Here are some of the more common problems that have been reported by Kindle Paperwhite owners in community forums. For many of these problems, there are steps for a quick resolution.
Ghost images on the screen
Ghosting is the faint display of text or graphics that remains from a previous page even after you page forward.
If you encounter ghosting of a prior display on your Kindle Paperwhite, refresh the screen. To refresh the screen while reading, tap near the top of the screen to display the toolbar, and then tap anywhere on the page. The display briefly flashes black as the screen refreshes and the toolbar disappears. From the Home screen, opening a book or other content causes the page to refresh.
You can't connect to Wi-Fi automatically
The Kindle Paperwhite automatically scans for Wi-Fi networks that are in range of your device. If one networks are found, the device will connect automatically. If a password is required, a screen appears asking you to input that information. Generally, the process is quick and easy.
Occasionally, however, you may need to connect to the Wi-Fi network manually. Follow these steps:
Tap Menu→Settings.
If the network to which you want to connect appears in the list, tap that network.
You're finished!
If the network to which you want to connect doesn't appear in the list:
Tap Other.
A dialog box named Enter Wi-Fi Network appears, along with the on-screen keyboard.
Using the onscreen keyboard, enter the network name and, if applicable, the password.
Tap the Advanced button.
Work through the series of screens, entering information related to the network, including connection type, IP address, and security type.
Advance through the screens by using the up and down arrows.
If necessary, contact the person who set up the network for assistance with filling in this information.
When all the necessary information has been entered, tap the Connect button to join the network.
If your Kindle Paperwhite is connected to your home network but can't connect to Amazon, you may need to reestablish the connection. Tap Menu→Settings→Wi-Fi Networks, and then tap the network that has a check mark to its left. When the Forget Network? dialog box appears, tap Forget. You'll have to reselect the network and enter the password (if one is required).
If you're having trouble connecting to your home network, unplug the Wi-Fi router, wait at least 60 seconds, and then plug it in and wait for the network to restart.
The battery discharges quickly
The battery should last at least a week or two based on a half-hour of reading each day with minimal use of the wireless and the light set at 10. For voracious readers, that usage is slight. Still, the battery should last at least a week or two even with daily usage with the wireless turned on.
If you notice that the battery is running down in a short period of time, the problem may be due to unindexed content. Typically, whenever you add content to the Kindle Paperwhite, it indexes the material. This allows you to search for words or terms both within a specific book as well as across all content on the device.
Occasionally, a book fails to index properly, so the device tries endlessly to index it, causing the battery to run down. To determine whether this is the problem, take the following steps:
From the Home screen, tap the Search icon.
Make sure that All Text is displayed to the right of the search box.
In the search box that appears, type an unusual word or even just a string of letters.
Don't choose a common word such as man or the.
Tap the arrow next to the box to begin the search.
Check for unindexed items.
To check for unindexed items, look at the bottom of the Results Screen list, after the results of the search.
If you have an unindexed item, remove it by pressing and holding down on it and then selecting Delete from the menu that appears.
If you have acquired this content from Amazon, it will be available to you for redownloading from the Cloud. For other content, make sure you have a backup. Samples from Amazon must be redownloaded from the book's Amazon page, so make a note of those before deleting, if you want to resample that content.
Charge your battery completely.
Make a note of the date and keep track of how long it takes the battery to discharge. You may have to wait a few days to see whether the battery problem has resolved. When you've determined that the battery is functioning normally, you can put the offending (unindexed) items back on your Kindle Paperwhite by redownloading from the Cloud, sideloading from your computer, or resampling the content from Amazon.
If more than one item appeared on the unindexed content list and you want to put these items back on your Kindle Paperwhite, add them one at a time and wait for each to finish indexing before adding the next. In this way, if a problem exists with specific content, you can more easily identify which book is the offender.
Your Paperwhite doesn't sync among devices
Amazon's Whispersync feature enables you to move seamlessly from reading on your Kindle Paperwhite to reading on a smartphone or your computer. In addition, Whispersync for Voice allows you to sync between your Kindle Paperwhite and an Audible version of a book that you listen to on your preferred audio device with the Audible app.
When opening the e-book on the other device, you're typically prompted with the option to move to the furthest location read. If this doesn't happen, check the following:
Amazon servers' connection: For Whispersync to work, the devices must be connected to Amazon's servers. Ensure that your Kindle Paperwhite or other device has Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity when syncing.
Synchronization setting: If your devices are connected to Amazon's servers and synchronization still isn't working, check your synchronization settings. Log in to Amazon and go to the Manage Your Kindle page. Click the Manage Your Devices link, on the left side of the page. Scroll to the bottom of the page and verify that the Synchronization option is set to On.
The Synchronization setting affects all devices and all content associated with your account; you can't selectively turn Device Synchronization on or off for a particular device or for a particular e-book. If you have multiple Kindles on your account (for example, Kindles that belong to you, your spouse, and your children) and everyone is reading the same e-book, the Kindle synchronizes to the last page read for everyone. In this case, you may want to turn off synchronization.
You can reset the last page read from Your Kindle Library at Manage Your Kindle. Next to the appropriate title, click the Actions box. From the drop-down menu that appears, select Clear Furthest Page Read.
The Home screen displays items out of order
You can display items on your Home screen by Recent, Title, Author, or Collections. Occasionally, items aren't displayed in the correct order.
To resolve this problem, do a quick resync:
From the Home screen, tap the Menu icon.
Tap Sync and Check for Items.
Sync and Check for Items is the fifth option on the drop-down menu (fourth option for the second-generation Kindle Paperwhite). Your Home screen displays items in proper order.
Make sure the clock on your Kindle Paperwhite is set to the correct time. You can set the Kindle Paperwhite 3G to update the clock automatically.
The device doesn't recognize your password
You can use a password to protect access to your Kindle Paperwhite. If the password that you set for your device isn't working, you have some troubleshooting options:
Be sure you enter the password correctly.
Try some variations of the password. Maybe you mistyped it when you originally set it up.
If you have more than one Kindle in your household, make sure you enter the password on the right device.
Hopefully one of these troubleshooting steps helps because resetting your password is drastic. This solution wipes all content from your Kindle Paperwhite and deregisters it from Amazon. Reinstalling all your material can be done, but it takes time.
To reset your password, type 111222777 in the Password field and then tap OK. Your Kindle is wiped clean. You now have to register the device again with Amazon and download content again as desired from your Amazon archive.