Critical Battery on my Kindle 2
August 14th, 2010 § 12 Comments
so, i just had an unnecessary kindle scare. i’m packing for our trip (we leave tonight), getting all of our memory sticks clear and everything charged up. and alas, my kindle 2 won’t charge.
the dreaded error
i have this critical battery message on the screen. so, ok, no big deal. we’ve all had a dead battery in our lives. i plugged it in, just like always, with my third party (read: non-Amazon) wall charger. the amber light came on indicating that it was charging, so i left it sitting there.
but, when i came back an hour or so later to make sure it was working, i still couldn’t power it on (though the amber light still shows that it’s charging). left it alone a little longer, just to be sure and no change.
*panic*
google! i’ll try google. and found a post about how to hard reset my kindle, only it didn’t work. i woudn’t get the flashing screen that is mentioned.
*double panic*
anyways, with a little trial and error and digging around, i finally figured it out. i plugged my Kindle into my USB port directly and gave it a few minutes. the device rebooted on its own and is now happily charging away.
tips to live by
- though it didn’t actually work for me, try the hard boot solution:
- slide and hold the power button for 30 seconds
- wait 20 seconds
- when the screen begins to flash, plug in power and allow Kindle to charge for at least 2 hours
- be sure to use the Amazon wall charger instead of a third party one
- if you are still having problems, try using the USB plugged directly into your PC (instead of the wall)
- if one port on your computer doesn’t work, try others
the Kindle is apparently sensitive to specific levels of current and may or may not charge depending on where you have it charging and what adapter you are using.
/end panic.
Lot third party things don’t work Last two I ve brought haven’t a charge for mp3 and battery for phone ,think lot these just cons amazon should make sure they work before selling them ,all the best stu
yes, i think i’ve learned my lesson. i actually have an Amazon specific charger, but was using the other one since it works with all of my other devices, too. just have to be more careful in the future.
What a scary situation! I’ve been thinking about buying an e-reader but scary things like this, makes me a little scared to do so. Glad it worked out.
definitely scary! but, i still love my kindle and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in an eReader.
I have gone through this panic before and it’s super stressful, but I’m glad you got it working and everything is a-ok.
yeah, stressful doesn’t even begin to define my thought process at the time!
i was pretty freaked out because i’d already bought books for the trip and everything. it would have definitely thrown a wrench in my plans. but, it worked out, thankfully.
Wow! Who knew?! Have a fun trip!
thanks holly! hopefully it’ll be a fun filled week of books.
[...] 24, 2010 by lisa (the little reader) Leave a Comment despite my recent battery scare, i have decided that i am in love with my Kindle and want to marry it (and into the Amazon [...]
I’ve got the “Critical Battery” message, have got it UNplugged from any power source, have tried holding it down for 15 seconds, and 30 seconds about a dozen times (and then waiting for another 30 seconds for the unit to restart / or flash).
All that seems to happen is once I’ve slid across the power switch for about 6 seconds, the green light comes on, and when it gets to about 12 seconds of the power having been ‘slid’ across, it turns off again.
Then, after I’ve held if down for 30 seconds and am waiting for it to restart, the green button comes on for about 5 seconds, then goes off again, and nothing else happens.
Very frustrating. Any other suggestions?
have you tried letting it fully charge first? as soon as i was able to get a full charge on my Kindle, the critical battery error disappeared.
if you aren’t able to get it to take a charge, i’d call Kindle support. i’ve had excellent experiences with them.
Oh man, that would make my heart stop! Weird that the hard reset didn’t fix the problem though, it has to be the third party charger. Have you tried using that same charger since then to confirm that was indeed the problem?