Develop Bugs

USB problem - no longer charging

There seems to be a loose connection on the USB, previously the cable had to be propped up to allow the kindle to charge. Now it will no longer charge.
I have tried several chargers, none of which will work on the Kindle Fire but do on my mobile phone.
It has the ModaCo rom on it so I can't send it back to retailer for replacement and the battery does not have enough power remaining to put on stock rom.
Does anybody have any suggestions for what I can do?

Blue Lou said:
There seems to be a loose connection on the USB, previously the cable had to be propped up to allow the kindle to charge. Now it will no longer charge.
I have tried several chargers, none of which will work on the Kindle Fire but do on my mobile phone.
It has the ModaCo rom on it so I can't send it back to retailer for replacement and the battery does not have enough power remaining to put on stock rom.
Does anybody have any suggestions for what I can do?
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I'm not familiar with ModaCo, is it an ICS rom? Some ROM's don't properly display when the battery is charging. My advice is to plug it into the wall, prop the cord as best you can (I'm all too familiar with this trick), and let it go for at least an hour or two, charging like this can be slow. If all else fails, possibly get a replacement cord specifically for the KF. Also, search elsewhere online, this seems to be a common problem.

I'm based in UK so it's not actually available here to sell.
The Modaco rom is the same as the Kindle Fire rom except that it has Google Play enabled. I chose to do this because I can not purchase from Amazon's app store in the UK.
The tablet switches off as soon as it is unlocked because there is barely any battery power left.
I can not charge or connect it to the laptop to transfer files. I guess I'll have to keep trying

KF won't charge

i'm using Gederom and i have FFF 1.4a, but the kindle's battery died and it is completely unresponsive even when plugged into the stock charger and to the PC. Last night i was also having some trouble getting it to charge, can anyone offer any suggestions??? the micro USB port also looks a little pushed inward in the kindle, although this could just be paranoia

mono feo0 said:
i'm using Gederom and i have FFF 1.4a, but the kindle's battery died and it is completely unresponsive even when plugged into the stock charger and to the PC. Last night i was also having some trouble getting it to charge, can anyone offer any suggestions??? the micro USB port also looks a little pushed inward in the kindle, although this could just be paranoia
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Get this, once a KF dies completely, it will not have enough power to charge!? Crazy huh? No worries, first, your PC won't charge it. You need the stock wall charger. Took mine 1 Week to come back on! Serious......you have another option, I can't remember the post, but someone here makes a custom USB cable that others will tell you to get. But like I said, wall charger, and let it sit or buy that cable. Either way its not bricked.
Sent from My Beast™

StarkCity said:
Get this, once a KF dies completely, it will not have enough power to charge!? Crazy huh? No worries, first, your PC won't charge it. You need the stock wall charger. Took mine 1 Week to come back on! Serious......you have another option, I can't remember the post, but someone here makes a custom USB cable that others will tell you to get. But like I said, wall charger, and let it sit or buy that cable. Either way its not bricked.
Sent from My Beast™
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thanks for the reply, but i think FFF 1.4A fixed that issue no? I think it might be an issue with my USB port, but i want to confirm.

mono feo0 said:
thanks for the reply, but i think FFF 1.4A fixed that issue no? I think it might be an issue with my USB port, but i want to confirm.
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Not sure, this happened to me stock, and on a aokp build. I've never been on this build so I don't believe its related. The guy who schooled me never even asked what build I was on. I was told to charge from ac, and if it didn't work to order the cable. In my case, it came back on in a few days.
Sent from My Beast™

With FFF 1.4a you should be able to charge using a regular USB cord and your computer. Just turn your KF off, plug it in and then turn it on. FFF 1.4a should detect the low battery and go into charging mode. Leave it alone for several hours and it should show a charge. If it doesn't then you may be right about the bad USB connector. I had to return one because it had a bad connector. It seems to be a common problem. I was able to get mine to charge a little bit by pressing the charger cable connector up and holding it there, but that was only a very temporary fix.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium

JimCo06 said:
With FFF 1.4a you should be able to charge using a regular USB cord and your computer. Just turn your KF off, plug it in and then turn it on. FFF 1.4a should detect the low battery and go into charging mode. Leave it alone for several hours and it should show a charge. If it doesn't then you may be right about the bad USB connector. I had to return one because it had a bad connector. It seems to be a common problem. I was able to get mine to charge a little bit by pressing the charger cable connector up and holding it there, but that was only a very temporary fix.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium
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after messing around with the charger and getting it to charge in an awkward position, it came on. turns out it is a bad USB connector, which is a big problem for me, as i live outside of the US. is there any way i can fix it?

If you are really, really good at micro soldering you might be able to reattach the connector (if it is just loose) or replace it if you can find an appropriate replacement. I was not able to find a connector that looked the same, maybe you will have better luck. The only other choice is to replace the motherboard but that may be as expensive as just getting a new Fire.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda premium

thanks for the help but I have no experience at all in hardware modding.. i think i'll have to get it shipped to amazon for a replacement.

bricked after installing COTR

After installing COTR with the KFU, i went and downloaded FFF and the 4.2.2 ROM. After i plugged in the factory cable and plugged it into my computer to get it into recovery mode, After using KFU to send it to recover it froze on the kindle fire splash screen. I turned it off and turned it on again and it went in a endless loop of turning on and off on the kindle fire splash screen the orange one. Confused where i should go from here.
Running Win7 64-bit

What happens when you plug in the factory cable?

it keeps cycling on and off

What's the interval between on and off?

Just pluged it in and now it is stuck at the stock static kindle fire screen. Device now appears as unknown.

When it first comes on, does the kindle fire logo stay brightly lit, or does it go dim at any point?

Starts bright and then goes dim right after. Driver error says code 43.

You need a factory cable.

i have one, that is what i'm using.

ramsv94 said:
i have one, that is what i'm using.
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Let me rephrase that. You need one that works.

oh dang, well the good thing is SkOrPn is already sending me another cable because he didn't like the one he sent me. Hopefully it works then. Out of curiosity, how do you know the cause is a bad wire? So i know what to look for.

If the factory cable were working properly, the Kindle Fire logo would stay brightly lit, indefinitely. There would be no change in brightness.
[Edit:] The fact that your KF logo goes dim means that it's not staying in fastboot.

soupmagnet said:
Let me rephrase that. You need one that works.
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I sent him a second cable this morning. The first one was an emergency cable (test cable of different design) that I kept around just in case (I was out of stock when he ordered), however when I assembled it i noticed the case was way too small for the mod and I had to apply tremendous force just to get it to partially close. With that said, I tested that cable over and over multiple times with a very expensive multimeter. But maybe it has a intermittent connection I could not find with a meter, thanks no doubt to the force I used to assemble it. Possibly broke a solder joint is my guess.
Anyway does this cable need to stay connected or just launch Fastboot? When Fastboot launches don't you guys remove the cable and then attach your normal cables? I was told not to keep the cable connected once Fastboot launches and to attach a normal cable for fastboot commands. Is this no longer true or has that never been true?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

SkOrPn said:
Anyway does this cable need to stay connected or just launch Fastboot? When Fastboot launches don't you guys remove the cable and then attach your normal cables? I was told not to keep the cable connected once Fastboot launches and to attach a normal cable for fastboot commands. Is this no longer true or has that never been true?
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That's correct. Once the device is in fastboot, there's no need to use the cable anymore.

soupmagnet said:
That's correct. Once the device is in fastboot, there's no need to use the cable anymore.
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Click to collapse
Ok, ramsv94 told me that the cable is not "keeping" the device in fastboot. However once the device enters Fastboot couldn't he instantly remove the cable? And if so, if the device does not stay in fastboot mode once the cable is removed, how exactly is that the cables fault? No one has ever mentioned to me that the factory cable is responsible for "keeping" the device locked into fastboot mode. So now I am confused. Since that cable tested good over and over it makes it even more difficult to understand how it could be bad now. Lol...
I think I am going to completely rebuild my Bench Tester with a new female port this weekend. Just in case. Thanks soupmagnet for the quick response.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

SkOrPn said:
Ok, ramsv94 told me that the cable is not "keeping" the device in fastboot. However once the device enters Fastboot couldn't he instantly remove the cable? And if so, if the device does not stay in fastboot mode once the cable is removed, how exactly is that the cables fault? No one has ever mentioned to me that the factory cable is responsible for "keeping" the device locked into fastboot mode. So now I am confused. Since that cable tested good over and over it makes it even more difficult to understand how it could be bad now. Lol...
I think I am going to completely rebuild my Bench Tester with a new female port this weekend. Just in case. Thanks soupmagnet for the quick response.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
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Here's the thing,
When the device is connected to the USB with the 1 & 4 pins connected, the device will boot into fastboot and stay in fastboot...period. With the stock bootloader, the device cannot start in fastboot, then start to boot normally. If FireFireFire were installed, however, the device would always start in fastboot mode for a few seconds, then proceed to boot normally. This function was added to help people in certain cases where the device is set to a normal bootmode, but without a working shell needed to enable fastboot.
There are two ways to determine whether or not the device is in fastboot. One, is by looking at the Kindle Fire logo at startup. If it is in fastboot, the Kindle Fire logo will be brightly lit and stay brightly lit. The other way is to check the system for what type of device is being connected to the USB. In Linux, this is done with the 'lsusb -v' command by checking the value of "bcdDevice". In Windows, this is done by looking at the device manager.
As astronomically improbable as it would be, ramsv94 has no way of determining, just by looking at the boot logo, that the device ever started up in fastboot and then began to boot normally with the stock bootloader installed.
Nevertheless, it's great that you're concerned about your customers, and your product, but you really have nothing to be worried about. You do good work, your cables are top quality, and this is the first one that I have ever seen that didn't work properly. Hundreds of Kindle Fire owners (including me) owe you a debt of gratitude for your service, and I can only hope that you continue to do so. :good::good:

soupmagnet said:
Here's the thing,
When the device is connected to the USB with the 1 & 4 pins connected, the device will boot into fastboot and stay in fastboot...period. With the stock bootloader, the device cannot start in fastboot, then start to boot normally. If FireFireFire were installed, however, the device would always start in fastboot mode for a few seconds, then proceed to boot normally. This function was added to help people in certain cases where the device is set to a normal bootmode, but without a working shell needed to enable fastboot.
There are two ways to determine whether or not the device is in fastboot. One, is by looking at the Kindle Fire logo at startup. If it is in fastboot, the Kindle Fire logo will be brightly lit and stay brightly lit. The other way is to check the system for what type of device is being connected to the USB. In Linux, this is done with the 'lsusb -v' command by checking the value of "bcdDevice". In Windows, this is done by looking at the device manager.
As astronomically improbable as it would be, ramsv94 has no way of determining, just by looking at the boot logo, that the device ever started up in fastboot and then began to boot normally with the stock bootloader installed.
Nevertheless, it's great that you're concerned about your customers, and your product, but you really have nothing to be worried about. You do good work, your cables are top quality, and this is the first one that I have ever seen that didn't work properly. Hundreds of Kindle Fire owners (including me) owe you a debt of gratitude for your service, and I can only hope that you continue to do so. :good::good:
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Click to collapse
thanks for the props bud... I am not worried any, I just get angry at myself when a tested good cable does not do its job just 3 days after I shipped it. you start to try and find another reason why this could be the case. A few hours ago I ordered two new Sparkfun micro-b breakout boards and I am going to redo my bench tester because this thing has been used thousands of times since late 2011. I test each connector before I solder on the wires, after I solder on the wires and after I hot glue the case together. That's three times during one cable build, so multiply that by 1100 cables and well you get the picture.
Anyway, I cant wait to see what happens when he gets the normal cable I built for him. lol

Can i use KFU to install FFF onto my Kindle or not?

ramsv94 said:
Can i use KFU to install FFF onto my Kindle or not?
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Click to collapse
Do you have access to fastboot?

This is where i am at right now. Kindle screen is lit bright so it is in fast boot mode. It is showing up on my computer as Android ADB Device. KFU says its offline. Attached Picture.

question about hard brick

hi i got this kindle off my friend i think its hard bricked not sure what he done, what happend is power light comes on and kindle fire logo then powers off, windows see's nothing. kindle fire logo seems to be yellow. so assuming its not rooted. just would like to know what type of brick this is and how to ge out of it if possible

Doesn't sound hard bricked, I would hook it up to a fastboot cable to see if it will enter fastboot mode, though the bootloader seems to be acting odd(unless it's a low battery but I think it would flash a low battery symbol on the screen instead of kindle fire).
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app

stunts513 said:
Doesn't sound hard bricked, I would hook it up to a fastboot cable to see if it will enter fastboot mode, though the bootloader seems to be acting odd(unless it's a low battery but I think it would flash a low battery symbol on the screen instead of kindle fire).
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
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Click to collapse
yeah it has power as it will do the same when unplugged. So to make a fast boot cable solder 1 to four is that right?

Yes that's pretty much all there is to it, though the cable has to kinda have the contact point for what I think is pin 4, because its not usually used so not all cables have a contact point for it on the little PCB.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app

Yeah just popped one open and has four so red to white? Also could you direct me to the thread to what to do once I have created one

ok done cable plugged in still doing same thing???

That's not what pin 4 is, pin 4 has no wire coming from it, there's a guide that tells about this around here somewhere, look in this thread for a link at Q20. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2228539
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app

ok sorry i have the usb cable it has 4 wires red and green on one side black and white on the other, i have read many of these instructions cant get my head round them

ok on the back there are two pins that go in with numbers 2 and 4. on the front there are 3 pins one with the number 1

sweet found it thanks for your help device is in fast boot with like traffic lights

Rebuilt Kindle Fire 2, need to fastboot and install jellybean. help!

Alright, little bit of background. Customer ended up leaving a half broken (logic board was messed up) at my business. I gave them so much time to pick it up after it sat for a very long time. They didn't. I figured why not find a new board, ebay had horrible prices on the board I needed so I bought a busted kindle (digitizer.) I took all the parts from the newly purchased kindle and used them in the old ones perfectly uncracked digitizer. Also put a new battery in. So I immediately found out all the cool things you can do with them and wanted to install jellybean on it. I spent the night trying to install the wrong drivers (thought it was 1st gen.) Then I finally got it to recognize as an ADB device. So I then found a guide stating I needed a factory cord. I fired up my solder station and started working on a micro usb cable. First go was a bust, acted like normal and came up. Something went wrong, so I took out all the solder on the micro usb part and started fresh with fresh cut cables instead of the factory ones. Boom! Fastboot immediately upon plugging it in. However, no ding in windows, and no recognized device with the fastboot command. Nothing. Just the Fastboot screen and a blinking stop light with green blinking on and off. So, what do I do?
EDIT: Took out the 4th pin wire and no recognition on the PC still. I am going to stop by walmart and see if I can find a cheap cable to try again with. Does anyone know any typical big box stores that you can buy easily modded cables from? Also if anyone can link me to the guide for doing the jelly bean stuff to a 10.4.8 software kindle I'd appreciate knowing I have the right link, I searched through a lot of guides, want to verify. Thanks!

Here's the guide for 2nd bootloader + twrp, ignore the fact this process was meant for a lesser version, just either put the rom on ahead of time or push the rom on with an "adb push" once it starts to bootloop into recovery. The bootloop is of no concern, it won't happen once you flash another rom.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2100963
Also just a warning, a bad fastboot cable can fry the kindles USB circuit, assume an ic or something partially shorts out, have seen it happen before on the forum. I don't have a link handy but there's a nifty adapted that goes between the end of a micro-usb cable and the kindle for fastboot mode, I believe its in the op of the thread I linked. Oh and please check the md5sum of the bootloader before downgrading/flashing it or you will risk hard brick it and be putting that soldering iron to some really good use...
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD using Tapatalk