[Kindle Fire Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mebobbob:
here's everything i did, going fine now

Generally, I had issues using the KFU 98+ but nothing insurmountable and definitely got everything done that i couldn't get done before!

Follow the KFU/TWRP instructions carefully, as i assume you've done.

Once you run KFU to install SU, your Fire is "ready" to be rooted even if it didn't install the SU app/apk. If you don't have root after running KFU, you can still sideload superuser.apk. With your Fire connected to your PC and ready for file transfers, copy superuser.apk found in KFU\files\ to your Fire. On your Fire, disconnect USB, browse to where you saved superuser.apk and install it. Run the app to establish SU access. Your rooted. Use a rootchecker app to confirm if you need to.

When I got stuck in TWRP, I forced shutdown by holding the power button until it turned off. When i powered back up, it booted fine all the way to Fire home screen. I had a backup of unknown quality because i was unsure if it finished.

To get a good backup, I used COTR [Cannibal Open Touch Recovery], found here

There's nothing wrong with TWRP, it's what I've used before but v2.4.4 simply wasn't reliable for me. The half-assed-but-worked-anyway method for me was installing COTR by using KFU. On your PC, in the KFU folder \recovery\, change the twrp.img to twrp.ori. Copy the COTR image into the same \recovery\ folder [CannibalOpenTouch-v2.1_otter.img downloaded from above link]. Change the COTR filename to twrp.img.

Now, with your Fire connected to PC, Run KFU and install TWRP - it will actually install COTR.

Now reboot your Fire to recovery, same method as you did for TWRP. Use COTR to run Nandroid [standard android backup tool]. works perfect.

This sounds really complicated but it really isn't too rough. Be patient, lots of reboots.

The backups are found in a \cotrecovery\ folder on your Fire. I copied them to my PC for safe keeping. I was able to go back and forth between original setup and new reset configuration fairly easily until I had everything the way I wanted.

To prevent Amazon from updating your fire and taking root away, see this article.

I did all this just because I screwed up my parental access PW on my Fire! only way around that is to reset to factory defaults. I wanted to backup app data [games and a few critical apps] to reload after reset. My kids would have been heartbroken to loose all their progress on a few games and I felt like an idiot for screwing up the password. all said it was worth it to restore root [lost it way back after an update]. I used Mybackup Pro to save apps+data online, GREAT app [requires root to save app data]. Its a regular app you run from Fire home and you can very selectively pick what apps and data you want to backup. Not the same as recovery mode backup, such as TWRP, COTR, or clockwork.

Good luck and I hope this roundabout method helps you if you're still stuck. While i was at it, i tried a few ROMs with ICS and Jellybean but didn't really like them on my Fire and really wasn't up to figuring out how navigate the systems. That's usually something i enjoy but simply not up for it. I'll just get a new tablet to toy with true Android versions! My rooted Samsung SII with stock ICS is fairly easy to configure and navigate.