Save my kindle!

August 31, 2011 6:54 AM

Can I fix my stepped on kindle?

I emailed amazon tech support. But, I stepped on my kindle... 99% of the screen is frozen now. it seems to be working normally, the page count changes, but everything but the bottom left corner still shows the screensaver. Its under a year old. Mefi, work magic, please? Lay on hands? Exorcise evil spirits? Anything?

posted by Jacen to Technology (10 answers total)

There's an add-on kindle warrantee that will cover one instance of a cracked screen within (i think) a year. If your kindle is young enough, I'd suggest buying that and then returning it for replacement.
posted by rmd1023 at 7:01 AM on August 31, 2011

If it's under a year old, it should still be under warranty. Call Amazon Kindle Support at [phone] and explain your situation. They'll send you out another Kindle. I had issues with mine being unresponsive earlier this year and Amazon furnished me with a replacement in just 2 days - I called Tuesday night and had a new Kindle in hand Thursday afternoon.
posted by Telpethoron at 7:03 AM on August 31, 2011 [2 favorites]

Have you tried turning the thing completely off? This method clears the screen completely.

Question: My kindle screen is obscured after dropping. How do I repair it?

Answer: Try holding the power slider bar to the right for 15 seconds and see if rebooting the Kindle does anything. You should see the screen go off and then come back if it's going to clear.

The second method is to plug it into the recharger and see if that clears things up.

If neither of those things work, call Amazon. (1-866-321-8851)

They tend to be really good about replacing Kindles under a year old. If not, they'll probably offer you a discount on a new one.
posted by royalsong at 7:05 AM on August 31, 2011

I accidentally damaged my kindle screen (and it was entirely my fault, at that,) but the Kindle was less than a year old, and they replaced it right away. They also sent postage so I could return the old one.
posted by headspace at 7:12 AM on August 31, 2011

I had the exact same thing happen to me, and they replaced my under-a-year old Kindle. I even ended up with a newer version(international Internet) than the one I had (domestic internet). Definitely give them a call!
posted by girl scientist at 10:49 AM on August 31, 2011

Response by poster: OMG, Amazon is wonderful! though the email just said to call.. they had me all taken care of in under five minutes! no questions, no hassle... just... magic, a replacement kindle will be there soon! Love!!!!!!!
posted by Jacen at 12:11 PM on August 31, 2011 [3 favorites]

Wow, I'm really glad you asked this! Last weekend, I dropped mine on a tile floor and I have a small band non-functional. Off to ask Amazon...
posted by bookdragoness at 1:09 PM on August 31, 2011

You've already gotten it replaced, but I still wanted to let others know that Amazon has replaced my Kindle for no charge twice, when both were CLEARLY my fault. The first time I dropped it, and the second time I spilled water all over it. They even send out the new one first, so you're never without.

They aren't stupid, they know the real money comes from e-book sales!
posted by InsanePenguin at 5:25 PM on August 31, 2011

Wow Amazon must not like me - when I broke my Kindle screen on a six month old device I fessed up to customer service about why it wasn't working and they offered me a discounted replacement but said that a no cost replacement was out of the question. So YMMV.
posted by Bango Skank at 6:40 AM on December 15, 2011

Just out of curiosity did you folks who got free replacements explicitly explain why the screen was not working?
posted by Bango Skank at 6:44 AM on December 15, 2011