The Amazon Fire is a rugged, affordable tablet for those on a budget. Unfortunately, many models suffer from constant design flaws. Chargers for these tablets tend to fail, leaving your otherwise functional tablet without power.
To say this is frustrating would be an understatement. But don’t throw your tablet across the room just yet. There are many troubleshooting steps you can take to fully charge your Fire and get it ready for use. We’ll show you how to avoid charger decay, suggest several approaches to test and determine where the problem is, and provide some tips for fixing it.
The problem can be in one of four areas: faulty software, battery, charging adapter (including cable), and the charging port itself. We’ll take a closer look at each of them to quickly resolve when your Amazon Fire tablet won’t charge.
How to Fix Amazon Fire Tablet Not Charging
When your Amazon Fire decides it no longer wants to charge, we can run several tests to determine the cause.
Checking the charging adapter, cable and port
This is not difficult, but before testing the device itself, make sure that the outlet to which it is connected has an active charge. You get null input without any output.
To determine if a charger is not working, you can take a USB cable and plug it into a computer or other power source to find a charge. If it starts charging, the problem is with the charger itself. You can buy relatively inexpensive directly from Amazon’s official website.
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To test the cable itself, you’ll need another one on hand. All micro-USB cables are essentially the same and work interchangeably. Simply replace your current cable with a new one and see if that solves the problem. If this proves to be a problem, you can easily replace it at an electronics store or Amazon.com.
Constant reconnection can cause the circuitry inside the charging port to loosen over time and in some cases disconnect completely. This can also be due to long connections while using the Fire, as the port was not designed to withstand the stress of constantly pulling the cable out.
When you are going to connect the cable, make sure it is securely fastened. Try to move it gently to detect any signs of loosening in the connector. In this case, you can try putting the Fire on a flat surface and charging it that way. If this fix is ??charging, then you know the port is causing your Amazon Fire tablet to not charge.
Try to reset
Didn’t find any faults in the equipment? The problem could be in the software. We can try doing a hard reset to see if that helps. This will disable all currently open apps and tabs to start over.
- Hold the power button for 40 seconds to make sure the Fire is completely turned off.
- Turn on the fire again.
Still free? A factory reset might help you. Just know that it should only be done until other methods have yielded positive results. This will erase everything you downloaded to the tablet and revert it to its default configuration with no guarantee of fixing the problem.
- While your Fire is running, save all data.
- Swipe down on the home screen to open the menu.
- Click Settings, then Device Options.
- Select “Restore Factory Defaults”.
- Select “Reset to Confirm.
Then we will force restart the system.
- Press and hold the volume up button and the power button for 40 seconds.
- Release the power button but continue to hold down the volume up button until the “Install Latest Software†appears on the screen.
- Wait for the update to finish installing and restart Fire.
Out of Battery
Didn’t all of the above steps work for you? Then the problem will surely fall on your battery. This is a major concern as replacing the battery will cost you almost as much as a new Amazon Fire. Amazon also strongly discourages replacing the battery, but if you don’t mind, you can do it yourself.
Battery replacement
Your Amazon Fire is fine, but the battery is dead and needs to be replaced. Two options remain: send it back to Amazon and exchange it for a new one, or simply do it yourself through a third-party seller.
DIY approach
From now on, you should understand that when you open the Amazon Fire, any warranty you had will be invalidated. If you’re happy with that, you can find a bunch of sellers on Amazon who will provide you with a replacement battery for your Kindle Fire.
Before purchasing, you need to know the part number of the battery you are using, which can be found online in the Kindle Fire specs or printed on the battery itself after you open it.
To open your Kindle Fire, you need a tear-off tool or spatula. You can use a screwdriver if you are comfortable with a lot of scratches and chips on the device. But this is not recommended.
To open the device:
- Insert the pry tool in the lower right corner of the device into the slot between the front and rear case halves.
- Open the case very carefully. You can use a penny or other small object to keep the suitcase open as you follow these steps.
- Slide the tool to remove the cover from the body while releasing all the clips holding the body together. Additional coins or small items may be required at this stage to hold each section selected. Be very careful not to detach the case from the clips that are still in place when you work with the cover removal tool. Working too roughly can break the plastic internal components of the case.
- Once all clamps are released, the back of the device should come off easily.
To remove the battery:
- Run the cap removal tool along the sides of the battery to break the adhesive holding it in place.
- Once the adhesive has loosened, take the tip of the lever removal tool and place it between the side of the battery cell and the frame of the device.
- Lift it up slightly, then use the blunt end of the cover removal tool to push the battery out of the socket. Remove it and set it aside.
- Place a new battery in the Kindle Fire and connect it to the motherboard.
- You can re-glue the new battery to the case, or simply use double-sided tape to hold it in place.
- Reattach the back of the case by gently pushing around the perimeter, snapping each clip into place.
Tips to avoid charger port rot
Light tablet users do not need these tips. These are users who turn on the device once a week to watch a movie, and then put it away again. Unfortunately for heavy users, port rot can be a major problem.
Each time the charging cable is inserted and removed, the risk of port rot increases. Over time, mechanical stress on the glue or solder holding the port on the PCB inside the device will cause the connection to fail and weaken the port.
To prevent this:
- Make sure the port is not clogged with dust and debris, as this could clog it and cause it to stop working.
- Do not charge your Kindle Fire while using it. When the battery runs out, stop using it, recharge it, and do something else for now.
- Replace the cable supplied with the charger with a better quality cable. It doesn’t have to be expensive, just make sure it’s high quality.
Following these few things should help you prolong or completely prevent potential port rot on your tablet or any other mobile device.
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