What killed my Kindle

kwikbreaks

Just looking for the experiences of others really.

I bought a Kindle (maybe gen 3) some years ago. I have it in a gel case. It fell off bed occasionally when I dropped off to sleep reading but always survived.

The other night I picked it up and the screen was partly unreadable. It hadn't moved from where I put it down previous night when it was working fine, The display has continued to deteriorate since I tried first a soft and then a hard reset.

Only thing I recall is recently cleaning screen with barely damp rag. Pretty sure no moisture got in and no excessive pressure applied.

So has anybody else seen similar? I see umpteen other similarly bust Kindles on eBay so it's hardly a rare fault.

Hezzawithkids

Yes - had exactly the same with my old Kindle Gen 3 (the one with a keyboard). One day the screen just started to deteriorate with black lines on it (though I admit I did used to read it in the bath...) It is a common fault and at the time there were loads for sale on eBay as 'spare or repair'. As its out of warranty there's probably not much you can do. I contacted Amazon and was offered a refurbed Kindle Fire at a discount so long as I returned the old Kindle in exchange.

LadyDee

I would post your query on the Kindle forum on Amazon - the guys on there could well suggest a way to revive your Kindle.

kwikbreaks

I've already given up on it and bought a replacement but wondered if anybody may have an idea what it is that screws them up.

Nodding_Donkey

We've had two do it, both about a month after the warranty was up. Kindle say they are not repairable but offered to sell us a 'refurbished' one. They couldn't answer how you refurbish something that is not repairable!

nearlyrich

I am on my 3rd Kindle mine have always crashed just as a new more desirable model arrives on the scene. IU have one that is totally stuck and one that flakes out when it feels like it and my nice new one that works fine...

Bollotom

Well they're linked to Amazon all the time, just saying, lol :cool:

mac.d

Can you post a picture of the screen, or does it look like any of the screens in these images on Google?

From the "partly unreadable" comment it sounds like its probably a cracked screen. A common problem in all ereaders. There is a glass substrate behind the top layer on your Kindle, and its pretty fragile. One of those times it dropped off your bed (or more commonly when people put their Kindles in a bag and some other hard object in the bag presses on the screen), it causes slight damage to this glass substrate. The damage isn't always apparent, then one day you place your Kindle down on a table and the slight tap is enough for that slight crack to fracture and leave you with an unusable Kindle.

This is why many people suggest you always keep your Kindle (or any other e-ink ereader) in a case.

In saying that, although I carry my ereaders in a case when I go anywhere, at home they aren't in a case and I've never had a cracked screen on any of mine. Been lucky so far I guess!

nearlyrich

My screen is fully readable but it is frozen on a particular page and no amount of charging changes it. I have replaced it with the Paperwhite and later with the Voyage which is fab.