[athena48]

When I turned on the kindle yesterday, the screen was initially stuck on one of the screensavers. Then it started flickering and some funky lines and patterns appeared. There's a thin margin at the bottom of the screen that was actually changing as it should. It had been showing the slide button to wake kindle from sleep message, but now not even that. It flickers from black to white when I flip the switch, but the rest of the screen stays the same. As suggested by Amazon's troubleshooting page, I've tried turning it off and on, resetting it, and charging it, but nothing has worked. I also tried to plug it in to my computer and found that it wasn't being recognized. I haven't dropped it or anything, there's nothing physically wrong with the screen. I've only had it a few months. Please help!

 

[wilber67]

The photo looks like something that you will not 'fix' yourself.  Contact Kindle support. They are very helpful.
Have you checked the support page? 

 

[athena48]

Yeah, I went ahead and called Amazon and they're sending me a new one. I figured as much, but I thought I'd try posting first. Thanks!

 

[Morf]

Just FYI, that screen is cracked.

The screen is glass behind a thin plastic cover; the glass is cracked but the plastic is still covering it.

The point of impact is where all the curved lines meet, below the wheel on the adding machine.

Take a look here for more information http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,73465.msg1181744.html#msg1181744

 

[athena48]

I don't see how it could have been cracked though. I had it in a hard case and the only time I've taken it somewhere, it was in my purse. I haven't dropped it or the purse, or banged it up against anything.

 

[Morf]

Sorry, but I'm afraid it is cracked!

Do a google image search for "Kindle cracked screen" and you'll see plenty of examples showing all the same characteristics that yours has.

The curved lines are the cracks. The vertical and horizontal lines are where the matrix of wires in the screen has been broken by the cracks and therefore the rest of the screen stops working along that wire or wires as well.

It might have been caused by a twisting of the Kindle rather than an impact (think of taking hold of the top and bottom and twisting them in opposite directions), I suspect that would cause the same pattern of cracks.

Don't worry about it though, Amazon routinely replace Kindles with cracked screens and they don't investigate the cause of the damage. At the end of the day, to them it's a bit like inkjet printer cartridges - they make a lot more money selling you the consumables (the books) than they do from the one off sale of the Kindle itself - so it's in their own best interests to keep you as a customer!

 

[Linjeakel]

I have to agree with Morf - that's definitely a cracked screen. But as he says, it's not a problem - Amazon are sending you another Kindle because they want you to keep buying their books! They won't care how it happened so don't worry.