First of all, I know this is not the kind of questions that usually are done in asklemmy but I don’t know where to ask, sorry folks.
It’s a 5th generation kindle and I really loved reading on it. :(
Bonus question if the kindle is doomed: best e-ink reader on the cheaper side? I don’t want anything super powerful or fancy, I just want to load my collection with calibre and read on it. - bonus points if it’s a libre and or open source friendly.
It’s possible the connector to the screen is just loose. As a last-ditch effort, you could try to repair it. See if ifixit has a guide to taking your kindle apart. It should be easier than a phone since there’s no waterproof sealing.
The connector probably looks like this:
Just reseating it could fix your screen. Just make sure to be careful with whatever little black tab locks the ribbon cable in place. Some flip up while others slide out and they are notoriously delicate if you pull them the wrong way.
If that doesn’t work, plenty of eBay sellers offer replacement screens. I know this because my job had a bunch of left over e-ink displays from a product we were developing. They happened to be the ones used in the Kindle XL and I hocked them on eBay to a repair shop.