The other day I was so sure that my Kindle had died on me. But a few days later it seems to be back in decent working order. It was a painful few days.
The story goes this way: I had just finished reading another chapter of the Battletech novel The Price of Glory before heading off to bed and got the little warning light that my Kindle was in need of charging. So I hooked it up to the wall charger, set my usual alarms on my phone, then headed to bed. When I woke up a few hours later, I checked on my Kindle and was surprised to note that it was not unlocking - and my custom screensaver was still showing the comical Mortal Kombat inspired message that you see in the image above.
I tried unlocking the device a few more times, but no dice. The power light would turn on but then it would just go out again. Then I tried a full reset of the device - which is essentially the primary troubleshooting step for any Kindle user, but again the lock screen did not shift to the default Kindle image that flashes upon start-up. At this point I was pretty worried, but I needed to get ready for work. Thankfully one of the more recent features is Whispersync for personal documents uploaded into my Amazon account (e.g. less than legal copies of ebooks) and I managed to pick up my progress quickly using the Kindle app on my phone. But I was still worried.
At work I used my break time to chat with an Amazon representative in order to try and troubleshoot further, but no dice. We went through all the steps together, but the device was still frozen. It almost felt like the Mortal Kombat dragon logo was mocking me all the while.
I went home sad, started thinking about what Kindle to get next and made the most out of reading on my phone. And before I left for work, I decided on a whim to try charging the Kindle using a USB power source this time (versus the wall) and left it to charge overnight.
When I arrived home the next morning, I tried toggling the device one more time and was surprised to find the lock screen clearing. Heck, in hindsight the screen wasn't the Mortal Kombat image - it had been the default Kindle lock screen after a full reboot. By this point I didn't really care anymore - I was just happy my Kindle was still alive! And while I do recognize that I could really benefit from a new Kindle, at least I had time to consider this purchase carefully and make sure that I got the best option possible.
And yes, I recognize this just represents how dependent I am on my digital reading devices. And yet I still carry a paperback around with me in my work bag!
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