How to Get Your Kindle Fire to Work if It Locks Up
By Matthew Todd
There are a few different ways a Kindle Fire can lock up and need to be fixed. Your app could stop working, the device itself can freeze, and it is even possible for the whole tablet to simply stop working. There are solutions for each of these problems.
Killing an App
After you've waited some minutes for your app to respond without any luck -- and the Kindle itself hasn't noticed a problem and offered to close the app -- you have to kill it manually. Select the gear-shaped settings icon in the corner of the screen, then choose "More." Under the Applications heading is a list of all apps that are currently running. Tap the unresponsive one and select "Force Stop."
Rebooting a Frozen Kindle Fire
If your whole device freezes, then you won't be able to access the settings menu. Instead, you have to reboot. To do so, hold the power button for at least 20 seconds. After there is no longer anything on the screen, press the power button again to turn it back on. You may want to plug in a charger since the reboot process can take a good deal to time. To avoid freezing due to memory leaks in your apps, you might find it useful to reboot like this once a week.
Dealing With a Blank Screen
If you're faced with nothing but a blank screen and an unresponsive Kindle Fire, your options are limited. The first step should be to ensure that the tablet is fully charged. After you get a green light on the charger, hold the power button for 30 seconds. If that doesn't get you a response, it is time to contact Amazon.
Customer Service
Contact Amazon's customer support. They occasionally have suggestions and will certainly run you through a list of all the troubleshooting steps you have already tried, but in the event of a broken device they can get your Kindle fixed or replaced, depending on warranty status.
Writer Bio
Matthew Todd has eight years of writing and copy editing experience, mostly focused on the tech industry. His work covers a range of topics from gadgets and eReaders to Microsoft's emphasis on cloud computing. He recently earned a Masters degree in English.