[Discussion] Direct access to e-MMC to fix bricked KF (HD 8.9 version)

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kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
Chicago
Hello my brothers from the KF HD 8.9" forum! I come from over yonder at the KF2 forum with some useful information. Several months ago, I started this thread about "hacking" a KF2 in order to restore it from hardbrick. Well, thanks to a generous donation from @v0id7, I've finished the first steps of the process for 8.9" devices ! Unfortunately, as I do not have a spare 8.9" sitting around, all I can do is provide the pinout for continuing the process (although, v0id7 has mentioned to me that he is going to test it out on his device).

I have most of the process for the KF2 outlined over on this guide (minus the software part for now), but if you don't want to read that or the other post, here's a short rundown: You solder to a few points on the motherboard, allowing you to bypass the KF's processor and directly access the information on the eMMC. This allows you to reflash whatever it was that you flashed in the first place to kill said KF.

Once I have word from v0id7 that this does indeed work on the 8.9" (which I can't foresee it not working), I'll probably set up a guide specifically for the 8.9", as well.

I'm also in the process of prototyping something that would allow access without soldering. Hopefully I'll have the prototype done in the next few days here.

Let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns.


...and now that I've blathered on for a while, here's the pinout:

KFHD89BK_zps81571e8e.png


KFHD89FR_zpsd3fe1eb6.png
 
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v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
Thanks kurohyou for your efforts.

I tried to put all this together but unfortunately without success. Linux cannot open the block device reporting "No medium found". Full dmesg output is available upon request but in general the kernel usb driver keeps resetting the usb device and the usb reader led keeps flashing.

I also observed the following. When VccQ is disconnected I can measure a steady Vcc voltage of 3.12V being passed to the board. When I connect the VccQ as show in the picture, the Vcc (and VccQ) drops to 0V just like being shortened. Not being an hardware expert I suspect that VccQ input point may be incorrect.

Also I'm not very sure I get the exact Vcc soldering point from the picture posted. Even when I zoom it is not very clear where to solder to. I soldered Vcc to the right connection of a very small component (not sure resistor or capacitor) that sits between two relatively larger components above and below. Is this correct?
 
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kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
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v0id7 said:
Thanks kurohyou for your efforts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

No, thank you for your donation and continuing the work!


v0id7 said:
I tried to put all this together but unfortunately without success. Linux cannot open the block device reporting "No medium found". Full dmesg output is available upon request but in general the kernel usb driver keeps resetting the usb device and the usb reader led keeps flashing.

I also observed the following. When VccQ is disconnected I can measure a steady Vcc voltage of 3.12V being passed to the board. When I connect the VccQ as show in the picture, the Vcc (and VccQ) drops to 0V just like being shortened. Not being an hardware expert I suspect that VccQ input point may be incorrect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That's a bit odd. I rechecked everything and it's all correct. What happens if you connect VccQ and leave Vcc disconnected?

v0id7 said:
Also I'm not very sure I get the exact Vcc soldering point from the picture posted. Even when I zoom it is not very clear where to solder to. I soldered Vcc to the right connection of a very small component (not sure resistor or capacitor) that sits between two relatively larger components above and below. Is this correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Yes, you are correct. Vcc as labelled in the photo above is the small component between the two larger components, the side opposite of the heat shield mount (or as looking at the board as above, the right side). Since it's not working with the current setup, though, hopefully that means we don't even need the Vcc point (fingers crossed).


Also, while waiting for your response, I'm going to take some time to apply voltage to the VccQ point and see if I get a voltage measurement at the Vcc pins on the eMMC mount pins. I might also take a moment to look at the data sheet for the eMMC itself if I can find it, too. I'll post again when I have some info.
 
V

v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
It works!
it works like a charm!

Here are my partitions (cat /proc/partitions) where sdb is the USB card reader:

major minor #blocks name

8 0 625131864 sda
8 1 102400 sda1
8 2 625027072 sda2
11 0 695600 sr0
7 0 547860 loop0
8 16 30535680 sdb
8 17 128 sdb1
8 18 256 sdb2
8 19 64 sdb3
8 20 16 sdb4
8 21 2 sdb5
8 22 10240 sdb6
8 23 65536 sdb7
8 24 16384 sdb8
8 25 8192 sdb9
8 26 8192 sdb10
8 27 907264 sdb11
8 28 665600 sdb12
8 29 28853248 sdb13
8 32 3834912 sdc
8 33 3785472 sdc1
​

Sorry for my previous post. It was my fault incorrectly tweaking CD_SW.
Tomorrow I'll reflash the boot partition sdb10 and I'll post the results here.

Great job kurohyou!
 
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v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
v0id7 said:
Tomorrow I'll reflash the boot partition sdb10 and I'll post the results here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ups and downs!:mad:

I flashed boot and recovery partitions but the Kindle still doesn't show any signs of life.
Before the flashing, when powered on it was at least detected for a second as OMAP device. Now its absolutely quiet.

What I did is flashing freedom-boot-8.4.6 to partition 10 and twrp-2.6.3.1-recovery to partition 9.

dd if=kfhd8-freedom-boot-8.4.6.img of=/dev/sdb10
dd if=kfhd8-twrp-2.6.3.1-recovery.img of=/dev/sdb9
​
Correct me if I'm wrong but IMO even just the boot patition should be sufficient to get control in fastboot mode.
Any ideas how to continue from here?

And two more questions:

  1. What behavior should I expect when connecting just the board with its USB cable to the USB port of a computer (no battery, no wifi board, no display, no power/volume controls).
  2. Is it mandatory to disconnect all soldered wires from the board to the USB reader when powering the motherboard on?
 
K

kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
Chicago
v0id7 said:
Ups and downs!:mad:

I flashed boot and recovery partitions but the Kindle still doesn't show any signs of life.
Before the flashing, when powered on it was at least detected for a second as OMAP device. Now its absolutely quiet.

What I did is flashing freedom-boot-8.4.6 to partition 10 and twrp-2.6.3.1-recovery to partition 9.

dd if=kfhd8-freedom-boot-8.4.6.img of=/dev/sdb10
dd if=kfhd8-twrp-2.6.3.1-recovery.img of=/dev/sdb9
​
Correct me if I'm wrong but IMO even just the boot patition should be sufficient to get control in fastboot mode.
Any ideas how to continue from here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Try flashing it back to stock and seeing if there is any difference. Also, you might have to let it charge for a while. I think hard-bricking discharges the battery. I can't remember if I got anything when I first plugged it in or not.

If flashing to stock doesn't work, try passing bs=1 when you use dd. That somehow made all the difference for someone on the original KF2 thread.

Also, keep in mind, if you're putting the motherboard back in the case to hook it up, you need to shield the contacts on the bottom from the case. A quick measure with my DMM showed that the inside of the back case is conductive!


Only semi-related: I was trying to find the partition layout for the 8.9", but a quick search didn't yield anything. Do you happen to have a link to it? I'd like it for reference and to place on the website I'm making.

v0id7 said:
What behavior should I expect when connecting just the board with its USB cable to the USB port of a computer (no battery, no wifi board, no display, no power/volume controls).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I honestly don't know. I never really thought to try. My only guess would be that bootup would probably fail because the motherboard couldn't recognize its devices? I must admit that I'm not particularly familiar with the boot process, so it's just a shot in the dark.

v0id7 said:
Is it mandatory to disconnect all soldered wires from the board to the USB reader when powering the motherboard on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I never tried it any other way. My concern with leaving them connected is that you're now passing power back to the SD card reader, so it could result in some funny business. If you're concerned about having to resolder to the motherboard multiple times, I suppose a safer alternative would be to desolder all the wires from the SD card reader and keep them from shorting. You also might be able to get away with just desoldering the supply wires (Vcc and VccQ) and keeping them insulated from contacting anything (including each other).
 
V

v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
kurohyou said:
Try flashing it back to stock and seeing if there is any difference. Also, you might have to let it charge for a while. I think hard-bricking discharges the battery. I can't remember if I got anything when I first plugged it in or not.

If flashing to stock doesn't work, try passing bs=1 when you use dd. That somehow made all the difference for someone on the original KF2 thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on it. Luckily I have stock backup.

kurohyou said:
I was trying to find the partition layout for the 8.9", but a quick search didn't yield anything. Do you happen to have a link to it? I'd like it for reference and to place on the website I'm making.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Taken from stock firmware:
mmcblk0p1 xloader
mmcblk0p2 bootloader
mmcblk0p3 idme
mmcblk0p4 crypto
mmcblk0p5 misc
mmcblk0p6 dkernel
mmcblk0p7 dfs
mmcblk0p8 efs
mmcblk0p9 recovery
mmcblk0p10 boot
mmcblk0p11 system
mmcblk0p12 cache
mmcblk0p13 userdata
​
 
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K

kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
Chicago
What did you do that hardbricked it in the first place? I may be mistaken, but I thought that overwriting boot wasn't an issue, it was bootloader that generally did it?
 
V

v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
All,

I think I have to stop here. Yesterday while soldering the wires for second time I caused unrecoverable damage to the board – the CLOCK pad got torn off of the PCB. I guess I have overheated the pad.

Anyway, I do believe that the approach of unbricking kfhd89 with directly flashing the eMMC will work! The pinout provided by @kurohyou proved to be correct – I successfully got access to the flash partitions. I just thoroughly sorry that during my first attempt I flashed the boot partition instead of the bootloader (which was actually the faulty one).

kurohyou said:
What did you do that hardbricked it in the first place? I may be mistaken, but I thought that overwriting boot wasn't an issue, it was bootloader that generally did it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bricked my Kindle by flashing bootloader with incomplete download. I was happily running CM10.1 for quite a long time but decided to upgrade TWRP and didn’t check the md5s :eek:.

I hope there will be someone with "brave heart" and bricked Kindle ;) to continue this project as we are only a step away from marking it as confirmed.
 
Last edited:
K

kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
Chicago
v0id7 said:
All,

I think I have to stop here. Yesterday while soldering the wires for second time I caused unrecoverable damage to the board – the CLOCK pad got torn off of the PCB. I guess I have overheated the pad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Ouch. I hate when that happens. I can't say I haven't been there before, too, though. There may still be some hope for repairing it. I'll track down another point. If you don't want to mess with soldering again, you can always send it to me once I finish this solderless access device. I'm just waiting for UPS to deliver a pair of Loc Line pliers (I was supposed to get them on Tuesday) so I can finish drilling some holes in these nozzles to feed the wire. I hope to have it completed and tested (with pictures) by the beginning of next week. If you want a general idea of what it will look like, take a look at this and imagine spring-loaded contact probes in place of the alligator clips.

Also, JohnnyLawless is in my neck of the woods and needs his device repaired, so we're planning to meet up and make it happen. At that time, I'm planning on taking pictures and screenshots for a guide.
 
K

kurohyou

Member
Aug 3, 2013
49
86
Chicago
I did a quick jaunt around the board and nothing was really standing out to me. There probably is another point, but it probably is one of the tiny components on there. There's no way soldering to one of those would work. There's a few options left, but neither are really pretty or easy. The first would be to carefully expose the via that was underneath the pad and use a spring-loaded contact probe to make a connection. The second would be to repair the pad, which involves a new pad (or the old pad if it's still in good shape) and epoxy. :(

Again, if you're willing to send it my way, I'd be happy to give both of those a try for you, or I can provide you with the instructions for the device I'm working on (once I'm finished) or a link to some videos about PCB pad repair.
 
V

v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
kurohyou said:
I did a quick jaunt around the board and nothing was really standing out to me. There probably is another point, but it probably is one of the tiny components on there. There's no way soldering to one of those would work. There's a few options left, but neither are really pretty or easy. The first would be to carefully expose the via that was underneath the pad and use a spring-loaded contact probe to make a connection. The second would be to repair the pad, which involves a new pad (or the old pad if it's still in good shape) and epoxy. :(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks kurohyou. This thread is yours but I really believe we should keep it general and as close as possible to its subject. The issue with my clock pad is quite specific and off-topic.
kurohyou said:
Again, if you're willing to send it my way, I'd be happy to give both of those a try for you, or I can provide you with the instructions for the device I'm working on (once I'm finished) or a link to some videos about PCB pad repair.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forget about my board. Spending more efforts on it is not worthy. I would rather buy a new one, brick it and resume the tests ;).
 
L

lejosdehoy

Member
Oct 22, 2013
9
0
no title

gonna try this out.
(cant send mine cause sending charges are too high since i live in uruguay)
 
Last edited:
stunts513

stunts513

Senior Member
Feb 8, 2013
2,238
635
New Braunfels, TX
If he doesn't respond i might be willing to attempy to fix it, finally got a new soldering tip meant for small circuitry(st7). All I need is a sdcard reader and some small gauge wire.

Sent from my LG-P769 using xda app-developers app
 
P

Prime Mover

New member
Feb 13, 2014
1
0
I'll give it a shot.

I'm going to try this soon, but I've got a couple of quick questions.

1. I'm not familiar with enamel-coated magnet wire, but it's the only 30-gauge I could find. Is it bad to use?
2. I found a MicroSD-only card reader more easily in stores than SD-only. I'm guessing it would be more difficult to solder due to the size. Would it be the same otherwise?
 
T

Thinkwithportals

Member
Feb 11, 2014
6
0
Prime Mover said:
I'm going to try this soon, but I've got a couple of quick questions.

1. I'm not familiar with enamel-coated magnet wire, but it's the only 30-gauge I could find. Is it bad to use?
2. I found a MicroSD-only card reader more easily in stores than SD-only. I'm guessing it would be more difficult to solder due to the size. Would it be the same otherwise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I am new to this thread but I would like to help out with this cause. I have a hard-bricked motherboard that I can donate to anyone willing to attempt Kurohyou's soldering fix to this problem. It is for a 8.9 Kindle and I have little soldering experience, thus I would have no problem with donating my board in order to further this thread's progress. If I can be of help go ahead and pm me or respond to this post.
 
V

v0id7

Member
Oct 10, 2013
37
10
1. I'm not familiar with enamel-coated magnet wire, but it's the only 30-gauge I could find. Is it bad to use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enamel coated wire serves different purpose and is much more difficult to strip the insulation at the ends before soldering. I would recommend regular solid-core hook-up wire with PVC insulation. 30-gauge is not a must. 26 would do just fine.

2. I found a MicroSD-only card reader more easily in stores than SD-only. I'm guessing it would be more difficult to solder due to the size. Would it be the same otherwise?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven’t tried soldering on MicroSD-only card reader but I guess it will be difficult and more error-prone. Otherwise AFAIK they share same signaling interface. The only difference is that MicroSD has just one ground pin (while SD has two).
 
G

giderBey

Member
Jul 15, 2009
9
1
Hello v0id7,

v0id7 said:
I'm on it. Luckily I have stock backup.

have you flashed your backed-up boot.img and rescue.img to successfully boot?

And how do you extract the partitions from the amazon update .bin file?
I think I will give this method a try. I didn't solder for a long time now, but let us see.
Do you own KFHD now?
Have a nice day.

giderBey
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
 
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    kurohyou
    Hello my brothers from the KF HD 8.9" forum! I come from over yonder at the KF2 forum with some useful information. Several months ago, I started this thread about "hacking" a KF2 in order to restore it from hardbrick. Well, thanks to a generous donation from @v0id7, I've finished the first steps of the process for 8.9" devices ! Unfortunately, as I do not have a spare 8.9" sitting around, all I can do is provide the pinout for continuing the process (although, v0id7 has mentioned to me that he is going to test it out on his device).

    I have most of the process for the KF2 outlined over on this guide (minus the software part for now), but if you don't want to read that or the other post, here's a short rundown: You solder to a few points on the motherboard, allowing you to bypass the KF's processor and directly access the information on the eMMC. This allows you to reflash whatever it was that you flashed in the first place to kill said KF.

    Once I have word from v0id7 that this does indeed work on the 8.9" (which I can't foresee it not working), I'll probably set up a guide specifically for the 8.9", as well.

    I'm also in the process of prototyping something that would allow access without soldering. Hopefully I'll have the prototype done in the next few days here.

    Let me know if you have any questions/comments/concerns.


    ...and now that I've blathered on for a while, here's the pinout:

    KFHD89BK_zps81571e8e.png


    KFHD89FR_zpsd3fe1eb6.png
    View
    5
    M
    Moor Terces
    bournezhang said:
    could you show more detail steps to us？？？
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    First of all, you have to be kind of crazy to try this and it is very risky, but if your here you've already bricked your Kindle so...

    Next, you need to get your mother board out of the Kindle. There are teardown instructions if you do a search. Tip: don't pry on the side with the USB connection. That side of the case has bigger tabs that act almost like a hinge. Also it helps to have a specialized plastic pry tool. I got one from radio shack. After opening the case like a book, carefully unhook the ribbon cables and the rest of the teardown is easy.

    You then need to make the interface. Use this post and follow the instructions from kurohyou. These instructions are for the KF2 but the methodology is the same. Making the interface will be identical. For connecting the interface to the motherboard, instead of using the images in that post, use the images of the mother board in the OP of this thread. You need to carefully peal the yellow protective coat off of the back of the motherboard to access the small copper pads. Tip: the VCC connection is daunting but if you put a tiny bit of solder on the tip of the wire and heat only the wire it will stick. You don't need much solder for any of these connections. Use a toothpick to put tiny amounts of flux on each connection. Practice on something else to sharpen your skills before attempting on your Kindle. Also labele your wires before you start to reduce the chance of errors.

    Personally, I used a micro SD to SD adapter as that is what I had on hand. A big thanks to lex66676 for posting this image. Either way will work.

    Next you will need to get Ubuntu up and running. Forget Windows, it will never recognize the chip. You can create a bootable disk or USB and use Ubuntu on your computer without even installing. Go to the Ubuntu website to find instructions and downloads. Tip: I would do this on a computer with a traditional BIOS rather than the newer UEFI as you will probably have less issues. Also, Windows 7 is easier to boot on external media but it is possible on Win 8 by holding shift while clicking reboot to get to the advanced boot options. Once you have Ubuntu running, mess around with it for awhile to get comfortable.

    The moment of truth. Connect your interface and see if it recognizes the chip. Open gparted or the disk utility to see if you see the partitions. Note the name of the partitions. Mine was called /dev/mmblk0p2 for partition 2 then the same ending in 9 for partition 9 etc. (The name might have been something a little different, but I'm not going to take it apart again to get the exact name heh heh.) Tip: Gparted might give you an error regarding the table. That's ok do not attempt to fix it. Gparted should still see the partitions. If Ubuntu doesn't see your chip try another computer. The first computer I tried didn't work. If that doesn't work recheck your connections and make sure you have the right wires to the correct terminals.

    Now you need to compile your files. Get a working bootloader from Hashcode here step 2 number 6. It is the 8.1.4 bootloader. Also find a Kindle HD 8.9 boot.IMG and recovery.IMG either from your own backup or from the Kindle Fire First Aid package. I navigated to the home directory of Ubuntu and made a folder called Kindle and added the three files. Now you need to open a terminal and navigate to your folder. Use the command "cd /home/Kindle" and it should point your terminal to the folder with the files in it. Tip: The terminal is case sensitive. Also if you are booting from a live CD or USB it can be finicky. I had to use the xterm for it to work as the normal terminal wouldn't change dir. I also could only move one level at a time by using command "cd /home" and then "cd /Kindle".

    Once you are in the right directory you are going to use the dd command to write your files. The red portion will be the name you noted from gparted.

    Partition 2 with the bootloader:
    Code: sudo dd if=kfhd8-u-boot-prod-8.1.4.bin of=/dev/mmblk0p2 bs=1

    Partition 9 with recovery:
    Code: dd if=recovery.img of=/dev/mmblk0p9

    Partition 10 with boot:
    Code: dd if=boot.img of=/dev/mmblk0p10

    After running each of those commands, again red being the name your computer gave your chip, you should see some info on how fast it took etc as a confirmation. Shut the computer down, eject the interface and carefully remove your wires. Tip: when your wires are removed if you very quickly touch the small amount of solder left on the pads it will make a tiny smooth bead that you can use if you have to resolder again. Take care not to linger with your iron so you do not overheat the board. Also don't do this to the vcc component as it is just too tight of an area.

    After removing the wires, use electrical tape or something similar to cover the exposed pads on the back. Make sure not to cover the copper around the screw holes that were originally exposed. Now put it back together. Remember to slide the side with the USB port in first as it acts as a hinge.

    Moment of truth 2! Plug it in to charge as the hard brick completely discharges the battery. For me, after a few minutes I was able to see the charge icon pop up. Walk away and wait awhile as this kindle takes forever to get a charge built up. Come back and hopefully you will see that the kindle is on and running, or at least you can see the kindle fire logo. If there is any life to it you can use the other techniques to get it back up.

    Last but not least, do not do the same thing you did to brick it in the first place!!!
    View
    2
    LinearEquation
    LinearEquation
    Moor Terces said:
    First of all, you have to be kind of crazy to try this and it is very risky, but if your here you've already bricked your Kindle so...

    Next, you need to get your mother board out of the Kindle. There are teardown instructions if you do a search. Tip: don't pry on the side with the USB connection. That side of the case has bigger tabs that act almost like a hinge. Also it helps to have a specialized plastic pry tool. I got one from radio shack. After opening the case like a book, carefully unhook the ribbon cables and the rest of the teardown is easy.

    You then need to make the interface. Use this post and follow the instructions from kurohyou. These instructions are for the KF2 but the methodology is the same. Making the interface will be identical. For connecting the interface to the motherboard, instead of using the images in that post, use the images of the mother board in the OP of this thread. You need to carefully peal the yellow protective coat off of the back of the motherboard to access the small copper pads. Tip: the VCC connection is daunting but if you put a tiny bit of solder on the tip of the wire and heat only the wire it will stick. You don't need much solder for any of these connections. Use a toothpick to put tiny amounts of flux on each connection. Practice on something else to sharpen your skills before attempting on your Kindle. Also labele your wires before you start to reduce the chance of errors.

    Personally, I used a micro SD to SD adapter as that is what I had on hand. A big thanks to lex66676 for posting this image. Either way will work.

    Next you will need to get Ubuntu up and running. Forget Windows, it will never recognize the chip. You can create a bootable disk or USB and use Ubuntu on your computer without even installing. Go to the Ubuntu website to find instructions and downloads. Tip: I would do this on a computer with a traditional BIOS rather than the newer UEFI as you will probably have less issues. Also, Windows 7 is easier to boot on external media but it is possible on Win 8 by holding shift while clicking reboot to get to the advanced boot options. Once you have Ubuntu running, mess around with it for awhile to get comfortable.

    The moment of truth. Connect your interface and see if it recognizes the chip. Open gparted or the disk utility to see if you see the partitions. Note the name of the partitions. Mine was called /dev/mmblk0p2 for partition 2 then the same ending in 9 for partition 9 etc. (The name might have been something a little different, but I'm not going to take it apart again to get the exact name heh heh.) Tip: Gparted might give you an error regarding the table. That's ok do not attempt to fix it. Gparted should still see the partitions. If Ubuntu doesn't see your chip try another computer. The first computer I tried didn't work. If that doesn't work recheck your connections and make sure you have the right wires to the correct terminals.

    Now you need to compile your files. Get a working bootloader from Hashcode here step 2 number 6. It is the 8.1.4 bootloader. Also find a Kindle HD 8.9 boot.IMG and recovery.IMG either from your own backup or from the Kindle Fire First Aid package. I navigated to the home directory of Ubuntu and made a folder called Kindle and added the three files. Now you need to open a terminal and navigate to your folder. Use the command "cd /home/Kindle" and it should point your terminal to the folder with the files in it. Tip: The terminal is case sensitive. Also if you are booting from a live CD or USB it can be finicky. I had to use the xterm for it to work as the normal terminal wouldn't change dir. I also could only move one level at a time by using command "cd /home" and then "cd /Kindle".

    Once you are in the right directory you are going to use the dd command to write your files. The red portion will be the name you noted from gparted.

    Partition 2 with the bootloader:
    Code: sudo dd if=kfhd8-u-boot-prod-8.1.4.bin of=/dev/mmblk0p2 bs=1

    Partition 9 with recovery:
    Code: dd if=recovery.img of=/dev/mmblk0p9

    Partition 10 with boot:
    Code: dd if=boot.img of=/dev/mmblk0p10

    After running each of those commands, again red being the name your computer gave your chip, you should see some info on how fast it took etc as a confirmation. Shut the computer down, eject the interface and carefully remove your wires. Tip: when your wires are removed if you very quickly touch the small amount of solder left on the pads it will make a tiny smooth bead that you can use if you have to resolder again. Take care not to linger with your iron so you do not overheat the board. Also don't do this to the vcc component as it is just too tight of an area.

    After removing the wires, use electrical tape or something similar to cover the exposed pads on the back. Make sure not to cover the copper around the screw holes that were originally exposed. Now put it back together. Remember to slide the side with the USB port in first as it acts as a hinge.

    Moment of truth 2! Plug it in to charge as the hard brick completely discharges the battery. For me, after a few minutes I was able to see the charge icon pop up. Walk away and wait awhile as this kindle takes forever to get a charge built up. Come back and hopefully you will see that the kindle is on and running, or at least you can see the kindle fire logo. If there is any life to it you can use the other techniques to get it back up.

    Last but not least, do not do the same thing you did to brick it in the first place!!!
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Rock solid, good deal.

    Sent from my Nexus 7 Flo running Odex SinLess ROM 4.4.2 with ElementalX kernel using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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    v0id7
    It works!
    it works like a charm!

    Here are my partitions (cat /proc/partitions) where sdb is the USB card reader:

    major minor #blocks name

    8 0 625131864 sda
    8 1 102400 sda1
    8 2 625027072 sda2
    11 0 695600 sr0
    7 0 547860 loop0
    8 16 30535680 sdb
    8 17 128 sdb1
    8 18 256 sdb2
    8 19 64 sdb3
    8 20 16 sdb4
    8 21 2 sdb5
    8 22 10240 sdb6
    8 23 65536 sdb7
    8 24 16384 sdb8
    8 25 8192 sdb9
    8 26 8192 sdb10
    8 27 907264 sdb11
    8 28 665600 sdb12
    8 29 28853248 sdb13
    8 32 3834912 sdc
    8 33 3785472 sdc1
    ​

    Sorry for my previous post. It was my fault incorrectly tweaking CD_SW.
    Tomorrow I'll reflash the boot partition sdb10 and I'll post the results here.

    Great job kurohyou!
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    kurohyou said:
    Try flashing it back to stock and seeing if there is any difference. Also, you might have to let it charge for a while. I think hard-bricking discharges the battery. I can't remember if I got anything when I first plugged it in or not.

    If flashing to stock doesn't work, try passing bs=1 when you use dd. That somehow made all the difference for someone on the original KF2 thread.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse
    I'm on it. Luckily I have stock backup.

    kurohyou said:
    I was trying to find the partition layout for the 8.9", but a quick search didn't yield anything. Do you happen to have a link to it? I'd like it for reference and to place on the website I'm making.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Taken from stock firmware:
    mmcblk0p1 xloader
    mmcblk0p2 bootloader
    mmcblk0p3 idme
    mmcblk0p4 crypto
    mmcblk0p5 misc
    mmcblk0p6 dkernel
    mmcblk0p7 dfs
    mmcblk0p8 efs
    mmcblk0p9 recovery
    mmcblk0p10 boot
    mmcblk0p11 system
    mmcblk0p12 cache
    mmcblk0p13 userdata
    ​
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