How To Restore Your Kindle If It Experiences A Critical Battery Error
Sep 25, 2010 01:00 PM EDT by K. T. Bradford 
Here’s a bonus Kindle tip for those of you who take breaks in-between reading bestsellers and sometimes leave your eReaders alone for too long. Unlike most electronic devices, when the Kindle’s battery gets dangerously low, it doesn’t automatically shut itself off. Instead, it will switch from the screensaver to a screen that reads “Critical Battery. Your battery is empty. To continue using your Kindle, connect to a power source.” If you don’t catch this screen shortly after it’s displayed, you may find that just plugging the Kindle into an outlet won’t bring it back to normal functionality.
If the battery isn’t too far gone, here’s how to revive it:
- Plug the device into the Kindle A/C adapter (not your computer) and let it charge for a few hours. Be sure the charging light is lit — sometimes a drained Kindle will stop charging a few seconds after you plug it in. Unplug and replug until the light stays on steadily, then leave it alone. Most of the time you’ll come back to a restored Kindle. If not, go on to step 2.
- If you still see the same Critical Battery screen after charging, unplug the USB cord, then hold the power slide to the right for at least 20 seconds.
- Release the power slide, then immediately press and hold the Home key for another 30 – 45 seconds.
- Once the Kindle’s screen begins to flash, release the Home key. The eReader will boot to recovery mode. To continue, press and hold the R key until the screen flashes again.
- After the device is finished rebooting, you may see the Critical Battery screen once more. If so, plug in the USB cord and wait for the Kindle to return to the Home screen.
If you can’t get past step 3, the battery might be too far gone. Contact Kindle customer service via phone (866-321-8851) to walk through extra troubleshooting steps. If they can’t revive it, Amazon will usually replace the eReader for free.
The best way to avoid this is to turn the Kindle off completely if you’re taking a break from reading. Click here to learn how.
November 23rd, 2010 at 3:05 am
This happened to me just today, and after restoring the Kindle through recovery mode I still had a critical battery indicator in the upper right-hand corner. I’m recharging now. This is sort of a stupid problem, Amazon! Because God forbid I let the battery drain…really, Amazon? Now I have to resort all of my books into their respective collections and re-download them. Not cool.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
My brother asked me to check his kindle 3 for the critical battery problem, I tried to reset several times but this didnt work, as I live in Egypt and sending it back to the UK will cost a lot, so I had to try and fix it my self.
I plugged it in a blackberry charger for refueling
I found this great site ” http://e-bookvine.com/how-to-take-apart-your-kindle-3-not-recommended-unless-youre-curious/ ” and I took Mr Kindle apart, I removed the battery and measured its voltage, it was 3.85 (almost empty) so I left it out for 5 minuets and reinstalled it back.
Now, Mr kindle is up and running again
I think the reset does not disconnect the battery completely so it is not a full shutdown. I’m not sure if data is lost or not, I will give it back to my brother in a few days and see.
PS disassembling is very simple, you just have to be careful, dont force it open, do it gently as the plastic is not that hard.
I hope this helps any one who’s kindle is out of warranty
April 7th, 2011 at 7:08 am
This worked perfectly and my kindle is back online again! thanks a ton.
September 1st, 2011 at 11:11 am
Thank you! This is EXACTLY what my Kindle 3 needed. I was starting to panic and spent a long time searching the internet for a solution and tried many. Yours is the only one I found on how to do a full reset to factory defaults.
I did find a slight difference in the instructions on my Kindle though, just in case anyone else runs into it.
In step 4: Once on the recovery mode screen I had to type in the word RESET on the keypad. Then I pressed R to leave the reset screen.
PERFECT solution to my problem, thanks so much!!
October 13th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
the screen is notttt flashing what do i do i followed the instructions but the stupid thing wont flash HELP MEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 31st, 2012 at 11:11 am
That is so dumb! I turned my kindle off and packed it away (I was moving) I go to load more books on it today and I got the “critical battery” error. I dont understand HOW that could have happened since I turned the device OFF….whatever. I am SO glad I found this page. I was freaking out when my poor lil kindle wasnt working.
Thanks so much for the advice, Amazon needs to fix this problem in future devices!
July 19th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Thanks so much i was totally freaking out >.< but it worked!
October 7th, 2012 at 2:57 am
Thank You very much for your suggestion. It worked…:-)
October 8th, 2012 at 5:46 pm
This was helpful but didn’t do the job so I called the number you gave. On the voice message, Amazon told me to press the power button for a full 20 seconds, release, and the press again. It worked perfectly and all is restored.
November 29th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Thanks! My hand-me-down Kindle Keyboard showed the “Battery Empty” screen. Your hint about the charging light staying on only briefly led me to discover that the mini-USB receptacle on the Kindle is a bit loose, and I need to put some directional tension on the plug to keep the charging light on.
Thanks for the hint that helped me solve my riddle.
Merry Christmas to all! (Hope Santa puts a Kindle Fire in my stocking
February 2nd, 2013 at 3:38 am
This worked great for me! Thanks for the info!!