Troubleshooting Kindle Fire Problems

Introduction

The Kindle Fire is a multimedia powerhouse from Amazon that lets you load your favorite movies, music, books, apps and more to the device, in addition to surfing the Web. Various problems can make certain parts of the Kindle Fire difficult to use or even cripple the entire device. Common problems with the device include a frozen screen, battery problems, failure to receive a converted file and problems with a computer recognizing the Kindle Fire when it's connected. Work to resolve these issues on your own using troubleshooting before seeking professional support.

Frozen Screen

You have a couple of different options if your Kindle Fire screen is frozen or locked and won't respond to any actions:

1) Perform a hard reset. Don't panic, this is not the type of hard reset that restore's your device's factory settings. This just cuts off any programs that are currently running and shuts down the device so you can restart it again later. Hold down the "Power" button for at least 20 seconds and then remove your finger from the button. Wait for a few seconds and then press the "Power" button to turn on your Kindle Fire.

2) Charge your Kindle Fire's battery. A low battery is a known cause of Kindle Fire screens locking up.

3) Update your Kindle Fire operating system to the most recent version. The device can lock up if you are using programs meant to run on a newer version of the operating system on an older version of the Kindle Fire's operating system. Updates for the device are available here.

Not Receiving Converted Files

There are various reasons you may not be receiving a file on your device that you submitted to Amazone to be converted into the Kindle-friendly format:

1) The e-mail address you used to send the file to Amazon may not be on the Amazon-approved e-mail list to accept files from. Ensure that this e-mail address has been added through the Manage Your Kindle section on the Kindle Fire.

2) If Wi-Fi is not enabled on your Kindle Fire, you won't be able to receive the document from Amazon. If you haven't set up your Wi-Fi, you'll need to do this.

3) Ensure that you suppled the correct Sent-to-Kindle e-mail address for Amazon to mail the converted file to. This name will be something similar to "xxx@kindle.com"

4) The file you are trying to convert may not be capable of being converted. File types that can't be converted to a supported format by the Kindle Fire include: unprotected PDF and MOBI files, TXT, PRC natively, HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP.

5) The converted file may have been funnelled to your Junk Mail or other similar folder.

Computer Doesn't Recognize Kindle Fire

1) Unplug the Kindle Fire from the USB port it's currently connected to and try using a different USB port or a different USB cable.

2) If the computer still won't recognize the device, disconnect it again and then restart the Kindle Fire. Try reconnecting the Kindle Fire to the computer.

3) Ensure you're using a high-power USB port. High-power USB ports are typically on the back or front of most computer towers, or if you're using an all-in-one computer, the back of the monitor. Devices connected to low-power USB ports often aren't recognized by the operating system and are typically located on the keyboard or on the sides of a standard monitor.

4) If the computer still isn't recognizing the Kindle Fire, leave the device connected to the computer and then restart it.

5) If the computer is still blind to your Kindle Fire, disconnect the Kindle Fire and perform a hard reset as described in the Frozen Screen section.

General Battery Problems

Perform a hard reset as described in the Frozen Screen section if the device isn't charging. This closes all running programs and clears the device's cache. If the battery is not lasting as long as you'd like, disable functionality you aren't using that drains the battery faster, such as Wi-Fi. Alternatively, transferring a massive amount of files to the device can be a drain on the battery even after adding the files, as the device still may be indexing them. There is nothing you can do about this, and you'll need to wait until the files are indexed.

The file type may be supported by the Kindle Fire, but the file may be wrapped in a codec that isn't supported by the device. If you converted the file yourself, try reconverting the source file to the same file type but select a different codec to wrap the file in. Even if you don't have the source file, try re-converting the file and wrapping it in a different codec. You may lose quality by doing this, but the file may play on the device. If you don't have an audio or video converting program, free converters such as Any Video Converter and Any Audio Converter make converting files and selecting new codecs easy.

This is often the sign of a deeper problem with your device, such as the device suffering a major jolt that jiggled some of internal components loose or broke internal components, or the device overheating, which resulted in some of the internal components actually melting, rendering the device unusable. Contact Amazon Support as soon as possible to see if your device is still covered by the manufacturer's warranty. If it is, Amazon should give you the option to send it back for a replacement device. However, if your device is out of warranty, you'll need to purchase a new device. There's always the chance that even after suffering damage, your Kindle Fire may resume working again at some point, but it will likely be incredibly unstable and you should still contact Amazon as soon as possible, describe your problem and work to get a replacement device.

If a question mark appears on top of your Kindle Fire's battery icon, this is a warning from the device that it isn't properly detecting and displaying the level of power left in the battery, and that your battery may run out or last longer than what is indicated on the battery icon. Try updating your Kindle Fire's firmware to resolve this issue. If that doesn't work, restore the Kindle Fire to its factory settings. While the first option may work, restoring the factory settings resolves this issue almost every time. This problem doesn't signify deeper issues with your device; it's just a quirk in the device's software.