On the off chance anyone else still has one of these in 2018, I had this same problem with a non-working power button. I verified the Kindle worked fine by removing and replacing the battery (it rebooted as expected).
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I then had to fully disassemble it to start playing around with the power button. I noticed it worked, but only if I squeezed on the right side (screen facing up) of the USB micro input. I tried screwing down as hard as I felt comfortable on the two screws either side of the home button. Still, the power button only worked intermittently. I deduced it needed more pressure for whatever contact is between the switch and motherboard. So, I added the nearest spacer I could find: took one of the rubber pads off the inside of the back, cut it in half, then placed both halves just below the screw on the right side. I reassembled everything and voila, this old clunky e-reader is still chugging along.
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I then had to fully disassemble it to start playing around with the power button. I noticed it worked, but only if I squeezed on the right side (screen facing up) of the USB micro input. I tried screwing down as hard as I felt comfortable on the two screws either side of the home button. Still, the power button only worked intermittently. I deduced it needed more pressure for whatever contact is between the switch and motherboard. So, I added the nearest spacer I could find: I peeled off one of the rubber pads from the inside of the back cover, cut it in half, then placed both halves just below the screw on the right side. I reassembled everything and voila, this old clunky e-reader is still chugging along.
I didn't investigate the actual cause of the problem since I was too lazy to remove the motherboard. But I'm okay with a little mystery.
On the off chance anyone else still has one of these in 2018, I had this same problem with a non-working power button. I verified the Kindle worked fine by removing and replacing the battery (it rebooted as expected).
I then had to fully disassemble it to start playing around with the power button. I noticed it worked, but only if I squeezed on the right side (screen facing up) of the USB micro input. I tried screwing down as hard as I felt comfortable on the two screws either side of the home button. Still, the power button only worked intermittently. I deduced it needed more pressure for whatever contact is between the switch and motherboard. So, I added the nearest spacer I could find: took one of the rubber pads off the inside of the back, cut it in half, then placed both halves just below the screw on the right side. I reassembled everything and voila, this old clunky e-reader is still chugging along.
I didn't investigate the actual cause of the problem since I was too lazy to remove the motherboard. But I'm okay with a little mystery.