[fletcherbest]

I should preface this by saying that I tend to joke around in my other posts, but the following tip is legit and I used it to fix my girlfriend's Kindle.

If your Kindle is locking up/freezing repeatedly and the methods recommended by Amazon tech support don't work and you're pretty much ready to buy a new one, try the following first:

Shake your Kindle around and listen for any rattles.  If there is a rattle, get a pocketknife or small screwdriver and gently work the blade along the seams of the case to pop the back off of the Kindle.  Shake the Kindle again and you may have some small screws fall out.  The screws may be really tiny and unless the circuit board is loose, it's probably not worth the time and frustration to try to find the holes and screw them back in.  Shake the Kindle a few times more to be sure all the loose screws are out of it, then just pop the case back together and reboot it by plugging it into the charger.  Apparently those tiny little screws can bridge circuits on the board and cause a short, so once they are out of there, the Kindle will work properly again (at least it did in the case of my girlfriend's). 

Hope you guys find this helpful!

 

[Ann in Arlington]

Note: this is NOT suggested if the device is still under warranty.  If that's the case, just let Amazon replace it.

 

[Morf]

Daft as it sounds, I had a Sony Clie (remember those? Palm OS?) which started doing very strange things, rebooting and crashing.

In desperation, I took it apart and shook it and a small metal spring fell out (I think it came from the flap that covered the Memory Stick socket) and it worked again fine for several months until old age finally got to it.

Definitely any bit of metal rattling round in the circuits is bad news!