Nokia N900 firmware update failed. Now Im stuck with my 5800. Yay?

[N900dweeb]

I couldn't wait to get home to play with my Nokia N900. It was all fine until I played with the camera. 'Operation Failed' I thought no big deal so I restarted the phone; Same results. Then I thought its the software so I updated the firmware. It FROZE AT 1 SEC REMAINING OF THE SECOND PHASE!! Now I dont know what to do...

[b-man]

have you tried re-flashing it again?

[N900dweeb]

If only the phone would power on. It turns on for like 1 sec flashes NOKIA and then it turns off

[b-man]

even with the usb cable plugged in?

[archebyte]

you sure the battery is charged? are you able to charge the battery while the phone is off?

how did you flash the firmware?

[N900dweeb]

Even with the USB in. My comp doesnt detect it. I used PC suite..... Its charged, i think? It charges through the usb port anyway but it wont charge correctly now. It charges shuts off and detects the charger and charges

[archebyte]

Even with the USB in. My comp doesnt detect it. I used PC suite..... Its charged, i think? It charges through the usb port anyway but it wont charge correctly now. It charges shuts off and detects the charger and charges

Remove the battery and re-insert it. Try charging it again directly using the charger instead of the USB cable. The device will flash yellow during charging and green when done.

If I recall correctly, the PC Suite does not flash the N900. Are you using XP? If the Nokia Software Updater doesn't work for you, take a look here (http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#N900_.28XP.29)

[Venomrush]

To make sure the battery is fully charged, I'd suggest putting your N900's battery into your 5800 handset and charge it to full. Then swap it back into the N900

[N900dweeb]

Remove the battery and re-insert it. Try charging it again directly using the charger instead of the USB cable. The device will flash yellow during charging and green when done.

If I recall correctly, the PC Suite does not flash the N900. Are you using XP? If the Nokia Software Updater doesn't work for you, take a look here (http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#N900_.28XP.29)

Ok imma try it when i get home

[felbutss]

same problem i had mate. 1 second left on NSU and then thats it.

it seems like this is gonna be a problem for a lot of N900 users. NSU bricks some of the phones.

im gonna test tonight another battery and see if it works to. i think nokia need to make some sort of recovery proccess as this isnt working out.


try this. put your 5800 fully charged battery in your n900.
then
1. remove battery
2. connect USB cable
3. start flasher-3.5 from command line
4. insert battery
5. flashing starts

[N900dweeb]

same problem i had mate. 1 second left on NSU and then thats it.

it seems like this is gonna be a problem for a lot of N900 users. NSU bricks some of the phones.

im gonna test tonight another battery and see if it works to. i think nokia need to make some sort of recovery proccess as this isnt working out.


try this. put your 5800 fully charged battery in your n900.
then
1. remove battery
2. connect USB cable
3. start flasher-3.5 from command line
4. insert battery
5. flashing starts

How do I know its flashing? Its showing NOKIA on the screen

[bbns]

If it's flashing, you should be able to see the 'USB' icon on top-right of the screen then a second later it disappeared. The flasher should give you the progress (at least on Linux it does).

[felbutss]

im not sure what it does on the nokia screen but this tube video will show you what happens when the flasher app is flashing your phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw2ZMyvzg6M?


if you entered this command into the flasher -R it will restart you phone as soon its finished flashing.

flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R




let us know how u went. my friend is coming over in 2.5 hours so we can try flashing my phone with his battery.

[N900dweeb]

If it's flashing, you should be able to see the 'USB' icon on top-right of the screen then a second later it disappeared. The flasher should give you the progress (at least on Linux it does).

The USB icon is still there in the top right corner. This is what I did:

I downloaded the flasher and the .bin

I istalled the flasher and ran cmd

then i changed he directory

held down the u on the keypad and plug in the usb and waited until the usb stayed

let go of the usb and then i ran the binary

the screen is still showing NOKIA and the usb icon is still in the top right corner

[N900dweeb]

im not sure what it does on the nokia screen but this tube video will show you what happens when the flasher app is flashing your phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw2ZMyvzg6M?


if you entered this command into the flasher -R it will restart you phone as soon its finished flashing.

flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R




let us know how u went. my friend is coming over in 2.5 hours so we can try flashing my phone with his battery.

the youtube link is incorrect

[N900dweeb]

its not working :(

[bbns]

Maybe this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1fwUxXl_lQ
Note that it comes with badly lighting.

[N900dweeb]

Maybe this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1fwUxXl_lQ
Note that it comes with badly lighting.

im doing the steps correctly but no feedback from the n900

[felbutss]

o sorry ye. its the video with bad lighting.

hhmmmmmmmmm if you followed the instruction on this page http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware and its still not working your in the same boat as me


******just to let you guys know. nokia called me just now about my n900 being bricked after a NSU. they are investigating it. they got every bit of detail off me. might be getting a replacement. it seems to be an issue with a batch of them if you try to flash it.********

they finally got back to me after all the emails.

[N900dweeb]

o sorry ye. its the video with bad lighting.

hhmmmmmmmmm if you followed the instruction on this page http://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware and its still not working your in the same boat as me


******just to let you guys know. nokia called me just now about my n900 being bricked after a NSU. they are investigating it. they got every bit of detail off me. might be getting a replacement. it seems to be an issue with a batch of them if you try to flash it.********

they finally got back to me after all the emails.

I should start emailing them!

[felbutss]

why couldnt Nokia make something as simple as apple did for the iphone. 'RECOVERY MODE' any idiot can restore there phone after an failed update. i hate the iphone and what it stands for but that feature for me is so important. what happens if my phone finishes its warranty and the same thing happens??? bad luck i guess

[felbutss]

can i ask how did you get your N900???

[N900dweeb]

why couldnt Nokia make something as simple as apple did for the iphone. 'RECOVERY MODE' any idiot can restore there phone after an failed update. i hate the iphone and what it stands for but that feature for me is so important. what happens if my phone finishes its warranty and the same thing happens??? bad luck i guess

This is so annoying! I cant even power up my phone. Its just sitting there saying 'Play Me.' Then It teases me when I turn it on. The NOKIA phase comes on and the light brightens then.....POOF the screen turns black!

[N900dweeb]

can i ask how did you get your N900???

nokiausa.com

[felbutss]

hmmm. everything that is happening to your is happening to mine. exactly the same.

did you try to flash it with a fully charged battery???

[N900dweeb]

hmmm. everything that is happening to your is happening to mine. exactly the same.

did you try to flash it with a fully charged battery???

I dont think its the battery but I never flashed it in the beginning. I used PC suite to reinstall the firmware. It froze at 1 sec and now Im trying to flash but its not working

[bbns]

why couldnt Nokia make something as simple as apple did for the iphone. 'RECOVERY MODE' any idiot can restore there phone after an failed update. i hate the iphone and what it stands for but that feature for me is so important. what happens if my phone finishes its warranty and the same thing happens??? bad luck i guess

At the current stage, N900 is probably only for power user. It's major focus is not on how 'easy' to flash (for an experienced Linux user, it's not too hard). There is no excuse for Nokia to make it easier to use, however.

Talking about QA, even the defective rate is 0.1%, every 1 thousand devices you will get one failure. And often defection comes in batch, you might be really unlucky one.

[N900dweeb]

At the current stage, N900 is probably only for power user. It's major focus is not on how 'easy' to flash (for an experienced Linux user, it's not too hard). There is no excuse for Nokia to make it easier to use, however.

Talking about QA, even the defective rate is 0.1%, every 1 thousand devices you will get one failure. And often defection comes in batch, you might be really unlucky one.

Why do I have to be the unlucky one? :[

[felbutss]

lol. you must have the same batch as me. dont worry we are not alone there are already a few i met with the same problem. bricked N900's through NSU.

i just hope nokia fix this nice and quick for us. i was going to start developing some apps with a friend of mine then this happened. its put me off

[N900dweeb]

lol. you must have the same batch as me. dont worry we are not alone there are already a few i met with the same problem. bricked N900's through NSU.

i just hope nokia fix this nice and quick for us. i was going to start developing some apps with a friend of mine then this happened. its put me off

Still learning on how to make apps but when you do dont forgot about the IP sensor on the side of the nokia n900 =]

[N900dweeb]

Im going to call them tomorrow and they better send me a new phone overnight and not make us wait like 3-7 business days

[felbutss]

they will probley make you take it to a Nokia service centre and they will try to flash it. if they cant they will replace the board. happened to me when i first got the N95. on the third week of having it, it bricked during a update. they made me wait a month for repairs. then the camera lens switch was playing up and guess what, another month. lol i didnt have a good run

[bbns]

I haven't updated the device through NSU. It might be specific NSU issues. I encourage you to file bugzilla (http://maemo.org/development/bugs/) to give stronger feedback to Maemo team.

Flasher might be the safest way (from my experience) since you are going to develop some apps on Maemo. I have flashed my devices hundreds times with flasher, not a single failure yet.

Sorry I couldn't provide experience from Windows perspective because I don't have Windows at all. :-/

[N900dweeb]

they will probley make you take it to a Nokia service centre and they will try to flash it. if they cant they will replace the board. happened to me when i first got the N95. on the third week of having it, it bricked during a update. they made me wait a month for repairs. then the camera lens switch was playing up and guess what, another month. lol i didnt have a good run

so I guess youre going to go through the same thing again?

[felbutss]

they better not put me through that again. i will be very very very upset if they do. the lady on the phone was very nice though, seems like she cared. she tryed to ask me for the details of other people who won phones on blogs.nokia.com and got them bricked so she can call them.

by the way. im never using NSU again. EVER EVER EVER AGAIN. i will be logging a BUG report

[N900dweeb]

they better not put me through that again. i will be very very very upset if they do. the lady on the phone was very nice though, seems like she cared. she tryed to ask me for the details of other people who won phones on blogs.nokia.com and got them bricked so she can call them.

by the way. im never using NSU again. EVER EVER EVER AGAIN. i will be logging a BUG report

IM NEVER GOING TO UPDATE PERIOD lol

[felbutss]

noooo updating is very good. it brings a lot to the device. the N900 will get better with each update. but ill be using flasher and not NSU. if NSU wasnt around, u and i will be playing with our MID's right now

[N900dweeb]

noooo updating is very good. it brings a lot to the device. the N900 will get better with each update. but ill be using flasher and not NSU. if NSU wasnt around, u and i will be playing with our MID's right now

LOL but you know when something traumatic happens to you (e.g. A New York baseball player was pitched a ball to his head. Ever since then he doesn't play the same) dont want to do it again. Thats how I feel. . . .

[bbns]

If you want to develop N900 apps without device available running, please consider using RDA service: http://www.forum.nokia.com/Technology_Topics/Application_Quality/Testing/Remote_Device_Access/

It may help you kill some time.

[felbutss]

ye. ill be doing that anyway. done it before with symbian S60. but this platform is just way more exciting. i just want this fixed so i can forget about it and move on. lol my friend is a killer programmer we should have some good stuff coming.

[N900dweeb]

ye. ill be doing that anyway. done it before with symbian S60. but this platform is just way more exciting. i just want this fixed so i can forget about it and move on. lol my friend is a killer programmer we should have some good stuff coming.

have u created apps for nokia 5800?

[felbutss]

no. i dont like S60 5ed at all. just seems like S60 masked with a touchscreen layer

[N900dweeb]

no. i dont like S60 5ed at all. just seems like S60 masked with a touchscreen layer

its not the best. maemo 5 is wayyyyy better

[felbutss]

wow. my friend wil lbe here in 15 minutes. ill let you guys know how i go with my 30th attempt at re-flashing the device. (low hopes)

[N900dweeb]

wow. my friend wil lbe here in 15 minutes. ill let you guys know how i go with my 30th attempt at re-flashing the device. (low hopes)

Good Luck, Mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn (Trying to satisfy minimum required text lol)

[felbutss]

OOO MMYY GOD. it worked my phone is fixed. eyyesyysysyysysyyyyyeessssssss.
guys if you have a bricked n900 and it wont flash its because your battery is flat.
when i borrowed my friends n900 it must of had a low battery. when i borred my other friends
battery just now it was fully charged. yayayayayyaya and it worked. fixed wot wot


I want to thank the maemo community for all their help. you guys are amazing



bellow is what i did on windows XP


N900 (XP)

To flash direcly from the XP command line, follow these steps:


Fully charge the battery.
Unplug charger and switch off the device.
Open the command prompt on XP. Start + Run. Type cmd and press Enter.
Change directory to the flasher program
cd c:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5
Connect the USB cable while pressing 'u' key on the N900

Run the following command:


flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R



The update will take about 4 minutes after which the N900 will reboot and display
the Welcome screen with Regional settings.

[bbns]

now you have fixed the phone so no more excuse not put your feet wet. =P

[N900dweeb]

OOO MMYY GOD. it worked my phone is fixed. eyyesyysysyysysyyyyyeessssssss.
guys if you have a bricked n900 and it wont flash its because your battery is flat.
when i borrowed my friends n900 it must of had a low battery. when i borred my other friends
battery just now it was fully charged. yayayayayyaya and it worked. fixed wot wot


I want to thank the maemo community for all their help. you guys are amazing



bellow is what i did on windows XP


N900 (XP)

To flash direcly from the XP command line, follow these steps:


Fully charge the battery.
Unplug charger and switch off the device.
Open the command prompt on XP. Start + Run. Type cmd and press Enter.
Change directory to the flasher program
cd c:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5
Connect the USB cable while pressing 'u' key on the N900

Run the following command:


flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f -R



The update will take about 4 minutes after which the N900 will reboot and display
the Welcome screen with Regional settings.

Still nothing for me =/

[N900dweeb]

OMG IT WORKEDDD I DOWNLOADED THE WRONG .bin THANKSSSSSS

[RevdKathy]

I think this is becoming one of my favourite threads. I'm a real sucker for a happy ending!

[alabak2002]

Tried to update my N900 via NSU (intention was to reapply same firmware, because "hard reset" does not show anywhere and some things didn't work).

BRICKED my 600€ "not-a-phone"

Lost some heartbeats.

Read this thread. Looked into wiki,

Flashed with flasher-3.5

Started breathing again.

[Andre Klapper]

Folks, in 95% of the cases you can reflash your device, if actually really following the instructions (which seems to be the major problem for some folks).

[vang1]

Well, what can I say. Got the same problem. Thou I thought about it might be a battery issue, so i left the charger in for over night. So when I saw all of you solving it with full battery, I sobbed down to the store to send it for repair.
But faith had it I met my friend at the door, he got 5800, stole his phone for a minute, used 10 to charge his battery full, swiched, and voila. I never would have guessed the N900 didn't charge the battery on it's own, but now it does, and my heartattack finally stopped :D
Thanks to all of you, I might not be a superuser like many of you (at least like I think you are), but it's a damn nice phone and I love it! :D And you helped me from dying a slow and painful 3-4 weeks repair time wait.

[mukks]

just bricked N900 doing the latest update via Nokia sofware update. it stayed at 1 sec remaining for hrs in vista 64bit. only after that i noticed 64bit machines have another NSU program,, damn,,,

does n900 charge its-own if i connect to power outlet on a bricked device? now its just the nokia name on screen and restarting , now yellow light blinks , so i guess its not charging the battery. and the bad thing is i dont have a friend with nokia 5800 :(

[Rob1n]

does n900 charge its-own if i connect to power outlet on a bricked device? now its just the nokia name on screen and restarting , now yellow light blinks , so i guess its not charging the battery. and the bad thing is i dont have a friend with nokia 5800 :(

If the display shows the nokia logo (without backlight) and the LED is pulsing yellow, then it should be charging. If it's repeatedly rebooting and vibrating, then it's not charging properly.

If you don't know anyone with a compatible phone, then you can pick up a desktop charger cheap from ebay.

[mukks]

it shows the yellow blink only when i connect,, n it keeps rebooting n vibrating,, :( so i guess i must get my battery charged first,, :(

[kiplinght]

just bricked N900 doing the latest update via Nokia sofware update. it stayed at 1 sec remaining for hrs ...
does n900 charge its-own if i connect to power outlet on a bricked device? now its just the nokia name on screen and restarting , now yellow light blinks , so i guess its not charging the battery. and the bad thing is i dont have a friend with nokia 5800 :(

I'm having the same problem. Given that there's no other charging point for the phone, I assumed it being plugged in would be fine, as it should be no different to being plugged in at the wall.

Anyway my N900 is now BRICKED too. Very NOT HAPPY.

Now it just sits there vibrating every 15 seconds, with the NOKIA logo in the background.,

Thanks a ****ing heap Nokia for making an update that's RUINED my phone.

It still escapes me how everyone else seems to be able to make updates that aren't so fragile, except Nokia. If there had been a warning such as "Warning! We don't know what we're doing" then maybe I wouldn't have clicked update. Garbage

Also WTF is with it not being able to charge itself? WTF? Get a 5800 to swap batteries with and charge that to continue the update? The ****?

[badboyuk]

I take it that this has nothing to do with the new firmware itself and is just happening via NSU update? I had a similar issues with a previous update and NSU just hanged on me for ages an bricked the n900. But i got it up an running again.
I think folk who are having issues may have the repositories for extra devel etc on, these shud be disabled.

[PAFaieta]

FYI, I was following this thread and got some good info.

Using Win7 and updater v1.8, here's what happened. (and no, my phone is not bricked)

1. started NSU and it went as normal
2. paused at 1 second left in step 3.
2 a. progress bar was still going, and program was responding, but nothing moved.
3. quit NSU manually via task manager
4. it prompted me to wait until it could safely finish the update, and press continue when it became available.
5. unplugged & plugged in again
6. repeat of step 3 and 4
7. the button showed up, my phone started as usual, and the regional settings appeared.
8. phone works

I have no idea how all of that made my phone work again, but I'm happy I don't have to throw it at the nokia team in complete irony making some sort of comparison to being useless.

anyway.. hope that helps.

[mukks]

Reflashed it and backed up .. good i made backup just before updating.
its the NSU and 64bit machine thats screwing up things,, thanks guys..

[ZShakespeare]

Tried to update my n900 today. The application manager said that I needed to use the NSU. I went to PC suite, which installed the NSU. NSU got stuck at 1 second, and of course the device wouldn't boot. It won't charge, and trying to mount it on my windows or linux machines resulted in it mounting and unmounting every 10 seconds, making flashing impossible.

To make things worse, Nokia Canada wouldn't touch it because it's an american device, and Nokia USA won't touch it because I don't have an american mailing address. Fortunately newegg is totally awesome and I am returning it to them for a replacement phone.

I'm really more terrified of Nokia's warranty handling than anything.

[norbertauslinz]

I never seen a easier update over the air on a smart phone.
Automatically informed that a new update is available, backup and then run
the update 16 MB and i have ........ an new desktop logo for my orrery :-)

[kiplinght]

Ok I FIXED mine.

After spending all day looking for chargers for BL-5J i noticed that with some force, it'd fit inside my N95 to charge.

I charged it up, and using this: https://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware#N900:_XP_.28SP3.29_.2 F_Vista_.28SP2.29_.2F_Windows_7_32-bit and this: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=395323&postcount=46

I got it working. YAY!!!!!

Shame it happened in the first place but oh well

[misterm]

I'm having the same problem. Given that there's no other charging point for the phone, I assumed it being plugged in would be fine, as it should be no different to being plugged in at the wall.

Anyway my N900 is now BRICKED too. Very NOT HAPPY.

Now it just sits there vibrating every 15 seconds, with the NOKIA logo in the background.,

Thanks a ****ing heap Nokia for making an update that's RUINED my phone.

It still escapes me how everyone else seems to be able to make updates that aren't so fragile, except Nokia. If there had been a warning such as "Warning! We don't know what we're doing" then maybe I wouldn't have clicked update. Garbage

Also WTF is with it not being able to charge itself? WTF? Get a 5800 to swap batteries with and charge that to continue the update? The ****?

I have exactly the same! Bums me out. They can't bring a normal update to all of us? Ouch..

Anyways, I'm gonna read this thread to find a solution.

[norstadt]

If the phone is not charging properly (i.e. shows blue NOKIA sign on white screen, then goes to a grey screen, then disappears/switches off - then the cycle repeats) then try switching the phone off and connecting in USB mode. That doesn't mean trying to get NSU detecting it in USB mode. I mean switching to flashing mode - details are here (http://wiki.maemo.org/Flasher). Then try flashing it with the appropriate binary file. See details here (https://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_tablet_firmware).

I had the same issue when I first got my N900 and tried updating the firmware via NSU. Never again!

[misterm]

I have used the NSU as well and then my phone got bricked. I have flashed it and it is all okay now, more of less. I had a backup, but I am missing stuff like conversations, account settings etc. Due to the backup I do have my contacts, but.. no conversations backed up? Weird move Nokia!

About the NSU, if that caused it, its out! I also think it is weird that you 'need' a computer to update your phone. The first two maemo OTA updates went flawless. That's what I want Nokia, normal updates, so I don't have to spend hours getting everything up and running again.

Thanks for the thread guys. It helped out a lot.

[ifra]

FYI, I was following this thread and got some good info.

Using Win7 and updater v1.8, here's what happened. (and no, my phone is not bricked)

1. started NSU and it went as normal
2. paused at 1 second left in step 3.
2 a. progress bar was still going, and program was responding, but nothing moved.
3. quit NSU manually via task manager
4. it prompted me to wait until it could safely finish the update, and press continue when it became available.
5. unplugged & plugged in again
6. repeat of step 3 and 4
7. the button showed up, my phone started as usual, and the regional settings appeared.
8. phone works

I have no idea how all of that made my phone work again, but I'm happy I don't have to throw it at the nokia team in complete irony making some sort of comparison to being useless.

anyway.. hope that helps.



TY result with me (you save my day) :)