N900 - Can't play vids from YouTube, nor can I download items from OVI store

[Zestoeren]

Hello Everyone,
first post on this Board and I must say that I've honestly found it very useful so far... except for the fact that no one seems to have the problem that I'm facing now :))

I found myself in need to flash my N900's memory due to some folders appearing as Read Only.

I successfully managed to restore the following:
RX-51_2009SE_2.2009.51-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin (I choose the Global one since I reside in Italy)

and

RX-51_2009SE_1.2009.41-1.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin

What happens now, after the flashing, is that whenever I try to watch videos in streaming (mainly on YouTube, but the same happens on, say, Vimeo) is that the video looks like loading for a minute or so, but then the message "An error occurred, please try again later" appears.
Same happens when I try to load a video from Facebook or similar...

Second problem after the flashing is that I can't download anything from OVI... what I mean is that I click on the icon relative to the item I'm interested to, but nothing happens... the page with the download link won't load.
This OVI thing is not a real problem at the moment, since I can still get extras from the Application Manager, but still it would be nice to have everything working like the day I unpacked my N900...

None of the problems I'm having now were had when I first started using this device.

I thought it could be a problem with Flash 9.4, I therefore tried to download it from somewhere, but couldn't find it.
I then reinstalled the FW a couple of times adding an extra switch-the-mobile-off and remove-the battery-for-a-few-minutes procedure, but again no luck.
Shall I attempt flashing again?

And yes: I'm far from being an IT genius and my computer literacy skills hardly go beyond the ability of enabling the firewall or running the antivirus, but I can follow procedures if explained.

Anyways... sorry for the long and rather tedious post, I'd really appreciate any sort of help from your side.

[DarkPand0r]

Are you using Firefox or the standard Web browser? I believe that Firefox has the Flash turned off, not too sure about the web player. Will check it now and get back to you.

[egoshin]

Remove SIM, switch ON, insert SIM again, switch ON, go to Settings/Internet connections and pass all way through your 3G provider network setup.

May help.

[Zestoeren]

Are you using Firefox or the standard Web browser? I believe that Firefox has the Flash turned off, not too sure about the web player. Will check it now and get back to you.

I am using the standard N900 browser, which I believed was Firefox 1.0.0 by the way.
Tried to download Firefox many times but I keep receiving the same error message over and over (downloading Firefox Failed).

How do I check if my Flash is on or off (yes I'm THAT bad :D)?

[Zestoeren]

Remove SIM, switch ON, insert SIM again, switch ON, go to Settings/Internet connections and pass all way through your 3G provider network setup.

May help.

Hello Egoshin,
tried that too, but no luck.
Cheers

[kurtisboyd]

I'm having the youtube problem as well, but I think it's only over 3G.

[russo_br]

Just to let you know, yesterday I was having problems to open youtube videos directly on the recent app Tunewiki Media Player, but then I check www.youtube.com from the Browser and it wasn't opening as well... all other site were opening fine, maybe they had an outage or there was some network problem specific to my ISP, but I recommend that you test it through another computer to check if the flash on N900 is really the problem.

[kurtisboyd]

Just to let you know, yesterday I was having problems to open youtube videos directly on the recent app Tunewiki Media Player, but then I check www.youtube.com from the Browser and it wasn't opening as well... all other site were opening fine, maybe they had an outage or there was some network problem specific to my ISP, but I recommend that you test it through another computer to check if the flash on N900 is really the problem.

Naa, the same video opens fine from my computer, plus it works fine over WiFi... my phone's data goes through my telco's proxy, do you reckon that might be related?

[zwer]

From the looks of it (since Ovi doesn't work as well), it seems that your MicroB is acting up. You can try clearing it up. Close all browser instances and type in xterm:

rm -rf ~/.mozilla/microb

Then either reboot the device (you might want to enable that in the power menu while tinkering with the browser) or restart all browserd deamons.

That will rebuild all the data structure for MicroB.

[Zestoeren]

Naa, the same video opens fine from my computer, plus it works fine over WiFi... my phone's data goes through my telco's proxy, do you reckon that might be related?

Same, no problems with streaming from my laptop.

I've downloaded firefox 1.0.0 on my laptop from here:
http://noknok.tv/2010/01/05/nokia-n900-gets-firefox-mobile-1-0-fennec-release/

I then unzipped and copied the whole folder in the Documents directory of my N900 only to found out that N900 doesn't recognize the .exe installation file, therefore I couldn't install Firefox.

3 questions now:
How do I check on the current browser on N900 if Flash is on?
How do I check if the default browser is really Firefox 1.0.0?
Can I install Firefox (anew?) on my N900 from my laptop or by any other alternative mean, since I can't get to download it from Mozilla homepage?

[slender]

Zestoeren,
Did these problems happen right after reflash? Did you install ANYTHING from repositories before you went testing youtube?

Place to install firefox is:
https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/m/
And it should open app manager where the installation happens. But this is still under heavy development.

Moreover I would advice you stop trying to install stuff from ANY other place than app manager or ovi store.

[JonWW]

I then unzipped and copied the whole folder in the Documents directory of my N900 only to found out that N900 doesn't recognize the .exe installation file, therefore I couldn't install Firefox.

It wouldn't .exe is a windows/dos executable file not a linux one. Use the second link.

The .exe file will run fine on your PC - not your phone.

[Zestoeren]

From the looks of it (since Ovi doesn't work as well), it seems that your MicroB is acting up. You can try clearing it up. Close all browser instances and type in xterm:

rm -rf ~/.mozilla/microb

Then either reboot the device (you might want to enable that in the power menu while tinkering with the browser) or restart all browserd deamons.

That will rebuild all the data structure for MicroB.

Hi Zwer,
I typed that line in xterm after closing all browsers, and I got several lines stating "cannot remove '/home/user/. Audio clips' : Permission Denied"
The same line repeats over and over for different items ("cannot remove '/home/user/. Images' : Permission Denied" and the Camera, Data, Settings, and so forth...)

I rebooted the device just as well, but the problem is still there...

[Zestoeren]

Zestoeren,
Did these problems happen right after reflash? Did you install ANYTHING from repositories before you went testing youtube?

Place to install firefox is:
https://www.mozilla.com/en-US/m/
And it should open app manager where the installation happens. But this is still under heavy development.

Moreover I would advice you stop trying to install stuff from ANY other place than app manager or ovi store.

Hello Slender,
yes, all these problems happened when I started surfer internet right after re-flashing.
I didn't install anything from repositories before testing youtube.
I'll follow your suggestions though, and avoid downloading stuff from other places

[Zestoeren]

It wouldn't .exe is a windows/dos executable file not a linux one. Use the second link.

The .exe file will run fine on your PC - not your phone.

Jon,
yes, I tried the second link many times, but it just end up saying "failied downloading Firefox"...

[JonWW]

Jon,
yes, I tried the second link many times, but it just end up saying "failied downloading Firefox"...

Running Fennec(Firefox) on my PC (The first link) I can report youtube does not work in Fennec(Firefox) for the PC, I don't have Firefox on my N900, never liked it, so I cannot report how youtube works in it.
Both MicroB and Fennec(Firefox) are variants of the Morzilla browser. Interestingly Fennec on the PC seems quite buggy, split/broken rendering.

[kurtisboyd]

From the looks of it (since Ovi doesn't work as well), it seems that your MicroB is acting up. You can try clearing it up. Close all browser instances and type in xterm:

rm -rf ~/.mozilla/microb

Then either reboot the device (you might want to enable that in the power menu while tinkering with the browser) or restart all browserd deamons.

That will rebuild all the data structure for MicroB.

I tried that, but nothing changed.

I tried the video again over WiFi: works perfectly.
Over 3G: The same error. Again, I don't think it has anything to do with the browser or the phone, just the actual 3G connection.

Zestoeren: Is your 3G connected via a proxy? As in, did you have to put in a proxy IP address when setting up your 3G connection?

[Zestoeren]

Jon, what do you think the problem might reside then since I didn't install any new browser on N900 after the reflashing?
It's driving me insane... it used to work so nice according to my needs before I flashed the memory, and now it's a gimpy phone...

[JonWW]

Jon, what do you think the problem might reside then since I didn't install any new browser on N900 after the reflashing?
It's driving me insane... it used to work so nice according to my needs before I flashed the memory, and now it's a gimpy phone...

How did you reflash 'PC Suite' or 'Command line flasher'. Try the 'Command line flasher if you used 'PC Suite', backup first, and try youtube before restoring anything, could indicate a problem in your settings.

[Rob1n]

Hi Zwer,
I typed that line in xterm after closing all browsers, and I got several lines stating "cannot remove '/home/user/. Audio clips' : Permission Denied"
The same line repeats over and over for different items ("cannot remove '/home/user/. Images' : Permission Denied" and the Camera, Data, Settings, and so forth...)

I rebooted the device just as well, but the problem is still there...

Then you didn't type that line, you typed something similar (probably with a space after the ~). If you're lucky you won't have lost everything from your MyDocs folder, but I wouldn't count on it.

[zwer]

Hi Zwer,
I typed that line in xterm after closing all browsers, and I got several lines stating "cannot remove '/home/user/. Audio clips' : Permission Denied"
The same line repeats over and over for different items ("cannot remove '/home/user/. Images' : Permission Denied" and the Camera, Data, Settings, and so forth...)

I rebooted the device just as well, but the problem is still there...

You didn't type it correctly then, make sure that there are no spaces in the path. It seems that you've put a space after the tilda effectively trying to delete all in the home dir.

[Zestoeren]

Zestoeren: Is your 3G connected via a proxy? As in, did you have to put in a proxy IP address when setting up your 3G connection?

Kurtis, everything set up by itself when I first put in my SIM card.
The contract I have allows for 1.8 gigabyte internet traffic per month.
I just have to choose the default internet connection and go.
So no, never entered any IP address nor had I to set set up the 3G connection myself.
I had to do it for my previous mobile (HTC P3300), but N900 did everything by itself...

[Zestoeren]

How did you reflash 'PC Suite' or 'Command line flasher'. Try the 'Command line flasher if you used 'PC Suite', backup first, and try youtube before restoring anything, could indicate a problem in your settings.

I reflashed using this guidelines:
https://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#N900:_XP_.28SP3.29_.2F_Vista _.28SP2.29_.2F_Windows_7
Switched off mobile, connected to my desktop via USB while still off and holding the U key till the top right corner of the n900 displayed the usb icon, then entered the lines in the CMD.

[Zestoeren]

Then you didn't type that line, you typed something similar (probably with a space after the ~). If you're lucky you won't have lost everything from your MyDocs folder, but I wouldn't count on it.

Yes, you are right, there was a space after the ~ and yes, I ve lost everything from MyDocs, but I have a ful back up to restore from...

[JonWW]

Yes, you are right, there was a space after the ~ and yes, I ve lost everything from MyDocs, but I have a ful back up to restore from...

Oh!
The Backup app does not back up MyDocs, hope you copied everything to you PC.

[JonWW]

I reflashed using this guidelines:
https://wiki.maemo.org/Updating_the_firmware#N900:_XP_.28SP3.29_.2F_Vista _.28SP2.29_.2F_Windows_7
Switched off mobile, connected to my desktop via USB while still off and holding the U key till the top right corner of the n900 displayed the usb icon, then entered the lines in the CMD.

That's the best way, maybe you should try it again and see if the problem still exist before you do a restore.

[Zestoeren]

hehe, I copied all MyDocs on my computer, as well as I did a full back up of everything else, but thanks for sharing the potential pain :))

I'll try again now and see what I'll come up with.

[Zestoeren]

ok, I managed to have it working now. I basically kept restoring the wrong back up after flashing the memory.
Thanks everyone for helping out.

[slender]

ok, I managed to have it working now. I basically kept restoring the wrong back up after flashing the memory.
Thanks everyone for helping out.

So before you tested youtube you restored backup which fck up your system?

[elie-7]

Just to let you know, yesterday I was having problems to open youtube videos directly on the recent app Tunewiki Media Player, but then I check www.youtube.com from the Browser and it wasn't opening as well... all other site were opening fine, maybe they had an outage or there was some network problem specific to my ISP, but I recommend that you test it through another computer to check if the flash on N900 is really the problem.

hi, i'm having the same problem, youtube isn't openning in the browser, at all, and all the time, how did you fix this man ??please :confused:

[M_Scofield]

I don't want to open a new thread so I will just use this one to ask my question so I am having a problem with playing videos from youtube.
It says - "Unable to open - File format is not supported"
Note that I have running Tweak Flash and all of the web sites are working well except youtube.
Thanks a lot in advance for your help !!

[elie-7]

well this problem stopped since pr1.3, try restoring the flash to default from the twealflash app, and than try youtube .

[M_Scofield]

Thank you for the fast replay.
I do have a pr1.3 and also have the Community SSU.
Do I still have to restore the flash ??
I am a newbie so I don't want to mess everything up - eventually by restoring the flash because as I told you before the rest of the web sites with flash works fine. Weird !

p.s I fixed it.
I recently have bought my phone second hand so all the apps were there. I went to Tweak Flash and noticed that the field - "Current version reported" was: Android 10.1.61 (FroYo) . WTF ?? When I switched to - "Linux 10.0.45 (Desktop)" - the youtube videos are playing fine !!!