Monday, November 3, 2014
Troubleshooting Kindle Fire HD Problems
While the Amazon Kindle Fire HD tablet offers a wealth of improvements over the previous Kindle tablet, its not immune to issues. Common problems with the Kindle Fire HD tablet include a frozen or locked screen, various battery issues, problems getting books to work correctly and more. Theres no need to panic, as most of these issues can typically be resolved on your own via troubleshooting without having to contact Amazon customer support.
Screen Frozen or Unresponsive
A Kindle Fire HD screen thats frozen or unresponsive is often the result of a low battery or an operating system problem. There are a few different things you can do to resolve this issue:
- Try resolving this issue by pressing the "Power" button and holding it for at least 30 seconds until your device shuts down. This is a forced shutdown and, even thought you may panic because your screen momentarily flickers, wont damage your device. Wait a few minutes and then turn the device back on. If the Kindle Fire HD resumes working without any further problems, you likely experienced a minor operating system error.
- Check the battery power. If the battery power is very low, force the device to shut down and then charge it for a few hours. After the Kindle Fire HD is at least more than 50 percent charged, try using it again.
- Finally, if the device is still locking up, the issues is likely the result of a larger system problem. Back up all of the personal content on your device and then following the steps in the Restore Factory Settings section to reset your Kindle Fire HD to the factory defaults.
Book Problems
- Some books may not open or may display an error when you try to open them. If this is the case, delete the book from your device by holding your finger against the book you want to remove and then tapping "Remove." You can restore the book to your device from Amazons cloud.
- If a book is missing page numbers or suffering other errors, this actually isnt a problem with your Kindle Fire HD, but instead an issue with how the book publisher outputted the book to the Kindle-supported format.
- If the page youre starting on is different from the one you bookmarked the last time you were reading a book, its likely that someone else is logged in to your Kindle account and reading that book.
WiFi Not Working
First, its very unlikely that this problem is ever actually the result of a problem with your device; rather, its often the result of incorrect settings on your device or environmental factors. Work through the following steps to try resolving your problem:
- Swipe down from the top of the Kindle Fire HD screen to access the Quick Settings menu, then tap "Wireless" to open the Wireless screen. Tap "Off" to the right of Airplane Mode to make sure that Airplane Mode is not enabled. As long as Airplane Mode is turned on, you wont be able to access a WiFi network.
- Make sure WiFi is actually enabled and that youre connected to a WiFi network. Navigate back to the Wireless screen if youre no longer there. Tap "ON" to the right of Wi-Fi. Then, tap "Add Network" to view a list of wireless networks within range of your device and then select a network to connect to it. You may need to enter a username and password to connect to secure networks.
- Check the signal strength associated with the WiFi network youre connected to. The strength of the wireless network youre connected to is displayed through the WiFi icon in the upper right corner of the Kindle Fire HD screen. The more bars in the icon that are lightly shaded, the better the strength of your WiFi connection. Alternatively, the more bars you have that are darker to see, the weaker your WiFi connection. A weak or non-existent WiFi connection could result from a number of things. You may simply be out of the range of the wireless network youre connected to. Try moving closer to your wireless router to see if this is the problem. Look for objects that could be blocking your WiFi signal, such as trees, metal objects, walls and more. Also, ensure your Kindle Fire HD and the wireless router have a clear line of sight between each other.
Battery Problems
- If your Kindle Fire HD isnt charging, ensure that youre using the AC adapter that came with the device to charge it. While your device is connected to the computer, it wont charge because not enough power can be passed through the cable to charge the device. Additionally, be aware that if youre using a third-party charger that isnt endorsed by Amazon, there is not guarantee that the charger will work.
- If the device isnt holding a charge, ensure that youre not moving in and out of range of the WiFi network youre connected to. When youre out of range of a WiFi network and WiFi is enabled, the device expends additional battery power to constantly try and find a WiFi network within range. If WiFi is enabled and youre not going to use it, disable it to save battery life.
- Transferring a large amount of content, watching video and surfing the Internet are all battery-intensive activities. If youre transferring a large amount of data, wait for all of that data to transfer and see if your battery life returns to normal. Alternatively, there is no way to increase your devices battery life while watching video or surfing the Internet.
Update Kindle Fire HD Firmware
Update your Kindle Fire HDs firmware (operating system) if nothing else is resolving your problem. This is the last resort prior to restoring the devices factory settings. Firmware updates can resolve minor system problems, such as battery issues, and can also add functionality to your device. You can update your devices firmware by doing the following:
- Ensure that youre connected to a WiFi and that your battery is fully charged.
- Place your finger at the top edge of the screen and then swipe down to the bottom of the screen to open the Quick Settings screen.
- Tap "Sync." If a firmware update is detected, it will be installed in the background while you continue using the device. The firmware update will be installed while your device is not in use and in Sleep mode.
Restore Factory Settings
Larger problems can sometimes be restoring your Kindle Fire HD to the default factory settings. Restoring the Kindle Fire HD to the default factory settings erases all of your personal files and information from the device, and reverts the device to how it was set up the day you took it out of the box. The process for restoring your device to its factory settings is as follows:
- Place your finger at the top of the Kindle Fire HD screen and then pull down to reveal the Quick Settings screen.
- Tap the "More" icon.
- Select "Device."
- Select "Reset to Factory Defaults." The device will restart a few times before booting up to the screen you saw the first time you turned the Kindle Fire HD on. This process takes roughly half an hour.
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