# Kindle Fire - Not seen on PC windows 8.1



## etaf

Hi, 
I have a friend who has a kindle fire.

In the past , when I set up the PC windows 8.1 - the kindle would connect and show as a drive 
Now its does not - it just shows fire and no drive 

I looked in device manager and there is an 
Other>
+ Andriod - with a ! mark 
so its looking for a driver - which I cant find - nor can I update driver from the device manager

Also she has a windows phone , and I noticed that the Fire starts a Windows phone up.

I used a program that allows you to remove devices from the USB and also removed from Settings - Devices 

Re-plugged in the fire and it installed - good sign 

fire now had an 
internal memory > under the fire in windows explorer 
BUT the contents in documents did not match the documents on the kindle 

tried a different cable and USB slots - no change 

Rebooted the PC and was back to the same issue 
fire shown in windows explorer - but when clicked on - no mapped drive 
and it fires up the windows phone app

Amazon thinks its a faulty kindle - but did say they could not really help ..

Any ideas or suggestions ?


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## sobeit

which kindle fire? did you try plugging in the fire and restart the computer?


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## etaf

Thanks for the quick reply 

Fire HD 

maybe a HDX but its a 7" screen and could only see HDX as 8+" screens 


> did you try plugging in the fire and restart the computer?


Yes we tried that with it connected and disconnected 
and restarting the kindle 
Held the power for 40seconds - BUT it did not restart like apple does when holding the home/power together - not sure if it is supposed to restart 

Also when its connected - it nolonger shows up with the USB removal icon in the system tray


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## sobeit

There are a couple of suggestions in the following link though it is for win7. 

http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=TxRJI5JSF7RQ4Z


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## etaf

i dont see a topic that matches my request in that search link posted
I have posted there - to see if they have an answer


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## sobeit

sorry about that. did not notice the problem myself. I guess it is one of those forums you cannot post direct links to threads. Let me copy and paste a couple of the possible solutions. 

1. Have your PC on and your Kindle attached via the USB cable

2. Go to the Start menu and select/open the Control Panel

3. In the control panel, select System

4. When the System panel opens, select Device Manager option on the left side of the panel

5. When the Device Manager opens, look for the listing "Portable Devices". This is where your Kindle should be listed.

6. If the triangle to the left of "Portable Devices" is pointing right, click the triangle to open the listings in "Portable Devices"

7. If you see "Kindle" with an exclamation point inside a yellow triangle, then your Kindle driver isn't working properly. If you see "Kindle" just by itself, then the driver is working correctly and you're having another issue. It might be your Fire itself. (If you don't see anything, then I'm guessing Windows didn't even install a driver for your Kindle and you'll have to try and find one to install).

8. Assuming you see that warning symbol next to "Kindle", right mouse button click on "Kindle" and a menu will open up. You should see an option "Uninstall". Select this option and confirm you want to uninstall the driver by clicking OK.

9. After the driver is uninstalled, disconnect and then reconnect the USB cable from/to your Kindle Fire. Windows should reinstall the driver and it should be working. 

_________________

If you have any apps (applications) in your Carousel, try removing them.
You can always put them in your Favorites section instead.
In my case, I had a really great battery-monitoring app in my Carousel,
and for some unknown reason it was preventing Windows from accessing my
Kindle files. It still recognized the Kindle in the "Devices and Printers"
section of the Windows Control Panel, but not anywhere else. 

After I removed the app (but left it in my Favorites section), Windows was
able to access all the folders and files on my Kindle Fire, and I was able
to move many downloads to folders where I could access them on the
Kindle, such as "Docs" and "Books". 

___________________________


Try a new oem cable, that is all it took for me.


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## etaf

Yep, I did 1-9 
and it was showing under 
Other>
andriod !
so i uninstalled and let it reinstall next time with kindle no change 
and no driver found at all

tried a different cable as well


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## sobeit

you said amazon thought it was a faulty kindle, Is it still under warranty?


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## etaf

i dont think so - it was a while ago i setup for her - not sure how long the warranty is 

But its like the driver is missing on the PC as it comes up with an ! on the andriod and does not see it as a kindle 
I assume it just uses USB drivers - 

i have suggested she try plugging into a friends PC and see if he can see the drive at all


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## joeten

Wayne I found this https://developer.amazon.com/public...ing-up-the-ADB-Driver-for-Kindle-Fire-Devices


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## sobeit

etaf said:


> i dont think so - it was a while ago i setup for her - not sure how long the warranty is
> 
> But its like the driver is missing on the PC as it comes up with an ! on the andriod and does not see it as a kindle
> I assume it just uses USB drivers -
> 
> i have suggested she try plugging into a friends PC and see if he can see the drive at all


It would be interesting to see if it works with another os or computer. I came across some info that there were problems with win8.


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## sobeit

joeten said:


> Wayne I found this https://developer.amazon.com/public...ing-up-the-ADB-Driver-for-Kindle-Fire-Devices


come to think of it, on one of my older android phones, I had to go into debugging and set the usb if I wanted to connect via usb to my computer. not sure if it applies to the kindle but it is something to check.


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## etaf

Thanks- Yes trying on another computer would be the next step- I have suggested and will await and see if she does this - as she is quite a distance from me at the moment


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## drosera01

etaf said:


> Thanks- Yes trying on another computer would be the next step- I have suggested and will await and see if she does this - as she is quite a distance from me at the moment


You might want to check if MTP is enabled. I think it needs to be enabled to see the storage drive of Android devices so that you can transfer files from android to windows.


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## etaf

Thanks - it that something that may have changed as part of the andriod update ?
It always worked in the past OK


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## drosera01

etaf said:


> Thanks - it that something that may have changed as part of the andriod update ?
> It always worked in the past OK


Not sure when it started, but that is the case in my nexus 7 2013. I learned it when I soft bricked my nexus last year and took me good whole week to figure out.
I got the software installed on my pc but was not working as USB debugging and MTP was not turned on. Later while I was trying to transfer some files from my nexus to pc, I did some Google search and found that out.
And, if you have any broken or previously installed Android divers (called something like ADB or so, I am sorry I am in tablet now and could not do that search) remove all of them and let window install it automatically when u plug it Android device.


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## YNAUDI

Wayne, if I may ask what is she wanting to see on the kindle drive?. Just a note if it's to load books that can also be done from manage my kindle.


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## etaf

She wanted to copy over some PDF that she had downloaded onto her PC

She has not got back in touch, and i understand she is transferring via email now


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## YNAUDI

Yes for now email is best, just a note to convert to other formats Calibre is a great tool. If the kindle is working great but out of warranty Amazon will charge to replace. She can also do a factory reset and lose everything and see if that works. Good Luck


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## magaretz

It seems the driver is missing or something wrong with it.


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## joeten

This mentions a driver Amazon.co.uk Help: Kindle Fire Isn't Recognised by Computer


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## magaretz

I would suggest you to try updating the latest version of Kindle Fire and Camera drivers from the manufacturer’s website and check.


If Windows 8 drivers are not available, then you may install Windows 7 drivers in compatibility mode and check.


Note: Download the latest drivers from the Manufacturer’s website and save it on to the Desktop.


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