Bricked kindle after adding KFX files

[Pjama]

So, full of enthusiasm after finding out I could convert epubs to kfx and sideload them, I tried this on the recommended book, Frankenstein.

It worked well, so I then converted a couple of my own books. Worked very well.

So then I started converting more, getting to 27 files in total and converting in batches of five or so.

There was one particular file I had trouble with, a compilation of five novels (two other similar compilations converted ok). I tried several times to convert it, and eventually ended up making a plain text document and then converting that to a very dull looking kfx.

It worked though.

So, last night when I was reading the forum (which I swear I read a lot more than any kindle!), I noticed that the vocabulary builder function was not available for sideloaded KFX files. I read foreign language books and this function is quite important to me. So that was annoying.

I decided to play around and open a sideloaded azs3 file, check a word or two, then open the same book, but in the kfx file, and check a couple of different words.

None of the words showed up. In fact, each time I opened the vocabulary builder, it treated me as if I was new to the function. Even though I could see my words from my amazon books, it would display the screen explaining what VB is each time I opened it.

It was after doing this that my kindle started behaving strangely.

The covers stopped being displayed, and when I selected a book it came up with the message saying that the content has been removed and is not available.

I tried restarting it several times, then removed the kfx files from my kindle and restarted it. No change, over and over.

As I had gone through the same process many times with no change, I knew the only step left was probably to reset to factory settings.

To prepare for doing this, I copied my text clippings file and the vocabulary
builder database file to my hard drive. Note that I definitely copied them, I did not move them and leave a blank space.

After this, I tried to restart again, holding the button down for 40 seconds, and at this stage it just stuck on the tree screen no matter what.

I contacted amazon via chat and finally the only possible outcome was a replacement.

This kindle is only four months old, and it is now unusable.

I'm just posting this as a warning, I'm not sure if it was to do with the kfx files, but it did start to behave differently after this, so I'm assuming so. I'm glad it happened to my 'old' kindle and that I didn't try this on my new Oasis, which is supposedly arriving today (even though it hasn't shipped yet!).

I'm probably just going to go back to sending my other books as PDOCs, which I don't like, but at least I can use the vocabulary builder with them.

[stumped]

evidence, and amazon's response, suggests hardware failure - device stopped being able to write information to its memory
that is NOT caused by your activities, though I get how it can seem that way.

one way to put your mind at rest could be to perform all the same activities on the replacement kindle, when it arrives [ you have nothing to lose because if u do manage to brick it, you can send it straight back And say to me nah nah told you so... " ]

the worst you should be able to do by feeding it poor quality data is to confuse the indexing process, but a factory reset would have fixed that.

[MerdaFit]

SMH...

Even if the cause wasn't the KFX files (I doubt it was), now I feel guilty for having suggested it to you.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by MerdaFit

SMH...

Even if the cause wasn't the KFX files (I doubt it was), now I feel guilty for having suggested it to you.

Oh, please don’t feel guilty! I would have found about the kfx conversion at some point and I do like to tinker with kindles. At least I bricked this one and not the new one!

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by stumped

evidence, and amazon's response, suggests hardware failure - device stopped being able to write information to its memory
that is NOT caused by your activities, though I get how it can seem that way.

one way to put your mind at rest could be to perform all the same activities on the replacement kindle, when it arrives [ you have nothing to lose because if u do manage to brick it, you can send it straight back And say to me nah nah told you so... " ]

the worst you should be able to do by feeding it poor quality data is to confuse the indexing process, but a factory reset would have fixed that.

I know, it is probably a coincidence but, it just is difficult for me not to link the kfx sideloading with the device dying.

I also noticed on one of the last times I was able to check the settings that the device storage quantity was all messed up, it said something ridiculous like 42 MB out of 450 MB remaining - I.e. nothing resembling the expected amount. Or maybe the kfx packages took up such a lot of space they killed my kindle?

Annoyingly, the replacement is a refurbished one...

I will definitely NOT be trying this when my new Oasis arrives.

[jhowell]

I am sorry that you had this problem. It is definitely possible that something in the files produced by the KFX Output plugin triggered this to occur.

I know of two potential problems in sideloading KFX books:

First is that the file size may be larger than e-ink Kindles can safely handle. KFX books produced by Amazon are split up into files of 3MB or less. The KFX Output plugin always creates a single file, and it may be quite large for some books. I have seen KFX files larger than about 16MB lead to the Kindle reader crashing and abruptly returning to the home screen.

Second, loading multiple books on the device with the same ASIN can cause a variety of strange problems. It appears that the Kindle does not properly keep track of them as distinct books.

Yours is the first report I have seen of an unrecoverable problem.

It is odd that you experienced problems with the Vocabulary Builder feature. The KFX Output plugin was changed earlier this year to fix a problem that prevented sideloaded KFX books from working with it and since then I have been able to use Vocabulary Builder with books I converted to KFX without any problems.

[mergen3107]

@Pjama,
You should probably also check your PC’s USB socket which you used to connect Kindle.
Many years ago I had an old laptop, on which a faulty USB socket was burning one USB stick after another. You can check this by plugging any USB stick (which you don’t afraid to lose if something goes wrong) and trying to move it slightly up and down. If it keeps connecting/disconnecting on the PC — you have a problem.

The problem itself is not due to golden contact points inside the socket, but due to partly de-soldered internal legs which are connected to motherboard from inside. This is what I learned after disassembling that laptop.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I am sorry that you had this problem. It is definitely possible that something in the files produced by the KFX Output plugin triggered this to occur.

I know of two potential problems in sideloading KFX books:

First is that the file size may be larger than e-ink Kindles can safely handle. KFX books produced by Amazon are split up into files of 3MB or less. The KFX Output plugin always creates a single file, and it may be quite large for some books. I have seen KFX files larger than about 16MB lead to the Kindle reader crashing and abruptly returning to the home screen.

Second, loading multiple books on the device with the same ASIN can cause a variety of strange problems. It appears that the Kindle does not properly keep track of them as distinct books.

Yours is the first report I have seen of an unrecoverable problem.

It is odd that you experienced problems with the Vocabulary Builder feature. The KFX Output plugin was changed earlier this year to fix a problem that prevented sideloaded KFX books from working with it and since then I have been able to use Vocabulary Builder with books I converted to KFX without any problems.

Ah, lots of this applies to my case.

First of all, the plug-in is great, thanks for creating it!

So, the book that I think may have triggered this was very large, consisting of five novels.

And I had multiple copies with the same ASIN on my kindle. What I was doing was comparing the asz3 files I had side loaded with the new kfx files I made.

Two of the other conversions also involved omnibus editions including five novels.

I think I just overwhelmed my kindle then, by the sounds of it.

It’s the first time I’ve ever bricked a kindle, and I’ve had them and tinkered with them since the kindle 2.

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by mergen3107

@Pjama,
You should probably also check your PC’s USB socket which you used to connect Kindle.
Many years ago I had an old laptop, on which a faulty USB socket was burning one USB stick after another. You can check this by plugging any USB stick (which you don’t afraid to lose if something goes wrong) and trying to move it slightly up and down. If it keeps connecting/disconnecting on the PC — you have a problem.

The problem itself is not due to golden contact points inside the socket, but due to partly de-soldered internal legs which are connected to motherboard from inside. This is what I learned after disassembling that laptop.

Thanks, I’ll check that out.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Pjama

Ah, lots of this applies to my case.

First of all, the plug-in is great, thanks for creating it!

So, the book that I think may have triggered this was very large, consisting of five novels.

And I had multiple copies with the same ASIN on my kindle. What I was doing was comparing the asz3 files I had side loaded with the new kfx files I made.

Two of the other conversions also involved omnibus editions including five novels.

I think I just overwhelmed my kindle then, by the sounds of it.

It’s the first time I’ve ever bricked a kindle, and I’ve had them and tinkered with them since the kindle 2.

I have many large omnibuses on my Kindles. The largest of them is the Wheel of Time omnibus, over 20 MB. Also I have a calibre catalog on my Oasis 2 which is about 35 MB. No crashing or other problems. True, all my books are in the AZW3 format. Does the size limit only apply to the KFX?

[Pjama]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I have many large omnibuses on my Kindles. The largest of them is the Wheel of Time omnibus, over 20 MB. Also I have a calibre catalog on my Oasis 2 which is about 35 MB. No crashing or other problems. True, all my books are in the AZW3 format. Does the size limit only apply to the KFX?

I believe so, as it is a large package file, I believe it is much more complicated than the AZW3 file.

[NiLuJe]

That simply looks like the userstore lost its marbles.

It's a weird system with a proxied FAT32 FS, it has been known to fail in fun & interesting ways like that in the past.

A reboot (or a factory reset) usually clears things up if the fault is purely software, so, the fact that it didn't would indeed imply hardware failure. Amazon CS would have had access to system logs that would have made this fact obvious.

As someone mentioned earlier, I'd also double-check USB sockets & cables, just to be safe.

[Pjama]

I should mention as well, forgot to include this in my original post.

After having problems with my kindle (its reboot behavior was strange prior to the bricking), I deleted all the kfx files from my kindle using Calibre. I also deleted many of my azw3 files.

I was then planning to restart and and reset to factory settings, but this was when it stuck on the tree screen.

———

And now, I have tried resetting again, this time pressing until I see two flashes of the charger light, then pressing and holding after that until seeing the two flashes again.

After this, it actually went to the low battery sign. Strange, because it was full last thing yesterday, but I suppose if it had been churning away all night, it could have drained. So it is currently plugged in a wall socket, and it has gone back to the tree screen after 30 min charging. I’m going to let it charge fully and try again. Hoping it comes back and I can cancel the refurb.

ETA It’s still dead.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Pjama

After this, it actually went to the low battery sign. Strange, because it was full last thing yesterday, but I suppose if it had been churning away all night, it could have drained.

In some failure cases the Kindle will try to fix its file system and during that process at can appear unresponsive. It can take 24-48 hours for that process to complete and the Kindle needs to have power during that time.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I have many large omnibuses on my Kindles. The largest of them is the Wheel of Time omnibus, over 20 MB. Also I have a calibre catalog on my Oasis 2 which is about 35 MB. No crashing or other problems. True, all my books are in the AZW3 format. Does the size limit only apply to the KFX?

The Kindle can handle large AZW3 files, but has trouble will large KFX files. It isn't a problem for books supplied by Amazon since those are limited to 3MB per file.

(On the other hand KFX dictionaries can be close to 100MB in a single file and those work without problems on e-ink Kindles. Perhaps because they use a different variant of the KFX format.)