This cover causes the Kindle to freeze up, and or reboot!

NOTE: This is a post about the Leather Cover - Without a Light

12-17-2010 Edit:

On December 16th, in the 302nd post to this board (near the bottom of page 12), someone from the Kindle Support team responded with this message:

"There have been some forum discussions regarding the non-lighted Kindle cover, and our engineering team is looking into this. Regardless, if anyone is having any problem with an Amazon-manufactured Kindle cover, please call us at 877-453-4512 or 206-922-0844. We will be pleased to replace it for free with a different cover or accept a return for a full refund, no matter when the cover was purchased."

12-06-2010 Edit:

If your Kindle 3 suffers from these problems:

- Frozen screen - where the only fix is to perform a hard reboot
- Kindle inexplicably reboots itself
- Unusual, and rapid, battery drain
- Kindle loses track of what page you are on
- Kindle resorts your books, or forgets your folders

and you use this cover, you are not alone.

The problem is believed to be caused by an electrical issue with this cover. It is somehow related to the metal tabs (the tabs may look like plastic but they are really metal with black paint on them) that are inserted into the Kindle to connect it to the cover.

TAKING THE KINDLE OUT OF THE COVER WILL LIKELY, AND IMMEDIATELY, CURE ALL THESE ISSUES.

This same issue is also discussed on this board:

http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_et_np?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdPage=34&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3FJ6CAEP9VL9E#CustomerDiscussionsNew

If you are having this problem, and Amazon Customer Service wants to send you a replacement Kindle, refer them to either, or both, of these discussions.

Again, you shouldn't need a new Kindle, but you should stop using this cover.

Note I: Not everyone using this cover has had this problem - though quite a number of people have.

Note II: The cover WITH the light does not have the same issue, and seems to work perfectly. If you really like this cover, buy the one that has the integrated light.

Here is my original (November 7, 2010) post on this matter:

I've suffered an ongoing issue with my Kindle ever since I received it in late September. About every third time I put it to sleep, it would not wake up. The screen was totally frozen. I would then have to perform a hard reboot. Of course when you do that, the Kindle loses track of what page you were on. So then, to solve that issue, every 20 pages or so, I would have to turn on the wireless feature and sync it up so it would know what page I've read to.

My Kindle was replaced, and I was told to update to the latest software version, but that did not solve the problem.

Amazon Kindle Help proclaims that my problem is very unusual and not endemic. But I still performed my own search.

I found a "Frozen" category on the Kindle discussion board. Some of the responders mentioned that they were also using this product (as was I.) I then came over to the product details on the cover and viewed all the one-star reviews. Many of them discuss this issue as the reason for the bad review.

My guess is that the metal tabs that are inserted into the Kindle to affix the Kindle to the cover are coming into contact with something inside the unit that causes it to either freeze up, or reboot.

Please respond if you too, have suffered from this issue.

Marc, I am experiencing the same issue as you except, for me, it happens about once a day. Also, this is my second Kindle. I had no problems for about 6 weeks.

Doing a search on this problem led me to your post. This is the first I've read about a possible problem with the cover. I'll put the cover aside and see what happens in the next week.

If I still have issues, I'll need to ring up Amazon.

I too believe that the case is the issue with my kindle. I am on my second kindle, and once I saw your post and removed it from the case it has not had to reset everytime. If this proves to be the problem I guess that I will have to find a new case and try to get a refund for the one causing the problems.

I have noticed the same problem. My kindle likes to freeze and/or restart, messing up the order of my library and losing my bookmarks. It only happens with the case. I rather liked the case, so this is disappointing!

Right before I posted my original comment I took the Kindle out of the cover and stopped using it. The problems with the Kindle stopped as well. I had no freezes or reboots at all. So it does appear that this case is causing the problem. Some people think that it is due to the cover covering up the vent holes on the back of the Kindle, but I think my first explanation is still the correct one. I believe that the metal tabs that connect the cover to the Kindle are causing some kind of interference in the Kindle which causes it to freeze/reboot. I wonder if the tabs are coming into contact with any wires, or boards inside the system.

But, the day before I discovered the link between the cover and the freeze/reboot problem Amazon customer service arranged to send me another (now my third) new Kindle. It arrived yesterday. I charged it up and put it in the cover this morning to see if the problem reproduced. So far, the new Kindle has not frozen up on me (yet.)

I'll report back after a few more days have passed on whether the new Kindle starts suffering the same problem. I'm hopeful that this one won't have the same issues, since I do like the look and feel of this cover.

I too have taken the kindle out of the case and for the past several days, there have been no problems. I contacted amazon and will be returning my original case for a refund.

I'm having the same freeze-up problem since I received the cover and put it on a couple of days ago. In the short time with the cover on, it appears to me that it only freezes when the cover is strapped closed; it has not yet frozen while the cover was open and folded back.

I've had the Kindle itself for about 6 weeks with no problems until now.

After three days of no issues with the new (and now my third) Kindle - while still using the cover as an experiment, I started having the same freezing issues. Meanwhile, I still kept Kindle # 2, but never put it in the cover. It has not frozen up at all in the last three days.

So it definitely seems like the problem is the cover.

Also, like the person that just posted, I notice that it occurs only when the cover is closed.

I just talked to the Help desk, and they are issuing a full refund to me once I return the cover. I just ordered a different type of cover. Hopefully, that one will not cause the same issues.

I also have the same issue with this cover. I was seeing multiple reboots a day with the cover on. I took it off last week and continued to use the kindle as normal and never had a reboot. This morning, I put the cover back on and within an hour, it had rebooted again. I purchased this cover at a retail site (Best Buy) so I am not sure how much help I can get from Amazon in resolving this. It does appear to be a design issue though.

Odd. I'vehad my K3 as well as the cover you're all having problems with for about 6 weeks. I use it constantly, at least 3 or 4 hours a day. When I am not using it I always strap it closed. Not once has my K3 ever frozen up on me.

I was planning to purchase this cover as a Christmas gift for my mom. But I don't want to get her something that will impact the usability of her Kindle. Any idea how common this problem is? It seems from the reviews that many people have had no issues. Thanks.

There are more 5 star reviews of this product than 1 star reviews. So there's probably a better than 50% chance that the one you get will not cause any problems. But if your mom's kindle starts acting up once you use this product, you should return it and try a different product.

I returned my old cover yesterday and ordered this product instead:

Tuff-Luv Traditional Leather case cover & stand for Amazon Kindle Keyboard / Kindle 3 / Global Wireless 6 inch / 15 cm - Black

It has no metal tabs that need to be inserted into the side of the Kindle.

I am on my second Kindle and I too am having this problem...Kindle help imlpied that I am doing something to cause this issue and they insist that the problem is not pervasive. They are sending me my third Kindle today...I will leave this one out of the case and see what happens.

I had the same problem. I had my Kindle 6" latest generation for several weeks with no problems at all - and it got a lot of use. As soon as I started using a cover with metal tabs it started freezing and losing its place in the book. I thought it was just a bizzare coincidence. I upgraded, etc but still had problems. The other night I took the cover off and haven't had any trouble since. Thanks for your post. I am going to see if I can return my cover.

I just received my cover today (the genuine leather Kindle cover with the elastic strap purchased thru Amazon) and I love it. After reading this topic, I just wanted to mention that the taps that insert into the kindle to hold it in place are plastic, not metal. Was there a different version of this cover that had metal tabs? I'm wondering if it was upgraded or if the covers purchased elsewhere are not genuine kindle products.

It was just a thought. I am totally new to Kindle but I thought it was worth mentioning. Take care all!!

I sent back the cover so I can't look at it to see if the tabs were plastic, or metal, but I'm pretty sure mine were metal. If yours are plastic, that may be how they fixed the issue. The metal tabs may have been causing some sort of short inside the Kindle.

Please post again in a week, or ten days and let us know if you have had any problems with your cover.

If they replaced the tabs with plastic, how would the light be getting any power?? Remember... There has to be an electrical connection between the Kindle and the cover to get the light to work, as there's no battery in the cover itself.

It is possible that the NON-lighted cover has plastic tabs, but I think the discussion here is relating to the LIGHTED cover.

The cover I bought was the one without a light. Someone from the Kindle help group told me that the tabs did come into contact with the Kindle electrical circuitry since the lighted one (which uses the same attaching mechanism) did draw its power directly from the Kindle.

It makes more sense that the non light cover would use a non conductive material, but I think the one I had used metal tabs.

Maybe they realized that was causing problems and changed the tab material for the non light version.

@El Grande... I replied to the post because it was at the bottom of the product page of the cover withOUT a light. I just read thru the OP's post and he never specified whether he was talking about the cover with the light. Even the post title doesn't specify (Bad OP!! ROFL)... so I can completely understand the confusion.

@Marc... (the "unspecific" bad original poster... LOL... TEASING!!!)... I purchased the cover without a light and it has black plastic tabs. I will let you know in a few days if I'm having any problems. So far, I'm loving it and it looks fabulous!

One thing I did notice is that if I look into the the top connection hole of my kindle, I can see a metal piece of something. I'm guessing that this is the metal that the lighted cover would connect to to get power.

Have a great day guys!! :)

I posted my comment about this product:

Discussion in: Kindle Leather Cover, Black (Fits 6" Display, Latest Generation Kindle) forum

It is the Leather cover without the light.

I don't know why Amazon also posted it in the board about the cover with a light. It was not my doing, nor my intention.

I wonder if they just post it in all the cover discussions... I was just teasing you... LOL I never even gave it a thought that you may have been talking about the one with the light. Like I said I am totally new to Kindle so I'm just learning my way around.

Anyway... I'll let you know if I have any issues with this new cover.

Take care!!

I am using the K3 with version 3.03 of the software and the non-light leather cover. The unit would reboot all the time, sometimes even when it was turned off, it would turn on and go into a boot cycle. After reading these posts and taking the cover off yesterday, the unit hasn't rebooted once! This is the longest I've gone without a reboot since getting the unit the day they came out! It's amazing how having a product behave as it's supposed to can get one excited. Now to find a new cover for it...

R. Yurman... out of curiosity...were the clips that hold the kindle in the cover metal or plastic?

Definitely metal. Sounds like a potential short circuit, but Amazon Tech support said that they were unaware of this issue and that ALL the clips on the covers were metal. So far the Kindle is working solid! Will have to consider a sleeve unless someone identifies plastic clips.

Ron

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