How to re-install the screensaver hack on a Kindle running 2.5.2

Great news for those of you missing your old screensavers: a person over at Mobileread.com has repackaged those beloved hacks so that they work on the new 2.5.2 update.

To get them, visit this thread on Mobileread and check out post #2. You might also want to read through the instructions and commentary by other forum members so you know what’s going on. Currently it seems that this solution works on both U.S. and international flavors of the Kindle 2, and possibly the Kindle DX.

In order for the updated screensaver hack to work on 2.5 and higher, you have to “jailbreak” your Kindle first by applying a special update. This update will actually fail when you try to run it on your Kindle, but that’s by design; what it really does is create a special certificate in a directory that the official Amazon updates ignore, and this certificate is what will allow you to then apply the screensaver hack.

You should note, however, that currently there’s no way to uninstall that certificate. The author of the jailbreak program says it’s completely unnecessary because it will not interfere with future Amazon updates, but he also has acknowledges on the thread that a lot of Kindle owners would feel safer knowing there’s a way to manually reverse this process. He says he’ll post a jailbreak uninstaller eventually, but as of today it’s not available. Use at your own risk.

The screensaver hack still comes with an uninstaller, so you can add or remove it whenever you like.

I just successfully reinstalled the screensaver hack on my U.S. Kindle 2, and here’s how I did it:

Step 1:

Connect your Kindle 2 (U.S. or international) to your computer via USB, and copy the appropriate jailbreak .bin file to the top directory of your Kindle. Eject the Kindle, then go into Settings and from the menu there select the Update option.

It will start to update, then fail with the following message:

The update was not successful.
!
Your kindle is restarting.

Step 2:

After it restarts and everything goes back to normal, connect it to your PC again. This time copy the appropriate screensaver .bin file into the top directory. While you’re at it, you can go into your System folder and find the screensaver folder and add your custom screensaver images there (if they’re not there already from a previous hack). Again, eject, then go into Settings and select Update.

This time around, you’ll see a “success!” screen with a nifty checkmark graphic, and once it restarts your custom screens will be working.

Do this at your own risk. Don’t do this if you aren’t comfortable with computers and your Kindle. If anything goes wrong, you won’t be able to demand help from anyone–you’ll have to troubleshoot on your own.

Good luck!