Using Kindle 2 while charging via USB connection

[Toby]

     It works! Thank you everyone here. I plugged in the kindle & something popped up, kindlewise. I clicked on that. It showed my kindle, like you see when you are going to update the software yourself. I checked out the documents. Yep. There's my books. Then I decided to right click on the kindle & I saw a list. On the list was "ejec"t. I did that. The USB disappeared on my kindle & I can now see my home page again.
      I had also used the toolbar to "remove this hard drive." I believe that we were taught to do this & it turns out that isn't what you are supposed to do.
       For some reason, when I did go on my computer to START & then the area with the Kindle hardrive icon, I had right clicked on the kindle icon, but it did not work the other day. I'm glad it finally works & hope it continues to work.
        Next, converting PDF's for my new KDXG.           

[Vicki G.]

Heather, I haven't read this entire post so forgive me if I'm jumping the gun.. and wrongly too.  I have Vista as well and this is what I've found. 

I normally eject everything with the icon on the task bar but that won't "release" your Kindle.  So go to My Computer and click on the drive of your Kindle there.  It will come up (at the top of the screen) with several items, one of which is "eject".  Do it. 

Hope that helps.

Vicki

[Toby]

I did it again tonight. Plugged & Kindle - didn't work right, USB showing on kindle. It said to unplug & replug. I did & it worked, but something is not right. I would say that I think it's Windows 7 & drivers, but why didn't have a problem with my US K2 & my same laptop & Windows 7? I was feeling better yesterday when it worked. Now, I feel very uneasy with it not working right.

[identicaltriplets]

Well, I have Google Chrome, and I cannot eject or read my Kindle while charging. I am at a loss as to what to do. I have had my Kindle a week now.

[nogdog~6op6ou]

Well, I have Google Chrome, and I cannot eject or read my Kindle while charging. I am at a loss as to what to do. I have had my Kindle a week now.

Can you not eject it via this method?

[identicaltriplets]

Can you not eject it via this method?

I couldn't find that but will look again and see. Thanks for the link!

[Tom Diego]

Well, I have Google Chrome, and I cannot eject or read my Kindle while charging. I am at a loss as to what to do. I have had my Kindle a week now.

The fact that you mentioned Google Chrome makes me think that maybe you confused Windows Explorer with Internet Explorer, which are two completely different programs.  Windows Explorer is a file browser and Internet Explorer is a Web browser.  This discussion is regarding Windows Explorer.

[jhavard]

I unplugged and looked it up in the user guide.  If you have Vista, you go to start, go to computer, right click on Kindle, click on eject.  When I did that it worked like a charm.  The Kindle went immediately to the User's guide and then I could do whatever I wanted to while it's plugged in charging.

[JoysKindle]

SOLUTION! OH YAY. You can't eject by right-clicking the icon in the task bar, this is "stopping" not "ejecting". You have to open your "My Computer" icon, right-click the Kindle icon, and choose "eject". I have a Kindle 2/3G and Vista, and this worked just fine. Right-clicking to "stop" the Kindle from the task bar resulted in the same problem everyone else posted.

Now you can PC charge while you read, enjoy!

[Morf]

I've seen the same behaviour as everybody else on Windows 7 (Eject works, Safely remove doesn't). It got me to thinking about why this is, so I went googling...

The first thing to understand is that Eject and Safely Remove are different. Eject is really designed for disks with removable media such as a DVD drive. If you had an external DVD drive, then eject would tell it to eject the disk but would leave the drive connected ready for a new disk to be inserted. Safely remove, however, would remove the whole DVD drive from your PC so you could unplug it (but would not in fact eject the disk from the drive).


It's explained here http://ask.metafilter.com/140547/What-is-the-difference-between-Eject-and-Safely-Remove-Hardware-in-Vista that safely remove simply flushes all the cache etc and removes the device from Windows without telling the external device that this is happening whereas Eject tells the external device to eject itself.


In addition to that, it appears that Microsoft changed the way Safely Remove works when they went from XP to Vista http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7hardware/thread/b7a4317a-88ff-4684-9251-77cdd2898520 and http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401954.

XP disabled the device when it had been safely removed, Vista (and Windows 7) performs a "Soft remove". This is apparently designed for devices that can charge from the USB port.

Presumably the Kindle sees both the "Eject" command and the "USB disable" as an instruction to come out of USB mode back into reading mode, but doesn't see the "Soft Remove" as such.

It is something that Amazon could probably change in the firmware, but they may not regard it as important enough, and from the looks of it there are many other devices such as MP3 players that have the same problem.

---------

The Microsoft article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401954) actually includes a work-around!

Now, before you get too excited, a VERY BIG WARNING!!!!. As stated in the article, you have to really know what you are doing before you use this. Furthermore, the article makes it clear that the change could have undesired effects, and there is a note at the bottom which describes this as a "Fast Publish" article which basically means it could be wrong.

In the interests of KindleBoard, I tried it out. I couldn't get the Per-Device setting to work, but I did get the global setting to work and now when I safely remove my Kindle it goes to the reading screen.

Now I've tested that, and confirmed it works, and understood what is going on (a day without learning is a day wasted) I've removed the setting change and put everything back to normal.

This change feels like a very large sledgehammer to crack a very small nut, and I will just remember to use Eject rather than Safely Remove.

[Elk]

Excellent job, Morf!

I haven't had the issue on XP Pro machines or Vista, but it is great to know what is going on.

[Russian Gun Kollector]

To eject kindle while connected to USB and Vista, just go to Computer right-click on Kindle folder, and choose Eject. Kindle will go to home page.  

:Sorry: I just noticed two posts above someone had already solved this problem... I'm such a doofus. 

[splashscuba]

Never been able to use whilst usb charging. Ejecting via the "safely remove hardware" never worked. Tried via explorer and voila, I can now use my knidle whilst charging. I've the latest gen 3G Kindle and a netbook running Win7. Thanks to those who suggested this fix.

[BristolDave]

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium. My Kindle will not eject from Windows Explorer no matter how many times I try.

[joane]

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM BUT THEN I READ THE USERS GUIDE CAREFULY AND IT WORKED! YOU JUST HAVE TO EJECT IT FROM START-COMPUTER-RIGHT BUTTON ON KINDLE ICON AND EJECT AND VOILA!!!!

HAPPY READING

[kidwgm]

SOLUTION! OH YAY. You can't eject by right-clicking the icon in the task bar, this is "stopping" not "ejecting". You have to open your "My Computer" icon, right-click the Kindle icon, and choose "eject". I have a Kindle 2/3G and Vista, and this worked just fine. Right-clicking to "stop" the Kindle from the task bar resulted in the same problem everyone else posted.

Now you can PC charge while you read, enjoy!

Thank you! I just got my Kindle 3 and this was frustrating me to no end. Partly because I needed to charge it out of the box but I still wanted to play with my new toy. Thanks again.

[Nibiru2012]

Just received my Kindle 3 WiFi today.  Getting to know it is a "little" challenging for sure.

Couldn't figure out how to read whilst connected to the computer so since I joined this forum a few weeks ago in anticipation of my new Kindle I thought I would explore via the Search bar and I found my answer. 

Thanks Y'all for the handy tips!  It's appreciated!

Nibiru2012

[Sandra Ann]

Just go to the desktop and click on the Kindle icon.  Then click on File on the top left and go down to 'Eject Kindle' and click there.
The icon should disappear and the Kindle becomes ready to read.

[eduardojuan]

Following the instructions to keep using Kindle while charging via USB just does not work.  I run Windows 7 Ultimate.  Any suggestions besides what the Kindle screen says I should do?

[Morf]

Are you definitely using My Computer...Eject as explained above? Using "Safely Remove Hardware" from the task bar does not work.

SOLUTION! OH YAY. You can't eject by right-clicking the icon in the task bar, this is "stopping" not "ejecting". You have to open your "My Computer" icon, right-click the Kindle icon, and choose "eject". I have a Kindle 2/3G and Vista, and this worked just fine. Right-clicking to "stop" the Kindle from the task bar resulted in the same problem everyone else posted.

Now you can PC charge while you read, enjoy!

[Jeff]

Following the instructions to keep using Kindle while charging via USB just does not work.  I run Windows 7 Ultimate.  Any suggestions besides what the Kindle screen says I should do?

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate and it works for me.

[magz]

thank you mlkri    ! got my first kindle today - and I had the same problem! your fix works.  I have windows 7.

[gillashley]

Reply 16 on the safely ejecting my KIndle debate worked for me. Thank you!!