJe]

@GrahamGo: I have no idea how Windows handles USB devices (besides stupidly), but there's no 'Kindle' driver (it's a standard USB mass storage device). Granted, that fact doesn't help you much ;p. Did you install/plug any new hardware or gadget recently? Or did anything vaguely related got updated on Windows's side?

Only one of the update blocking things is enough, and the folder trick is obviously the least intrusive/fastest/easiest one, so I'd go with that. I don't think we've ever heard of anyone complaining, so I'd go with: yep, they're both effective .

If you really rely on nested collections and/or really can't stand the few other changes since then, then, yeah, you'll have to do the whole downgrade over diags again (you'll have to reinstall the rescue pack first).
On the other hand, If you can live with the latest version (I'm mostly referring to the collection changes), know that the basics are supported by CM .

[GrahamGo]

@NiLuJe: Thanks, in the meantime I got the 1st PC working on USB again. I had to uninstall ALL of the items under Portable Devices and reboot. Finally got a pop-up saying that G: had been successfully installed and now it works.

As to using CM with the latest firmware version. I do not use nested collections etc. But I am SURE that I got a message that collections manager was incompatible and could not be installed on 5.4.3.2 firmware. Apart from that there were all sorts of warnings on the thread that things could go wrong with the later PW2 firmwares. So I bit the bullet and downgraded.

If you are saying that I can use the later software, with perhaps just re-rooting, then that would be great. Perhaps I was on the wrong Forum thread and there is another later thread for the PW2? Fingers crossed....

[NiLuJe]

@GrahamGo: Well, yeah, I kinda did fail to mention that CM got support for FW 5.4.3.2 only one or two days ago... (cf. #972 & #982).

And yes, there are limitations: no nesting, and no Cloud Collections support (plus, things *might* get weird if you mix & match CC & local Collections. CM simply ignores CC.).

(As usual with > 5.3 updates, you'll have to reinstall MKK to use CM).

Provided you do sometimes happen to have WiFi on, you still should use an update blocking trick .

[bdone]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Also, for preventing updates (once everything is fixed):

There are two solutions.

1. Reserving the update filename. Create this folder in the Kindle userstore (assuming the userstore is Drive "G:\"):

   [userstore]\update.bin.tmp.partial\

   The update will try to download to that filename, but can't (since it is a folder already).
2. The BackDoorLock hack

thanks, that's what I need now!

[GrahamGo]

#972 Oops, ignore this link. I was going to ask how shortened links can be placed in a thread. But I found this out myself by experimenting.

I decided to try to stay with 5.4.3.2 and to see how it and Calibre worked together.

I have done a re-jailbreak (although I think it was still in place)
Installed MKK over again
Installed CollectionsManager_2.6.2

This is where I come unstuck. If I try to install it I see the message "Your Kindle is running Firmware 5.4.3.2 which is not supported by this version of Collections Manager" I wasn't surprised by this as @NiLuJe kindly pointed to a Patch. The problem is I cannot find out how to apply the patch. I did find a post referring to a Version 2.7.1 #982 which I presume is a compiled version including the patch, but I cannot find the file.

I also installed the anti-update fix, see attchment. I was confused by the expression userstore, I presume it just meant in the G:\ root? - I want to get this one right!

[NiLuJe]

@GrahamGo: ??

@eschwartz: Added the OTA stuff to the Touch hacking wiki page (which I cleaned up a bit while I was there ;p). Thanks!

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by GrahamGo

#972 Oops, ignore this link. I was going to ask how shortened links can be placed in a thread. But I found this out myself by experimenting.

I decided to try to stay with 5.4.3.2 and to see how it and Calibre worked together.

I have done a re-jailbreak (although I think it was still in place)
Installed MKK over again
Installed CollectionsManager_2.6.2

This is where I come unstuck. If I try to install it I see the message "Your Kindle is running Firmware 5.4.3.2 which is not supported by this version of Collections Manager" I wasn't surprised by this as @NiLuJe kindly pointed to a Patch. The problem is I cannot find out how to apply the patch. I did find a post referring to a Version 2.7.1 #982 which I presume is a compiled version including the patch, but I cannot find the file.

Download the latest release (2.7.2) from the OP of The Collections Manager thread. Just like any other new release, except this time NiLuJe edited ixtab's post to add it (using uber mod skillz ).

(Also, he deleted the attachment with v2.7.1 once he updated the OP.)

I also installed the anti-update fix, see attchment. I was confused by the expression userstore, I presume it just meant in the G:\ root? - I want to get this one right!

Yup:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Create this folder in the Kindle userstore (assuming the userstore is Drive "G:\")

Userstore is Kindle Drive.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@eschwartz: Added the OTA stuff to the Touch hacking wiki page (which I cleaned up a bit while I was there ;p). Thanks!

Nice! It does kinda look a lot neater now. (Though to be honest, I cannot really remember what it used to look like, I have vague memories of some confusion)

Also, it's your fault that I had to go back and edit that post for clarity.

[NiLuJe]

@eschwartz: Heh! I liked it, because it actually linked to the very first time the trick was mentioned, but with a clearer explanation, so: win-win ;p.

@GrahamGo: Where is the 'userstore' thing mentioned? (so that I can clarify it at the root ).
EDIT: Oh, okay, nevermind, now @eschwartz's comment makes sense. Neeeeeeeed to sleeeep! .