If you’ve managed to brick your Fire TV or for whatever reason are unable to get to the settings menu to perform a factory reset, here is how to enter recovery mode without fully booting into the Fire TV’s operating system.
To do this you will need a USB keyboard with a “Print Screen” or “SysRq” key. Mac keyboards generally do not have this key so will not work. Before you get started, plug the USB keyboard into the Fire TV and unplug the Fire TV’s power. Now plug the power in and while the Fire TV is booting, you need to press the following 3 keys simultaneously: Alt + Print Screen + i
Pressing those 3 keys sends a “kill all tasks” command to the Fire TV. If you kill all tasks during boot up enough times, the Fire TV will enter Androids default Recovery Mode. So after pressing Alt + Print Screen + i, the Fire TV will flicker and restart the boot up process. While it’s trying to boot up the second time, press Alt + Print Screen + i again. A good time to press it is as soon as you see the colorful Fire TV logo. Repeat this process several times, pressing Alt + Print Screen + i during boot, until the Fire TV displays the message “The System Update was not successful.” When you see this message, you are now in Recovery Mode. Note that depending on your TV, the colorful Fire TV logo may appear off screen, so you’ll need to guess when it appears.
Once on the “Update was not successful” screen, press the Home key on your keyboard. This should bring up a menu in the upper left corner. If a menu doesn’t appear, press Alt + Print Screen + i one more time. The screen will go black and then return to the “System Update was not successful” screen. Pressing the Home key should now definitely bring up the menu. Once you see the menu, use the arrow keys on the keyboard to highlight the factory reset option and hit enter.
Sourcejljaries42
@AFTVnews
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I hit enter at ‘wipe cache partition’ mistakenly. then AFTV turned off and it doesn’t print the screen on monitor.
How can i fix it?
id love to know that too.
The home button on the right? Or the home button with the Microsoft logo?
is the Home button next to page up buttom
So how does it recover if router has the Amazon firmware update site blocked? Does this set it back to its original (rootable) firmware? Or does it have a saved copy of its latest updated firmware somewhere?
One or two to rebremme, that is.
The sequence alt + print + i commands did not work.
Pressing the same sequence + “to” I can reboot. But nothing happens. Only amazon logo appears blank.
AFTV was good while it lasted.
not impressed with the help on here from the support team
I’m not impressed with you, Jamie.
I’m not really surprised by that response, Really.
I get it get to restore screen but I hit home button and nothing happens.
Well I want to let everyone know that I got it to work and my fire tv is unbrick end. Thank you all that found this info and shared it with all of us. Saved me 100 bucks.
hi, i bought a fire tv this afternoon and hooked it up via ethernet. after booting up i removed the ethernet cable to try to hook up wireless, after doing so the fire tv flashed with a green screen and will not boot at all. it gets to the gray amazon screen then the screen flashes green again and goes back into the boot sequence once again.
the white light is fading in & out and sometimes flashes a faster orange color then back to the fading in & out white.
i tried the alt-print sys req/i and it does nothing. can i try a different method??
thanks in advance
Will this unbrick firetv if the bootloader is damage to the put the white amazon logo appears and that all it does with a orange light glowing?
Me too …..
My fire tv is bricked.
It has cwm 6.0.5.1.4a recovery.
so it doesn’t changed by Alt + Print Screen + i
any other solutions?
please…
I have the same issue. I do not know what to do.
Hey Fredy, FYI IF YOU CAN GET INTO CWM YOU ARE NOT BRICKED. You may have to post of the XDA forums for AFTV but you can still fix anything wrong with it. I had a similar issue, but I was able to clone a recovery file off a different rooted AFTV to fix it. You can upload files to it in CWM with a usb hub, keyboard, and jump drive. Or it is possible to ADB connect into if you remember the IP address or check your router. ADB is limited though.
Could you help me with this because I cant get onto my fire tv but I am able to get into clockworkmod.
wouldn’t it be possible to root an “unrootable” Fire TV with “apply update from ADB” and then pushing a rootable downgrade or modded firmware over USB?
I assume not possible because of locked bootloader :(
after it finished wipe data and cache and i hit reboot. still nothing happen. please help! is there any way i can use a usb drive or adb to recover my aftv?
i’m using the factory recovery
After a few months that the AFTV set without use I wanted to reuse it, I’ve rooted it before, so I went and selected the “reset to factory defualts” from the setting menu to begin with fresh box – BIG mistake, when I rooted the box back then there was an instruction to block specific Amazon address, that I found out later that it’s critical to the login process, so after resetting the box I’ve been locked out of the AFTV because I can’t go anywhere untill I’ll log into my amazon account and since this address is blocked on the hosts file I can’t log to Amazon, So I learned the hard way that it is not a real “reset to factory default” Anyway It feels like this is an unfinished article, Once I’m in the recovery mode, How can I use the update from ADB? USB cable? Over wifi? Network cable? It’s just unclear to me, I tried all this method, but still couldn’t see any device via ADB….
Thanks
I don’t know what firmware you were on and whether it was pre-rooted, or whether you even still need help. But if you can get into CWM recovery, here’s what you should do: connect an ethernet cable and a keyboard, boot to recovery in whatever way you can, then go to install zip > install zip from sideload. Then on your computer, open an adb session, and type “adb connect ip.address.of.your.device” Once you see that you’re connected, you can just type “adb sideload name_of_the_firmware” Make sure you type in the complete path of where the firmware file is located on your computer.
If that doesn’t work for you, let me know and I’ll do my best to help you sort it out.
How can we find the IP of the device? I checked my router and it doesn’t show up?
Also, there seems to be no activity lights on ethernet port of the switch where the AFTV1 is hooked into?
I’m in the same boat as you. Waiting for the site owner to help finish the article.
I screwed up so badly that I had to share my experience on how I recovered. I’ve learned so much from reading all the help you wonderful folks have so painstakingly shared, I couldn’t go to sleep tonight without taking the time to hopefully give something back.
What happened is I was updating a customer’s rooted AFTV from “51.1.3.0” to the most recent rooted custom ROM. Everything went fine at first. I installed “51.1.4.0_514006420” without a hitch. I then rebooted the device and did the partial bootloader unlock in the Amazon FireTV Utility App. Then things went horribly wrong because since I was distracted, I forgot to install the new bootloader. I didn’t notice that I had forgotten this crucial step until after I clicked to install CWM version 6.0.5.1.4a. While I was in the new recovery, I installed “51.1.6.0_516009820”. OOOOOPS!! Just before it finished, I started crying because I realized my mistake and knew Little-Miss-AFTV-Expert had f**ked up.
Like an idiot, I made the further mistake of doing the “let’s just see if it will boot” trick. Well. It didn’t. Neither could I get into recovery. And since I had only done the partial bootloader unlock, making a mad dash to my store in the middle of the night to grab a USB-A male-to-male cable was wasted energy because fastboot was not an option. I WAS DOOMED!!! But I kept reading and kept crying.
The problem was further exacerbated by the fact that I could not even get to where I could see the colorful Amazon logo while it was trying to boot. What finally worked was persistence. I just kept trying the “Alt-i-Prt Scrn/Sys Req” button on the keyboard, followed by pressing the “Home” button. After getting into CWM a couple times without being able to connect via ADB, I realized by looking at the IP Address that it wasn’t connected to the internet. So I looked in my stash and found a long-ass ethernet cable, fought to reboot back into CWM, sideloaded “51.1.4.0_514006420” and found love and laughter again.
My word to the wise is this: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT EVER EVER EVER FORGET TO INSTALL THE BOOTLOADER BEFORE YOU UPGRADE TO THE NEWEST FIRMWARE!!! AND IF YOU HAVE THE HUEVOS, IT’S A GREAT IDEA TO DO THE FULL BOOTLOADER UNLOCK BEFORE YOU START MESSING AROUND. Please learn from my mistake because if you don’t have the bootloader fully unlocked and you screw something up, you are in for a bricked device and a WORLD of hurt.
Thank you Jesus, Allah, and every other diety. And most of all, thank you wonderful people for sharing all those AFTV tips and tricks. You saved my wallet…
I’m glad you were able to get things fixed!
To clarify for others, when you say “install the bootloader” what you really mean to say is “install the boot menu”. Those are two very different things.
Hi, I’m in your same boat! How did you do this part:
sideloaded “51.1.4.0_514006420” and found love and laughter again.
When ADB was not connecting?
Also, how did you find the device’s IP address? These are the only options I see on my device:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qh6sbibugf5pbd/20140629_185422.jpg
(top blue text)
Big round of thank you to GlammaGeek! Your post saved my bum today. Alt-i-Print_Screen got be back into CWM and luckily I still had the 51.1.4.0_514006420 still on the SDCard. Quick install from ZIP and boom back to normal. Family distractions did me in today…best to work on Fire TV when everyone is asleep!
Don’t mean to Necropost, but you are most welcome. Glad my pain was helpful to someone.
I love you! :-*
Stock in recovery after this here: (see edit)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/help/help-hid-devices-mouse-keyboard-cwm-t3229698
You help me a lot. Thank you very much.
Greetings by Daniel
I love you back! LOL…
Oh yes:
OS: flashed 51.1.6.3_516012020-rooted over cwm
Error: Stocked with flashing (waves) Amazon fireTV logo
Solution with: Logitech K400r DE-Layout
Buttons: fn + AltGr + i + Drucken
(drucken is print)
Process: Pressing this button many many many many times again again together, I think after the third boot process I come my lovely CWM :)
Tipp: Dont stop to pressing thoose buttons and check some keyboards.
Greetings by Daniel
I can get to wipe all user data. Then I hit enter. It says resetting fire tv but then it does nothing just black screen
This method did finally work after many, many attempts. It helps to have the HDMI from the FIRE TV plugged into a small display or you miss the menu in the upper left corner to wipe and reset to factory settings. The USB keyboard method is the one I used. Thanks to everyone for their comments.
I tried this with a keyboard and it worked FLAWLESSly. I cannot thank the OP enough
Thanks
Hi my Amazon fire stick wont work. I needed to update it and a friend told me to press fresh start and then follow the prompts from a video. I was successful with one. However, I cannot do it for my other one. I clicked fresh start and it wont let me continue to follow the neccessary steps to continue the process. It wont let me do click on nothing. I am so frustrated. Please any help?
Hi,
my gen1 firetv suddenly reboots every time within 10s of getting to the amazon launcher gui.
I had the latest fw on it and also used kingroot to root it. This worked great the last weeks.
I’m not aware of anything I did to trigger this now.
I tried to enter the recovery mode (via “adb reboot recovery”), but I don’t get any options there.
It just says “Amazon(sic!) recovery mode ” in a red font and that the device will reboot after a few minutes (which it doesn’t). Pulling the plug after a half an hour leaves me with the “old” system, i.e. no data has been wiped.
When it boots, I have a few (10 or so) seconds with network connectivity that I can use to fire up an adb command. Sadly nothing helped so far.
Looks permanently bricked to me :-/
Any ideas?
Same issue you have man, have you found a fix yet?
My Gen 1 FireTV now is stuck on the initial black and white Amazon logo screen and doesn’t go any further. It stopped working a couple of months ago – I suspect this was as a result of a botched OTA firmware update as they were being put out around that time. This box was completely stock and never rooted. And of course, Amazon tech support could not help me as it is out of the 1 year warranty now (even though their OTA update killed it, most likely).
I’ve tried using a USB keyboard and the Alt-i-SysRq key combination on startup and have never seen any evidence that it did anything, even after pressing that combination several hundred times after bootup. For those of you for which this worked, how many times did you need to press it?
I also tried to get into the box using adb and a USB A-A cable. When plugging it into my Windows computer, I hear the Windows device connection sound and the ADB bridge appears in Windows Device Manager. Unfortunately, after about 10 seconds, I hear the disconnect sound and the device disappears from Device Manager. I tried running commands like “adb devices -l” to see if I could see the device, but it always returned an empty list. Does anyone know of any other commands that might work within that 10 second time period so that I could do a factory reset?
I just had a very frustrating call with Amazon support on this issue. The l1 support team are using Kodi as a blanket excuse for an update failure that results in the blank boot screen issue mentioned in your post (I am seeing exactly the same symptoms here).
I am unable to get the USB keyboard method you detail to work. It seems to be in a reboot cycle lasting 15s.
My system boots to the white “Amazon” logo and then just goes blank. I do not see any coloured logo… just a blank screen continually rebooting to another blank screen (no black and white amazon logo).
The support rep suggested the issue was being “Caused by Kodi” and the fact it had installed Kodi onto the System partition of the device and as a result of Kodi being there is causing issues with the the system partition and as a result was failing to complete the upgrade resulting in the reboot.
I asked the support rep for guidance on how to use a USB keyboard to get the system to restore to the factory image. The support rep refused to acknowledge there was a USB key stroke that could be used (has this feature been disabled in later boot loaders?).
I’m sure I am not the only person out there that needs confidence Amazon will prevent updates from being installed on the Amazon Fire boxes that may impact application development work. It was a total let down for the support team to refuse to provide guidance on this.
BIG THUMBS DOWN ON AMAZON SUPPORT FOR REFUSING TO ASSIST IN FIXING A PROBLEM THEY CAUSED.
If you find a way to restore your firetv from the similar bricked state mine is in – please let me know.
I have no remote working with the device other than the Fire TV remote app.
I have a USB debug cable an a mac with ADB. I cannot issue an adb command to the device as it reboots every 10s or so…..
Let me know if you find a solution….
Thanks
You can be annoyed, but if you installed Kodi, you sideloaded it. That means that you caused the issue. Not Amazon. You f***** with the software of a device and got burned (full disclosure – so did I), but Amazon is not the reason, you are.
Amazon creates a problem by
(1)
locking bootloader
(2)
inflicting ads into a paid product/service
#StopPrivacyRape
I am new to this forum as I just discovered it while trying to find some troubleshooting assistance for my stock Gen 1 Fire TV that stopped working within the past few days. I have the same symptoms as Jerry (simple black and white Amazon logo on screen and white light on box fades in and out) which appeared about the same time. I suspect a botched firmware upgrade. We have experienced a few short power outages recently during thunderstorms which could have happened while a firmware upgrade was in progress. I have tried Amazon’s reboot procedure by disconnecting power for 30 seconds but no change. I have put fresh batteries in the remote and used the button combinations to sync it but no change. I have also tried the button combinations to change the screen resolution but no change. The box does not respond in any way to the remote. I would appreciate some advice on what steps to take to attempt to get it working again. This thread caught my eye as a possible way to force a factory reset but don’t want to attempt it if I am on the wrong track.
Thanks for any assistance.
I had a bricked FireTV non HD after the April 2016 update clashed with my side loaded firestarter. It got stuck on the white logo with the power light glowing dim then bright.
The usb keyboard combination worked when I kept the three keys held down for around 30 secs after several attempts. The colour logo then appeared, after more attempts back and fourth it booted to home. Frooze once, more attempts and I got back to home navigated using the keyboard cursor aka arrow keys and managed to factory reset.
After seeing a screen with red writing saying wait but if it doesn’t restart unplug and plug in the power. I did this after waiting and am now stuck on the colour logo. So a lityle further but the factory reset doesn’t appear to have worked… anyone got advice please?
Brilliant, this worked for me. Took six or seven attempts of taking the power cord out and pressing the three suggested buttons but allowed me to get the home screen to do a factory reset. Thank you very much for your help
i got a firetv with pin it so i have no access to the menu i don’t know the pin.
can this solve the problem ? or not ? thank you
I do the factory reset and reboot but still end up on the ‘colourful’ Amazon logo. I’ve tried numerous times but nothing changes.
Any other way to do a full factory reset?
I have a stock FireTV (1gen) on the latest firmware. It first boots normaly (b/w Amazon logo followed by the colorful/animated Amazon logo) and then a screen appears saying “Optimizing system storage and applications. This will take aproximately 10 minutes to complete”. But nothing more happens.
Tried the USB keyboard (Cherry Keyboard) method, i.e. while booting i hit Alt + i + druck again and again, but nothing happens.
Can someone explain when and how often to push the key combination to get to the recovery menu? Thanks in advance!
I have the same problem with the “Optimizing System Storage and applications” screen. I’ve done the alt+i+prtscr sequence about 10 times now and nothing.
Any advice on how to get out of this loop?
did you have any luck with this? Mine is doing the same.
My aftv wont boot up. A solid orange light comes on an intermittently turns off than to white for a second before going solid orange.
the screen says no signal. I’ve tried different tv’s, hdmi cables, changed batteries, tried the alt I prtsc…nothing works.
Your help would be much appreciated!
Usb keyboard not working after getting in to recovery mode. Can not press home button for menu. White light on device just flashing. Help
Hi, how do we factory reset? I plugged in an ethernet cable but the lights on the switch don’t light up. How do we know the ethernet is active?
Does “Apply update from ADB” work in this screen?
I’ve been trying to get an ADB connection for the past few hours without any success?
IS THIS
usb keyboard Recovery Mode and Factory Reset
For rooted devices?
mine is not rooted. I removed a file with bloatware
com.amazon.launcher.
so I did not need to go firestick menu.
Now I screwed up.
Hi all its me again bodz.
GUESS WHAT…
I FIXED IT!
I could not load into the recovery menu.
It flickered and went green screen for a second everytime I TRYED TO GET into the recovery menu.
I was upset went to sleep.
I just pluged my firestick next day.
I went into system and I can see my ip address was working again / connected.
Instead of me going into the recovery menu, I some how repaired my ip address connection.
THis post is useful thank you JAMIE
I have done Alt+ Print screen+i but it appears that “NO COMMAND ” how could i resolve this. my tv box is x3 rockchip 3066
i have done that but “NO COMMAND ” appears, how wil;l i resolve this problem anyone who can help
Same not as everyone else stuck on colorful amazon fire tv logo screen
Fire TV/2nd Gen, NOT ROOTED, all I get is “AMAZON” in white letters on a black screen. Never see color logo. Slow flashing white light on box. Died after KODI 17.5 auto updated.
Have been trying keyboard method, no luck.
Any ideas?
Keep getting no signal on screen after AMAZON goes out @5 secs later.
Frustrated!
Major, I had the exact same thing happen on about the same day. I’m thinking it is related to an update. I’ve been on tech support with Amazon, but so far no luck. I’ll post back if they come up with a resolution. I’ve tried the keyboard method as well with no luck.
I’ve noticed that there is a LOT of questions on here. Most are asking very similar questions.
But, not to many answers.
Is this a regularly monitored site.
Can someone suggest a better sight on troubleshooting FTV products?
Just tried pressing the alt, print screen & I, i switched off the power and back on with the buttons pressed, after about 10 attempts the Amazon logo flickered and went out followed by the coloured logo and the screen loaded up, but the remote wouldn’t work, powered down again, When switched back on it booted up straight away and the remote now working, very happy. You have to try several times with the 3 keys, just keep trying.
Yeah, I guess I’m royally screwed. I can’t even get past the black screen w/ the white Amazon logo in the middle. :(
Could anyone help me to solve my problem with my AFTV 3rd generation. I installed an apk that requires Google play services and play store to works, then I restart my device and then it stuck in a loop on the white and orange amazon logo.
The bit issue is that this device only has a micro USB port and in the other side an HDMI port, so how can I connect my usb keyboard and at the same time the power adapter for it?
Any help please :(
My niece gave me her old firestick to set grammy up cable free, but need pin to deregister. Niece can’t remember pin or whose account she used to register this – probably an ex several times over. Is there a way to deregister without a pin or by bypassing whoever’s account this is?
I get a blue screen that reads firetv will restart in a few minutes should reume normal operation …if it does not start,……. cant see all screen,tried to move with up/down arrows and volume buttons without any luck…amazon fire tv.
Will this method work if the USB debugging is set to On?
Mine is on for previous ADB connections over USB (which I never changed back because it said it was just for that power cycle, but doesn’t appear to be), but I can’t get in via ADB anymore because wifi is down (which means my remote is too) and it’s requesting authorization for the ADB connection. I have tried the Alt-PrntScrn-i method outlined here without any luck. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong, or if it’s because of the USB debugging setting not being able to recognize the USB keyboard at any point while booting.
People still active here ?
I tried the above method but my stick seems to not care…
First a white Amazon logo appears on black background and than the colorful logo appears. I tried to press the keys at any given time during the boot progress but no chance. Maybe someone is reading this and has an idea…
I just trashcanned mine. Easiest fix.
It is unclear which solution applies to which box. Have AFTV (Gen 1) box. Plug in and get white “amazon” on black background. A few seconds later, it changes to white “amazon” and orange “fireTV” on black background. From there it hangs forever. Have changed HDMI cable and plugged into a different TV. Have a wireless Logitech keyboard connected and have tried the ctr-i-prt scr combination multiple times (waiting 30 sec, unplugging, wait 5, plug in with keyboard keys pressed). During this whole process, the forward facing white light on the box lights up and fades away. Slowly lights up then fades away. (I think this indicates standby, but not sure) Because of the light action, I am unsure if it is registering the keyboard presses. What am I missing here
i have ftv box 2nd gen…white light dimming on and off…tried this medthod and nothing happen?
my questions are:
u keep on pressing alt+i+prtsc all the time? (tried this nothing happen)
or u keep pressing it while u plug in the power cord?
what else should i do to get it back to mnormal?
any help?
I’ve tried all that was mentioned about how to unbrick your firestick. Once I reached the Android recovery mode I cannot select anything and my remote won’t reconnect as well. is there any other way to select the options given in Android recovery mode? I’m trying to save some $$
You need to connect a USB keyboard to traverse amongst the options available and the ENTER key confirms your selection.
I have tried the up and down button, the arrows, and the tab to change the selection and nothing moves for the selection. Can i use usb wireless keyboard and mouse combo?
I’ve already bricked both of my AFTV 2’s back in 2019 as alluded to in this very thread (after attempting to install Magisk in the name of science, but that’s neither here nor there): https://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-unbrick-by-entering-recovery-mode-and-factory-reset-the-amazon-fire-tv/#comment-899011
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/firetv-2-sloane-prerooted-stock-images-5-2-7-6_r1.3309783/page-35#post-79069484
So I’m unable to provide any matter-of-fact guidance or corroborate anything that I’m telling you currently, and I’m only recalling from memory. That being said, the following guide [which I linked] below that I authored which instructs you how to install rooted AFTV image v5.2.6.8 also has a similar type of screen you’re referencing that requires both a M+KB to operate and traverse amongst the menu options:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/how-to-root-the-amazon-fire-tv-2-box-running-latest-software-version-5-2-6-8.3908387/
Pay attention to ‘Step #7’. That’s the extent of what guidance I can provide.
thanks a lot for the information. I really appreciate it and ill give it a go. Thanks again frank Nitty