Is my PW5 dead?

DJUNGELSKOG · Today, 05:39 AM

Something weird is happening with my PW5. I believe that its internal memory has failed and became read-only. This has happened to my old Pocketbook and I was able to replace it’s SD card. Now my Kindle is exhibiting similar symptoms.

My device is jailbroken and has Koreader installed.

I have noticed that Koreader doesn’t persist the history when I open different books and it doesn’t persist the reading position when the device goes in or out of sleep.

I have decided to try using stock firmware to confirm that the problem is hardware-based and I have noticed similar symptoms. Additionally I could no longer open the “A” menu.

At this point it became evident that the problem is hardware-based and I probably need to replace the device’s SD card. I decided to try rebooting the device, and now it’s stuck in a boot loop. I guess that it’s trying to write some logs on startup but writing doesn’t work. The device won’t connect to the PC either.

Is this something that I can fix? I don’t mind soldering and I’m comfortable with Linux terminal.

Thank you!!

shamanNS · Today, 09:39 AM

Kindles don't use / have SD card's (only the first ever Kindle model had a SD card slot) as internal storage, they use eMMC.

Also on PW5 model there are no serial connection pads on the (production version of) the motherboard, it uses a special type of USB-C cable. And as a bonus UART input is disabled / locked.

So basically you can't do anything other than attempt to replace the eMMC chip, if you have necessary equipment and skill to do that.

Today, 05:39 AM	#1
DJUNGELSKOG Member Posts: 17 Karma: 100 Join Date: Nov 2023 Location: Belgium Device: Kindle PW5/Libra 2	Is my PW5 dead? Something weird is happening with my PW5. I believe that its internal memory has failed and became read-only. This has happened to my old Pocketbook and I was able to replace it’s SD card. Now my Kindle is exhibiting similar symptoms. My device is jailbroken and has Koreader installed. I have noticed that Koreader doesn’t persist the history when I open different books and it doesn’t persist the reading position when the device goes in or out of sleep. I have decided to try using stock firmware to confirm that the problem is hardware-based and I have noticed similar symptoms. Additionally I could no longer open the “A” menu. At this point it became evident that the problem is hardware-based and I probably need to replace the device’s SD card. I decided to try rebooting the device, and now it’s stuck in a boot loop. I guess that it’s trying to write some logs on startup but writing doesn’t work. The device won’t connect to the PC either. Is this something that I can fix? I don’t mind soldering and I’m comfortable with Linux terminal. Thank you!!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
PW5 Can PW5 be downgraded to 5.14.2, it came with 5.14.3.0.1.	Donaldb	Kindle Developer's Corner	23	02-14-2024 12:11 PM
Troubleshooting PW5 bootloop	Mars95	Amazon Kindle	5	08-19-2023 11:40 AM
PW5 questions	OregaNooo	Amazon Kindle	2	08-18-2023 08:09 AM
Briked PW5	edgargal	Kindle Developer's Corner	1	06-09-2023 04:57 PM

Today, 09:39 AM	#2
shamanNS Guru Posts: 945 Karma: 10500004 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Serbia Device: Kindle PW5, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle PW1	Kindles don't use / have SD card's (only the first ever Kindle model had a SD card slot) as internal storage, they use eMMC. Also on PW5 model there are no serial connection pads on the (production version of) the motherboard, it uses a special type of USB-C cable. And as a bonus UART input is disabled / locked. So basically you can't do anything other than attempt to replace the eMMC chip, if you have necessary equipment and skill to do that.

Advert