Mysterious Kindle Krapouts -- Help?
June 29, 2009 7:43 PM   Subscribe

My Kindle ebook reader crashes and requires resetting during my commute home. Any ideas why?

Here's the situation: I have a first-generation Kindle, and it's been reliable. However, three times in the last week, it's required that I crack open the back panel and push the reset button to unfreeze it. What makes this weird is that it happens under the same conditions.

I work in downtown Washington, DC, near the "Metro Center" train station. I'll read my Kindle as I head for the Metro, and all is well. When I get underground and to the platform itself, the Kindle's frozen. This doesn't happen on the way to work in the morning -- only in the evening. It doesn't happen in my office, or at home. It's only when I go in the Metro Center station, in the evening.

To save on battery power, I leave the wireless dingus switched off. But I wonder: is the Kindle receiving some signal or electromagnetic interference that causes it to lock up? Can that happen? Any ideas as to why the lockup happens only during the evening and not in the morning? It's happened three times in the last few days, so something is definitely up.

I have three theories: (1) the Kindle is locking up for generic reasons, and the "strange" timing will prove to be coincidental; (2) a powerful EM source that's active in the evening near the Metro Center station is making my machine hiccup, possibly through the wireless device; and (3) evil spirits haunt my machine.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater to Technology (1 answer total)
 
I am not a kindle owner, but I'm going to take a wild(ish) guess and suggest it's the same problem I've had with two different mp3 players: static electricity. My zune (really!) would go down each time I'd step out of the car with it in my hand. Does it happen as soon as you grab a handrail?
posted by yamel at 9:04 PM on June 29, 2009


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