Can I revert the phone's firmware to 42 or 44?

[Bugslife]

I had a failed firmware 51 update via NSU where it stalled for 2 hours or so with 1 sec. left.

I received the desktop charger today and currently charging the battery.I want to reflash as soon as the battery is fully charged.

Can I revert the phone to firmware 42 or 44? My reason is I've been reading about people having problems when updated their n900 to the current firmware 51.

[texaslabrat]

you can re-flash the phone with a older revision, sure.

[wmarone]

Note that going backwards will disable the ability to use the cellular modem until you move back to 51. The cellular modem's firmware was patched with the release and isn't compatible with the older version.

Also, I suggest looking up flasher-3.5 and using it with a FIASCO image instead of NSU, as most people having flashing issues seem to be either low on root space or used NSU.

[texaslabrat]

Good point on the cellular firmware..I had forgotten about that.

[slender]

Additionally I would say that when flashing try to use usb ports directly from your computer. Do not use usb hubs. Its also good practice to minimize devices that are attached to usbs when doing flashing.

And when using cmd-line flasher-3.5 you should quite from all the other nokia software.

And remember to charge battery full before trying flashing

[Bugslife]

Note that going backwards will disable the ability to use the cellular modem until you move back to 51. The cellular modem's firmware was patched with the release and isn't compatible with the older version.

Also, I suggest looking up flasher-3.5 and using it with a FIASCO image instead of NSU, as most people having flashing issues seem to be either low on root space or used NSU.

what is a FIASCO image? I'm not familiar with this. is this the one where you type the IMEI and will give a firmware versions to download?
I already downloaded the flasher before but unformtunately when I was trying to flash the phone it will not go through. i was told that maybe the battery was too weak already and it can only be charge through a desktop charger since phone will not charge it if the OS is not working.


What's with the phone modem with regards to going back to old firmware? I don't understand?

[Bugslife]

Additionally I would say that when flashing try to use usb ports directly from your computer. Do not use usb hubs. Its also good practice to minimize devices that are attached to usbs when doing flashing.

And when using cmd-line flasher-3.5 you should quite from all the other nokia software.

And remember to charge battery full before trying flashing


Now I have an idea why reflash failed last time. maybe because the software updater icon was still on the tray or still have it in the backgound. Could also be due to weak battery.

I tried reflashing several times but wouldn't go through.

I don't have external USB.

It's been an hour since I started charging and battery's not full yet. Battery was probably drained. Hoping to revive the phone.

[egoshin]

Can I revert the phone to firmware 42 or 44?

Beg Nokia to give you a package named cmt-firmware-rx51 version 8.2.2009.3.4.3-2+0m5

It should be installed after downgrade to reinstall your cellphone firmware - it was changed by 51.1.

[Bugslife]

Beg Nokia to give you a package named cmt-firmware-rx51 version 8.2.2009.3.4.3-2+0m5

It should be installed after downgrade to reinstall your cellphone firmware - it was changed by 51.1.

Have you tried asking them for this firmware?

[mamaloza]

TAKE CARE:
After updating he new firmware, i did the story of reverting my phone to the original firmware (42 i think) and the result was that my n900 didnt detect my sim card (i got the sim icon with a red cross above the screen). The only solution was to re update the phone with the 2 recent new firmwares (the 21 mega and the 90 mega).

[Nathan]

I did a full flash of the 90 meg image and have had no issues, nor any of the weirdities that I've seen others report. The machine has been rock solid. So I would give it a try to download the full rom image and use the flasher 3.5 to flash it.

Nathan.

[Bugslife]

I did a full flash of the 90 meg image and have had no issues, nor any of the weirdities that I've seen others report. The machine has been rock solid. So I would give it a try to download the full rom image and use the flasher 3.5 to flash it.

Nathan.

Thank you. I did reflash with the latest 51 (pr1.1) but unfortunately somethings not completing the flash

it gave me a msg

flasher v2.5...(flasher version)
firmaware (file name)

that was it it stop and did not reboot. I don't know what happen. Tried a couple of times. i'm chargingthe battery again.

[timoph]

Thank you. I did reflash with the latest 51 (pr1.1) but unfortunately somethings not completing the flash

it gave me a msg

flasher v2.5...(flasher version)
firmaware (file name)

that was it it stop and did not reboot. I don't know what happen. Tried a couple of times. i'm chargingthe battery again.

It won't reboot automatically unless you give the flasher the -R option.

In Ubuntu I usually flash the device like this:

sudo ./flasher-3.5 -F <name of the image file> -f -R


Note that I have the flasher and the image in the same directory.

[Bugslife]

It won't reboot automatically unless you give the flasher the -R option.

In Ubuntu I usually flash the device like this:

sudo ./flasher-3.5 -F <name of the image file> -f -R


Note that I have the flasher and the image in the same directory.

This is what i did. i copy the cmd and paste it hear. Tried a couple of times but all i got is this. I don't know what is wrong. I'm running windows vista 32 bit.

I press "u" key and insert usb. Nokia no backlight appears and usb icon on upper right. run cmd and did the following below. Note: I already plug the usb at the back of PC and uninstall the NSU and PC suite. Restart. PC. Now I onnly have the flasher and the firmware file. Did the ff below:


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


C:\Windows\system32>cd %programfiles%\maemo\flasher-3.5

C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.0
02_PR_COMBINED-002_ARM.bin -f -R
flasher v2.5.2 (Sep 24 2009)

RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED-002_ARM.bin: %m

C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.0
02_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin -f -R
flasher v2.5.2 (Sep 24 2009)

RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin: %m

[timoph]

I haven't ever used Windows for flashing. But with Linux I do this
1. Turn off the device
2. Run the flashing command
3. Connect the USB cable to the device
4. Wait

[Rob1n]

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


C:\Windows\system32>cd %programfiles%\maemo\flasher-3.5

C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.0
02_PR_COMBINED-002_ARM.bin -f -R
flasher v2.5.2 (Sep 24 2009)

RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED-002_ARM.bin: %m

C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.0
02_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin -f -R
flasher v2.5.2 (Sep 24 2009)

RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin: %m

That's trying (and failing) to show an error (it should be substituting the %m for the actual error message). Do you have the RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin file in the C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5 directory?

[johnel]

At the risk of getting *****-slapped....

"..Note that going backwards will disable the ability to use the cellular modem until you move back to 51. The cellular modem's firmware was patched with the release and isn't compatible with the older version..."

Why can't you backup the "cellular modem" firmware before you "upgrade" to the latest "51" firmware?

If you could do that then at least you can have a way of rolling-back the changes and restoring the n900 to "factory settings" when you bought it?

[Bugslife]

That's trying (and failing) to show an error (it should be substituting the %m for the actual error message). Do you have the RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1.002_PR_COMBINED_002_ARM.bin file in the C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5 directory?

yes i place it there when i downloaded. any other steps I need to take. i tried several times and got the same results. I don't know what's going on or what i did wrong. Need help.


added: battery is full. I'm charging it via desktop charger.

[Rob1n]

At the risk of getting *****-slapped....

"..Note that going backwards will disable the ability to use the cellular modem until you move back to 51. The cellular modem's firmware was patched with the release and isn't compatible with the older version..."

Why can't you backup the "cellular modem" firmware before you "upgrade" to the latest "51" firmware?

If you could do that then at least you can have a way of rolling-back the changes and restoring the n900 to "factory settings" when you bought it?

Theoretically you could do - you'd need an app to read the firmware out of the modem though (there's no firmware file as the firmware was already flashed onto the modems). You'd also need a way to flash the "older" firmware to the modem, if this is not donw automatically.

[Rob1n]

yes i place it there when i downloaded. any other steps I need to take. i tried several times and got the same results. I don't know what's going on or what i did wrong. Need help.

Sorry, without an actual error message, it's difficult to see what's wrong. I've just checked, and that's the error message I get if I enter an invalid file name. Can you show the output of "dir"?

[JonWW]

Download the flasher here and re-install
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-dev-env-downloads.php?f=maemo_flasher-3.5_2.5.2.2.exe

Download in to the same directory the firmware update and save it into C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N900.php?f=RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin

Open a command prompt and change directory to C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5

Turn the phone off and wait for it to completely shut down. Plug the USB cable into the computer NOT the phone, open the phone keyboard and hold down the U key while plugging the USB in, keep holding the U key until the display shows Nokia logo and a small USB symbol appears in the top right of the screen.

Type on the computer (Vista)
flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin

The computer should show something like this:
flasher v2.5.2 (Oct 21 2009)
Image 'mmc', size 241163 kB
Version RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 006.
Found device RX-51, hardware revision 2101
NOLO version 1.4.13
Version of 'sw-release': RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11.002_PR_002
Booting device into flash mode.
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 007.
Raw data transfer EP found at EP2.
[writing 74 % 179200 / 241163 kB 13180 kB/s]
Image(s) flashed successfully in 26.848 s (8982 kB/s)!

Should work

[Bugslife]

Sorry, without an actual error message, it's difficult to see what's wrong. I've just checked, and that's the error message I get if I enter an invalid file name. Can you show the output of "dir"?

This the ouput (dir/p). My OS is vista 32 bit. I already tried reinstalling the flasher and downloaded the firmware again and seems that it's not showing (firmware).


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6002]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>dir/p
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 8610-3AAF

Directory of C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5

01/20/2010 03:31 AM <DIR> .
01/20/2010 03:31 AM <DIR> ..
10/21/2009 01:04 PM 135,539 flasher-3.5.exe
10/21/2009 06:13 PM 4,642 Help.txt
01/20/2010 03:31 AM <DIR> licenses
10/21/2009 06:12 PM 6,690 Readme_Maemo_Flasher-3.5.txt
01/20/2010 03:31 AM 2,931 unins000.dat
01/20/2010 03:31 AM 707,418 unins000.exe
5 File(s) 857,220 bytes
3 Dir(s) 393,539,489,792 bytes free
C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5>

[Bugslife]

Download the flasher here and re-install
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/maemo-dev-env-downloads.php?f=maemo_flasher-3.5_2.5.2.2.exe

Download in to the same directory the firmware update and save it into C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5
http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/nokia_N900.php?f=RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin

Open a command prompt and change directory to C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5

Turn the phone off and wait for it to completely shut down. Plug the USB cable into the computer NOT the phone, open the phone keyboard and hold down the U key while plugging the USB in, keep holding the U key until the display shows Nokia logo and a small USB symbol appears in the top right of the screen.

Type on the computer (Vista)
flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin

The computer should show something like this:
flasher v2.5.2 (Oct 21 2009)
Image 'mmc', size 241163 kB
Version RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 006.
Found device RX-51, hardware revision 2101
NOLO version 1.4.13
Version of 'sw-release': RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.42-11.002_PR_002
Booting device into flash mode.
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 007.
Raw data transfer EP found at EP2.
[writing 74 % 179200 / 241163 kB 13180 kB/s]
Image(s) flashed successfully in 26.848 s (8982 kB/s)!

Should work


ok will try this one.

Do i have to start with the Vanilla? like wiping out the whole thing first before updating? I saw the vanilla and the 42.

I didn't revert since someone posted 51 is ok.

Should I start with vanilla then 42, then 51?

[JonWW]

Use the latest firmware, it deletes the old off the phone while doing the update