Freeze Problems and Solutions for Your Kindle Paperwhite

As with most technology, you may, at times, experience freezing or slow response on your Kindle Paperwhite. Most often, the solution is simple. Try these steps if your Kindle freezes up on you.

An e-book won't open or stops responding

If your Kindle Paperwhite freezes or starts behaving strangely when you're reading a particular e-book or other content, try a menu restart and then, if necessary, a hard restart.

If those solutions don't work, the file might be corrupted. If that is the case, remove the item to see whether that solves the problem. Remember, if you bought the book from Amazon, it will be stored in the Cloud and you can redownload it to your device. If the book came from another source, make sure you have a backup before removing it.

Remove the item from your Kindle Paperwhite by following these steps:

1. From the Home screen, tap and hold down on the item.

   A pop-up menu appears, with several options.

2. Tap the Remove from Device option or the Delete This Sample option (for samples).

   The e-book or sample is removed from your Kindle Paperwhite.

3. Restart your Kindle Paperwhite by pressing and holding the power button for 45 seconds (7-15 seconds for a second-generation Kindle Paperwhite).

Try reading other content to see whether the symptoms have cleared up. If so, you can try downloading the e-book again from Amazon by selecting it from the Cloud on your Home screen or sideloading it to your device from your computer.

The device freezes or is very slow

If your Kindle Paperwhite stops behaving in its usual speedy fashion or freezes, you can typically resolve the problem by doing a menu restart or a hard restart.

Begin by performing a menu restart your Kindle Paperwhite:

1. Tap Menu→Settings.

2. Tap Menu→Restart.

   (Restart is the third item on the drop-down menu that appears.) Your Kindle Paperwhite displays the start-up screen and a progress bar. After a minute or so, the device restarts and displays the Home screen.

If the menu restart doesn't resolve the problem, try a hard restart:

1. Press and hold down the power button for 45 seconds (7-15 seconds for a second-generation Kindle Paperwhite).

   The screen goes blank.

2. Press the power button again — just a simple press as if you were taking your Kindle Paperwhite out of sleep mode.

   The start-up screen appears with a silhouetted child reading under a tree. In a few seconds, the device begins the restart process and displays a progress bar. When that restart is complete, you see the Home screen.

Sometimes a low battery can be the cause of unexpected Kindle Paperwhite behavior. If you continue to have problems, plug in your device to let it charge for at least an hour and then try a menu restart again, followed by a hard restart if necessary.