Assuming this picture loads correctly, this is basically what my screen looks like now. I've tried every type of reset trick I can find, all to no avail.
The problem doesn't end there, however. When I plug my Kindle into my computer, the charging lights work fine (they seem to work fine all the time, but nothing registers on the screen at all), but the computer won't find a "Kindle". Instead, it shows it as a mass storage device in the start tray, doesn't show anything at all under My Computer, and when I go to Device Manager it shows it as a Microsoft WPD device and says it cannot be started because the driver software won't load.
To make matters worse, I broke down and bought a Kindle before I moved to Korea to live for two years (one of the only places in the world you can't find Kindles...). I also purchased a 3-year Target no-questions replacement plan, thinking that, if something happened, it wouldn't be in the first month I got here and I'd manage for a while without it until I came home. Of course it didn't happen that way.
Now I'm stuck in Korea with a wonderfully sleek and light paperweight with a screwy image permanently etched into its screen. I emailed Amazon and explained the problem, and those kind fellows told me that "Advanced troubleshooting has to be done over the phone." That would be great if I had a phone with an international calling card, or my employers were kind enough to let me sit in a quiet office with my laptop plugged in using their phone for an indeterminate amount of time.
I think the worst part is that it worked just long enough for me to absolutely fall in love with it. And then it left me...
So, is it dead, or is there some trick I don't know about? Something I'm missing because it's a new piece of technology and I don't quite understand how it works yet. I'm pretty tech-savvy, so if there's some advanced method to crack it open and see its insides, hardware or software, I'm willing to give it a shot, and kind of excited to try. Thanks.
