The Beginners Guide to the Kindle Fire (and Fire HD)

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Just as a Windows or Mac OS based computer can be configured to prevent the standard user account from installing new software or performing other low-level tasks, the same is true of the Kindle Fire. Whether this is to protect the user from doing harmful things or locking the device down to Amazon services is a matter of perspective. However, if you want to get outside the confining box of the stock software, you will need root privileges. The process of obtaining these administrative privileges is called rooting.

If you like the standard Kindle Fire user interface, but you want some other minor enhancements, rooting may be sufficient for your needs. However, there are tradeoffs for obtaining root privileges on a stock device. While you'll be able to do things like installing apps from the Android Market now Google Play , Amazon may block services like video streaming to a rooted device.

In addition, rooting officially voids the warranty on the Kindle Fire. The more adventurous user might want to ditch the standard Kindle Fire user interface altogether and install a 3rd party ROM. Also known as flashing, installing a ROM completely replaces the stock Amazon software in favor of an entirely different operating system. This provides a brand new user experience and puts you squarely in the driver's seat of the device, controlling what you use and how you use it.

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A new ROM will also provide additional features not available or possible in the stock or rooted stock configuration, but you'll have to give up Amazon's Kindle Fire services altogether. Needless to say, installing a ROM officially voids the warranty on the device. What is a bootloader? What is a recovery? A bootloader is the first piece of software loaded onto the Kindle Fire when it is powered on or rebooted.

In a nutshell, the bootloader is responsible for setting the basic hardware configuration for the device before it hands off control to an operating system. For a stock device, when the "kindle fire" logo first pops up on the display, that's the bootloader doing its job and subsequently telling the Kindle Fire operating system to begin loading.

One of these features is easy access to recovery A recovery is a mini operating system that allows the user to perform ROM installations, backups, restores, wipes, and other maintenance tasks.

Both provide a touch interface to mostly the same set of features, but TWRP seems to be the more popular of the two. Either one will work just fine and will be the go-to spot for flashing a 3rd party ROM. If the installed operating system is malfunctioning or you just want to try something else out for a while, you can use the recovery to backup the current ROM and flash a new one.

If you change your mind at a later date, you can also use it to restore a saved backup. Fastboot and ADB Android Debug Bridge are command line tools for your computer that allow for direct interaction with the device. The 8 GB of storage space on the Kindle Fire is divided up into predefined sections called partitions. The bootloader, recovery and operating system have their own specific partitions.

The primary function of fastboot is to flash or erase these partitions on the device.

Because each of these parts has their own particular partition, fastboot can flash or erase them without affecting another. One thing to keep in mind is that while the term fastboot most commonly refers to the command line tool, it can also refer to a particular mode on the Kindle Fire used to accept fastboot commands.

Essentially, the Kindle Fire must be in fastboot mode for the computer to send fastboot commands to it. ADB, on the other hand, primarily deals with file level interactions like copying a file to and from the device. However, ADB's most powerful feature is its ability to start a linux shell and execute some powerful commands directly on the device.

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The types of shell commands and their usage are outside the scope of this document, but most users won't be utilizing them anyway. Most commonly, adb is involved in the process of rooting the device or preparing it to flash a 3rd party ROM, then mostly unused after the process is complete. The fastboot and adb commands require the Kindle Fire to be in specific states for the host computer to interact with the device. The fastboot tool needs the Kindle Fire to be in fastboot mode and cannot send commands to the device otherwise. Similarly, the Kindle Fire must be in recovery or booted to an operating system with USB debugging enabled for it to work with the adb tool.

It's not possible to go back and forth between the two without at least rebooting the device. What is a bootmode? What is a bootloop? As the Kindle Fire powers up or reboots, the bootloader begins to do its job and checks for the bootmode of the device. The bootmode tells the bootloader how it should proceed in the boot up process.

Your complete guide to the Kindle Fire

Most users will just be concerned about three of these bootmodes: In a great majority of the cases, the Kindle Fire will be in the normal bootmode setting, telling the bootloader to continue right on to booting the operating system. However, there are circumstances when the device needs to be started up directly in fastboot or recovery mode. This is possible by changing the bootmode setting and rebooting the device. Bootmode is a persistent setting, meaning the Kindle Fire will remember this new setting until it is changed again.

No amount of restarts or ROM flashes will change the bootmode until it is explicitly changed again.

This is a very important fact to remember because it's the cause of so many help requests A bootloop is essentially the device booting directly into fastboot or recovery mode on every start up because the bootmode has been set to that particular setting. The posts on the forum describing problems like, "stuck on the yellow triangle" or "keeps going into recovery" are in most cases caused by the bootmode setting.

Technically, the device isn't doing anything wrong since it's been told by the bootmode to boot in those modes, but if the user doesn't know about the bootmode or how to set it back, it appears to be broken. The bootmode just needs to be set back to normal using fastboot or adb KFU uses them behind the scenes to do the same , and the device can be rebooted to the operating system. In the strictest sense, a brick is an irreversibly broken device and about as useful as a masonry brick, hence the name.

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However, this slang term has come to include any malfunctioning device, so we have slightly more descriptive terms like hard-brick or soft-brick to indicate the degree of malfunction or difficulty of repair. To unbrick a brick just means to get the device back to working order.

With respect to the Kindle Fire, it's very difficult to completely brick the device unless physical damage or component malfunction is involved. In all software related bricking circumstances, the malfunctioning device can be unbricked. Unless you've dropped your Kindle Fire into the bathtub or tossed it off a building, everything will be OK. Take a deep breath, don't panic and keep reading. How do I unbrick my Kindle Fire? Let's get the bootloop brick out of the way first. This shouldn't even be considered a brick by definition since the Kindle Fire is actually functioning correctly and working as expected.

Regardless, it gets thrown into the realm of bricks, so it's here as well. As noted in a previous section, just getting adb or fastboot to set the bootmode back to normal will fix it. Saved me from having to show her everything myself. Lots of easy to follow tips and tricks. Been thinking of getting a kindle fire and I think this book will help me optimize the tablets setting. The book comes with various tips and guides on how to use kindle fire into its full potential.

The guides are easy to understand and will definitely make your life with the tablet easier. Jordan Pittman Narrated by: Give as a gift. Publisher's Summary If you have a new Fire HD 8 tablet, then you simply must listen to this audiobook now! More from the same Author Windows No Reviews are Available. Most Helpful Most Recent. Very easy to understand! Easy tips for knowing Fire HD The information in this book will tell you everything you need to know to make the most of your new Fire HD 8. Helpful Guide The guide is so useful. How to make e-books show up under Books on the Kindle Fire Side-loaded e-books can be sorted by author when displayed in the Books section.

We'll show you how to make them show up there instead of in Docs. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. Don't show this again.

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Culture Your complete guide to the Kindle Fire With your Kindle Fire in hand, check out our best tips and tricks for making the most of your new tablet. This post was updated and republished on February 1, , to bring you more awesome tips and tricks. If you have any requests for tutorials, leave them in the comments. Kindle Fire tips and tricks. Your complete guide to the Kindle Fire Sign in to comment Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.

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