N800 Constant restart

[BrianS]

Greetings,

I've searched the boards but not had any luck in finding ideas on how to fix this problem: the tablet will flash the NOKIA name on screen in blue with white background for a few seconds and then it will restart and do the same thing endlessly. This started after charging two nights ago with the tablet turned off.

If anyone has ideas on things to try I would appreciate have some pointers.

[geneven]

Isn't this the famous White Screen of Death, or a variant thereof? You need to reflash the system, which will get you back where you started, basically. I have done it a couple of times and it works fine. The Nokia site has instructions -- It's easiest to do it from Windows. Instructions are here: http://www.nokiausa.com/support/phones/softwareupdate/1,,N800,00.html

[BrianS]

Thanks geneven,

I was just finishing the steps listed at nokia when I saw your reply. I tried flashing the most current version and that seemed to work (at least, there were no errors on the pc or the tablet).

Still no change though - constant restart.

Although that didn't work, any other recommendations appreciated. I'd like to try to fix this rather than use my replacement warranty in the first month.

[dcarter]

try taking out the battery while it is booting up,
and keeping the battery out for a few minutes.

Press the power button while the battery is out.
This worked for me.

also- did you by chance install anything right before the constant reboot symptom,

like maybe the bluetooth plug-in?

dcarter

[freeman]

I used to have this problem sometime when I fetch the rss sometimes. But after I did the dual boot and booted off the SD card, I no longer have that problem.

[BrianS]

Good stuff, thanks.
No solution yet -

dcarter; no recent install. I installed Canola about 4 days prior.
I don't think it is booting, but I pulled the battery when the screen displayed "Nokia", kept it out for a few minutes and pressed the power button in the meantime.

freeman; uh...dual boot? like XP and 2000 on the same pc? I have an sd card, but how would I boot from it?

No luck yet.

[geneven]

If you search the forums for the word lifeguard you may find a clue.

Also, I think there must be a way to reflash drastically enough to fix this. Unfortunately I never understood the intricacies of flashing.

[Milhouse]

The only time this happened to me, it was due to a flat battery (only enough juice to get a few seconds into the boot sequence before it dies). Try leaving the N800 connected to the charger for a few hours then try booting it again.

Failing that, check one of the many posts that discuss constant reboots. Like this (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4301) one.

Also check this Bugzilla comment (https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=957#c10).

[rattis]

freeman; uh...dual boot? like XP and 2000 on the same pc? I have an sd card, but how would I boot from it?

No luck yet.

From the way I understand it (and I could be wrong), you have a base kernel in the device, and a second one or third (not sure how many you can have) on the sd card. Then you tell it which one to boot up. Think more like a choice of kernels when you recompile (you have the old and new you can pick from).

[Texrat]

This problem is usually caused by a problem with the battery in my experience, but that doesn't rule out other contributers. I'd go with Milhouse's suggestion, and if you don't have an alternate battery handy maybe even drop by a Compusa and see if you can get them to try one of their batteries in it to see if there's a difference.

[freeman]

From the way I understand it (and I could be wrong), you have a base kernel in the device, and a second one or third (not sure how many you can have) on the sd card. Then you tell it which one to boot up. Think more like a choice of kernels when you recompile (you have the old and new you can pick from).

Actually, no. At the moment, you only have 1 kernel(store on flash), but the boot menu is to select which partition you like to start as a rootfs. As I said, "at the moment", I know that there is other who are working on getting the unit to load kernel elsewhere. When you upload custom kernel, it goes into flash as well, you replace the old one, not adding a new one. It's 1 kernel but multiple rootfs choice.

[freeman]

The only time this happened to me, it was due to a flat battery (only enough juice to get a few seconds into the boot sequence before it dies). Try leaving the N800 connected to the charger for a few hours then try booting it again.

Failing that, check one of the many posts that discuss constant reboots. Like this (http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4301) one.

Also check this Bugzilla comment (https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=957#c10).

Just curious, when my battery ran flat, and it only have juice to take off for a few sec, it goes back to poweroff, not back to reboot.

[jonstatt]

Just to add to this post about battery issues.

My brand new N800 kept rebooting as soon as I connected it to the power source. I thought it was faulty.

Then I found that the 3 battery pins that make contact with the battery, the middle one is shorter than the others. I cleaned up the contacts a bit on the battery itself and it was enough to get the battery working properly and it now works just fine.

Bottom line is that constant start-up reboots will happen if there is an issue with the battery.

Jonathan

[TA-t3]

That's a useful addition to the knowledge base. Thanks!