Small debricking guide for “noobs”

[guybrushT]

I have just been following your guide from page 8 and have got to enabling the USB connection. As I have said before my Kindle isn't actually bricked and as far as I can tell..

Do I just need to do the following...

1. copy over mmcblk0p1-k4-401 in Windows as I would do with a normal file to the USB drive.

2. Then using putty (already been set up when I did the screen saver hack, run using diags mode) run the following command

dd if=/mnt/us/mmcblk0p1.img of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K

followed by

rm /mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS
idme -d --bootmode main
reboot

Then I should have a fresh Kindle???

Cheers

[silver18]

I didn't understand what you did and what does your Kindle have...
If it's a matter of original screensavers gone, I can send you a zip file!

[guybrushT]

Originally Posted by silver18

I didn't understand what you did and what does your Kindle have...
If it's a matter of original screensavers gone, I can send you a zip file!

I have a K4NT.

Basically I did a screen saver hack which used the commands in Putty when in Diags mode.

mntroot rw
mkdir /mnt/us/screensaver
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt/base-mmc
mv /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800 /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800.old
ln -sfn /mnt/us/screensaver /mnt/base-mmc/opt/amazon/screen_saver/600x800

I also tried a method on this site and I think somehow I deleted the folder called 600x800 and the original screensaver images as I can't restore them.

If I am honest I have no idea what the commands mean apart from directory structure part.

I think I could do with creating the 600x800 folder again and copying the screen saver images in and that might allow me to update, but I have no idea how to do this in terms of

1) Writing the correct commands in Putty
2) Getting the original PNG screensaver files to be copied into the 600x800 directory.

The best option to me seemed to be to try and install a 'fresh' copy of the kindle files and then never touch anything again. I was wondering if the best way to do this was to copy over the file mmcblk0p1.img to my Kindle in Windows and the run this commands in Putty when in Diags mode.

dd if=/mnt/us/mmcblk0p1.img of=/dev/mmcblk0p1 bs=4K

followed by

rm /mnt/us/ENABLE_DIAGS
idme -d --bootmode main
reboot

Thank you for your response

[guybrushT]

So after hours of research, I have fixed this by simply

1) Mounting mmcblk0p1.img with WinImage
2) Browsing to opt\amazon\scree_saver_600x800 and extracting the PGN files to my desktop

3) Copy the image files to my Kindle hack screensaver folder.

4) Reboot the kindle

Update can now be applied

I guess this is a noobs version of what other people have said on here. But anyway I though I would share this.

Cheers everyone

[silver18]

First of all, you should still have a backup copy of screensaver folder named as 600x800.old! So, you should be able to replace it!!

Anyway, as you have K4NT, you should use correct main partition image, and not the K5's.

Try asking here. It's the debricking thread where you can have help for what you need!

[guybrushT]

Originally Posted by silver18

First of all, you should still have a backup copy of screensaver folder named as 600x800.old! So, you should be able to replace it!!

Anyway, as you have K4NT, you should use correct main partition image, and not the K5's.

Try asking here. It's the debricking thread where you can have help for what you need!

My 600x800.old got over written with my cutsom files. I mange to browse to that folder using putty and see the contents in had.

I wasn't using the K5 partition image, the files are called the same however when they are extracted from the 7z file.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by guybrushT

My 600x800.old got over written with my cutsom files. I mange to browse to that folder using putty and see the contents in had.

I wasn't using the K5 partition image, the files are called the same however when they are extracted from the 7z file.

I think guybrush was asking if your Noobs guide would work for the K4NT when using your directions plus the correct K4NT files rather than the K5 files shown.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by knc1

I think guybrush was asking if your Noobs guide would work for the K4NT when using your directions plus the correct K4NT files rather than the K5 files shown.

The noobs guide started as a simplified version of the simple debricking thread (which supports K4 and K5), so with suitable added complexity (voiding the "small guide" title), it would work.

It is hard to be small and comprehensive at the same time.

[Aleyst]

Just wondering whether it would be worth it to rewrite this for a k4 as it seems to cause a bit of confusion, also, with Win7 I found that some of the steps didn't quite work/or weren't needed. Also, I personally had a lot of trouble with the libusb step, I can't quite remember how I fixed it, so if you have any ideas on that they would be appreiciated

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Aleyst

Just wondering whether it would be worth it to rewrite this for a k4 as it seems to cause a bit of confusion, also, with Win7 I found that some of the steps didn't quite work/or weren't needed. Also, I personally had a lot of trouble with the libusb step, I can't quite remember how I fixed it, so if you have any ideas on that they would be appreiciated

A lot more specific details are provided in the "simple debricking" sticky thread. The "SMALL
guide" was never meant to contain all details for all corner cases. If we had specific versions of this guide for each firmware version of each kindle model with each versions of each host PC operating system, there could be a massive collection of these "small guides". If instead we ammended the guide to add all corner cases to it, it would no longer be small (or particularly simple).

Now, with that said, what VERSION of win7 are you using? Is is a x86 version or an x64 version? Did you run it in a Virtual Machine? What version of libusb did you use? What problems did you have installing it? How did you solve them? It would be a LOT easier for you to retrace your steps and document what you did, that somebody else to do it for you who does not have your memories. But, it WOULD be a nice contribution to the debricking process if you could document how you solved your problems.

Does anybody else know how to document the problems that Aleyest said he can't remember how he solved, so that others do not have the same problems that Aleyest had? Without more details, I know that I cannot. Sorry about that.

Perhaps you can get together with silver18 and suggest some specific changes that he can make to his document to make his documentation more robust?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Does anybody else know how to document the problems that Aleyest said he can't remember how he solved, so that others do not have the same problems that Aleyest had?

Sure, it just takes a version 16, mod 27, crystal ball with a d72 channel override.
I did try my older version but Aleyest must be running the newer model of MindBlock or Ungrateful Dead.
Every connection attempt returned -EIWFM

[Aleyst]

I lol'd at that knc1.
Also, female for future reference.

As far as I recall, the issue with libusb had something to do with the inf file provided in the guide.

And the steps for libusb *installing, or getting it to work* we're the issues I had, the website wasn't very helpful with that, that was what I was talking about getting ideas about.

And getting through the thread didn't end up helping me the first time I tried to unbrick that is why I ended up asking for help, what I'm seeing is a lot of the same issues I came across and eventually over about 4 days we got it working.

So I was just suggesting making it simpler to find, and maybe addressing those problems, but as I haven't re bricked my kindle I can't go through the process again to write it down.

Although, when the next update comes through, no doubt I'll stuff it up and have to do it again, but who knows when that'll be.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by Aleyst

I lol'd at that knc1.
Also, female for future reference.

As far as I recall, the issue with libusb had something to do with the inf file provided in the guide.

And the steps for libusb *installing, or getting it to work* we're the issues I had, the website wasn't very helpful with that, that was what I was talking about getting ideas about.

And getting through the thread didn't end up helping me the first time I tried to unbrick that is why I ended up asking for help, what I'm seeing is a lot of the same issues I came across and eventually over about 4 days we got it working.

So I was just suggesting making it simpler to find, and maybe addressing those problems, but as I haven't re bricked my kindle I can't go through the process again to write it down.

Although, when the next update comes through, no doubt I'll stuff it up and have to do it again, but who knows when that'll be.

Thanks.
That lets everyone know just what information to keep a watch out for, details that would improve the guide.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by Aleyst

I lol'd at that knc1.
Also, female for future reference.

As far as I recall, the issue with libusb had something to do with the inf file provided in the guide.

And the steps for libusb *installing, or getting it to work* we're the issues I had, the website wasn't very helpful with that, that was what I was talking about getting ideas about.

And getting through the thread didn't end up helping me the first time I tried to unbrick that is why I ended up asking for help, what I'm seeing is a lot of the same issues I came across and eventually over about 4 days we got it working.

So I was just suggesting making it simpler to find, and maybe addressing those problems, but as I haven't re bricked my kindle I can't go through the process again to write it down.

Although, when the next update comes through, no doubt I'll stuff it up and have to do it again, but who knows when that'll be.

So, you're a shiela, eh?

There is a lot of information to chew through, making it all not so "simple" anymore. We each have our strengths and weaknesses.

There is a libusb tool for creating the .inf file for you (which is what I used). I just showed my .inf file to use as a reference.

I am glad you eventually solved it. I am glad that silver18 wrote the "small" guide (which has already grown a lot bigger than it was).

Now that the K3 has a similar method of debricking, when we add that to this documentation, the differences will make it even more complicated.

The problem is that we wish to minimize the amount of information needed to debrick a kindle (the user may not know what firmware version is installed on it). And we want to minimize the number of choices and decisions the user has to make. A "just follow these minumum number of steps" approach.

As it is now, there is often some extra personal guidance (hand holding) required, but many people were able to do it completely on their own.

[Aleyst]

Yup, I'm a Sheila.

We are all glad with all the work everyone has put in, any news on why the problems using the 4.0.1 images?