N800 won't turn on! [Archive] - maemo.org

Chase0782

2007-08-16, 06:56

I read the threads about this in the forum (it was a 770 ... anyway), but none of the solutions helped me. Any suggestions?
All appenede after I tried to flashing the n800. Turned off and when I pushed "on" and "home", nothing happened (apart of the death ....) HELP

hey dude, try this...http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5&displayLang=en download framework 2.0 service pack redistributable and install..then go to maemo.org and get the latest version of nokia internet tablet software for n800 .. then, after you're all set up.. plug in your usb to n800 and cut on the power holding the home button so the usb icon and nokia logo screen will stay.. then install the nokia software.. this helped me with mine, i couldn't get mine to cut on neither xP i hope this helps

Chase0782

2007-08-16, 08:26

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0C1B0A88-59E2-4EBA-A70E-4CD851C5FCC4&displaylang=en this link should make it quicker if you can't find the right one to download on microsoft

Chase0782

2007-08-16, 17:22

http://europe.nokia.com/A4305010 or this if you want them both together on one webpage to get :D either or, just make sure you get the .net framework 2.0 before trying to install the nokia software..or else it'll just keep keep telling you to get framework and make you stop the installation ;)

AdonusX

2007-10-20, 05:49

I seem to be having this same problem now... had my N800 for about 2 days. I don't see how the fixes listed will work if the actual device refuses to turn on. Is it a bad idea to insert a memory card in the internal slot while the device is on? And I feel a little stupid because I can't figure out how to remove the battery so I can try a replacement or anything... please help!

torx

2007-10-20, 13:32

Remove the battery by pulling it up from the side (the side closest to the edge).

AdonusX

2007-10-22, 08:09

ok, I removed the battery... but when I reinserted it and turned the system on, the screen went completely blue, then completely red... then turned back off..... what does that mean?

belder

2007-10-22, 08:31

I'm expecting my N800 today and I have Framework ver 1.1 on my Windows 2000 machine (w/ service pack 4). Is this going to be an issue? Just trying to head trouble off at the pass.

TA-t3

2007-10-22, 12:15

Make sure the device is properly charged. When you try the reflashing, first unplug the charger cable (and keep the N800 off), plug in the USB cable, start the PC program, _then_ plug in the charger cable. Then you won't have to do the (sometimes tricky) key combination trick to turn it on: Pluggin in the charger cable will power on the N800 for you.

If the above doesnt work then it sounds like the unit is bad and you should look at getting it replaced/repaired.

Mikeinnc

2007-10-25, 15:27

I've just received my brand new, never used N800 and it did exactly the same thing. I was able to get it to work for about 10 minutes with the new battery straight from the box, but then I decided to charge the battery while I did some work. That's the last time I ever managed to turn it on. Plugging the charger in would bring up the 'Nokia' logo, followed by a small (static) battery icon, which then dimmed considerably and then the screen went black. No amount of pressing the power button would do anything. A couple of times, the blue led on the navigation button lit very briefly, but then straight back to a black screen. The charger felt cool to the touch. I removed and replaced the battery a number of times (which also felt cool). In the end, I just packed it up and returned it as DOA. I hope the replacement works! It is a worry seeing a number of entries about this problem.......

TA-t3

2007-10-25, 15:46

Sounds like a hardware problem, but in any case you should charge it properly first, before switching it on for the first time. Don't depend on a factory charged battery, they are usually delivered with, at best, a rather low charge because it'll keep better shelf life. Charge the N800 for at least half an hour before switching it on (and keep charging), it won't do any harm to charge it an hour or two first. Or more.

Mikeinnc

2007-10-29, 20:33

Sounds like a hardware problem, but in any case you should charge it properly first, before switching it on for the first time.

I have just received my replacement N800 and I think I can see a difference straight away! The original just showed a little 'battery' icon when I plugged the charger in, which then dimmed but did nothing else (and I was never quite sure what Nokia meant in the instruction leaflet that says "The battery indicator bar starts scrolling on the screen after the device has powered up".) The new one showed the same icon, but was followed shortly afterwards by the word 'Charging'. Now, it never did that before! Looking good!

So it appears that something in the charging circuit in the original was u/s - either the charger or the actual internal charging circuit. I had 'sort-of' suspected that - but didn't have a multimeter to check it out. I'll leave this new one on charge for a few hours, and not be tempted to 'play' with it until I'm confident the battery is charged.

Hope this may be of help to others who appear to be having the same - or similar - problems.

XM40

2007-10-30, 15:27

Mine went completely dead while trying to play an avi. file. Nothing would revive it. Finally managed to get the battery out by using a credit card to pry it. it popped out finally. Waited a minute and then put it back together. It turned on and was working again. Yea!!!:D

nyleridedog

2007-10-30, 15:33

hi mikeinnc i have tried to get my n800 sent away for replacement/repair. I contated nokia and gave them my details but havent heard anything for a while now! may i ask what process you went thru to get your n800 looked at?

cheers

Blaster

2007-10-30, 16:01

After trying to update my N800 which didnt really happen after i tried so many times for the last 2 days, I am really not interested to spoil my N800 with this upgrade.

Infact who would like to upgrade and spoil their device? I see that so many people having problems after upgrade or during the process of upgrade, so my advice is to have the OS which comes pre-installed .

We can add many applications and work with this OS without any upgrade infact.

When we see the probability of happy customers to the probability of worried customers then definitely worried customers will be more after trying to upgrade N800.

Even after all these , if anyone got success in software upgrade then please share the exact steps - wat you did and how you did.

Cheers

Sadavyk

2007-10-30, 16:57

Sorry to hear that all you guy's are having all these problem's but that's why i love this site and atfer all of these postes i have no intention of up dating my table if it works fine let it be. If it's broke then don't fix.

stevan

2007-11-19, 17:23

I bought my N800 in March and have had no problems until this morning when it refused to start up. I've no idea why except MPlayer had developed a fault the day before so I updated it but that didn't have any effect. The last thing I did was set the alarm before switching it off last night.

On powering up I was only getting the Nokia Logo and a static charging icon, I tried the button combinations but that did nothing.

I don't have much knowledge about re-installing software ect but thanks to the instructions on this thread I now have a living N800 again http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif
Smile

Thanks,

Stevan

vabgeo

2007-11-19, 17:47

My N800 is not booting up or even showing the charging icon. I was doing a backup of my rootfs to the mmc card and setting up for dual booting. I guess it must have drained the battery a lot or its really bricked.
I checked the charger output it shows 6.2V, the battery voltage shows only 700mV! I guess that means its drained out? is that correct?

I have searched around and found that other Nokia phones may have a similar bug!
EDIT: Cannot confirm this quote..

...which 9500 communicator users have also experienced (same battery: BP-5L) If the battery is quite low then it refuses to charge - and actually discharges! When this happens the battery is dead and the E61 microprocessor cannot turn on and charge the phone...

I am going to try the usb+reflash and see if it will cause n800 to start charging again.

seltzerman

2007-11-20, 00:30

Mine has been doing the no-start thing regularly, too. frequently after I charge it, it will not start for a half hour, then it suddenly will. It also seems to start when I briefly disconnect the battery, and then try powering on again.

vabgeo

2007-11-21, 23:26

I seem to have completely bricked my n800.

I had the OS2007.26-8 and flashed to OS2008, since I needed to use it, for maemo maps I went back to OS2007.38.2.

I decided I had to dual boot to MMC :D and tar cvf - -C all the rootfs to mmc.
Then I ran initfs_flasher from fanoush, thru ssh from my ibm laptop.
It asked press return to reboot and never have switched on back again. I had initially thought the battery was down or the charger had a problem, but I tried with another charger with no effect.
Even when I connect a charger, it does not show the charging icon. No lights blinking or not even a squeek. I have also tried, putting the USB cable first, then connecting charger, home key+power, removing the battery for a day, different pc's usb slots, nothing seems to work..

Is there anything else I should check before I give it to Nokia? I heard it will take at least 6-8 weeks to get it repaired. Thats bad for me since I am leaving US in 3 weeks and means I will have to have some body courier it to me afterwards.

1. Does doing the initfs through ssh by wireless, that could have caused this problem? While I was running initfs_flash, the N800's display was blanked due to inactivity & the charger was connected. would this have anything to do with it?
2. Did anyone have a totally bricked state for N800? If not I can probably claim to be the owner of first bricked N800...

The delay in the N810 device program means, I probably will have to go back without any device in hand :(
Suggestions appreciated.

flipper

2007-11-28, 22:52

This has just happened to me. I was attempting to pair to bluetooth stowaway keyboard and it got stuck in a loop. Now it's just completely dead :(

flipper

2007-11-29, 09:00

This has just happened to me. I was attempting to pair to bluetooth stowaway keyboard and it got stuck in a loop. Now it's just completely dead :(

After leaving the battery out for progressive amounts of time before trying to switch back on my N800 eventually came back to life. I'm pretty nervous right now though.

vabgeo

2007-11-29, 16:06

After leaving the battery out for progressive amounts of time before trying to switch back on my N800 eventually came back to life. I'm pretty nervous right now though.

good that it came back to life. I am still trying to find another battery. what did u mean by 'progressive amount of time'?

flipper

2007-11-29, 17:44

good that it came back to life. I am still trying to find another battery. what did u mean by 'progressive amount of time'?

First I took it out for 1 minute before putting it back in and switching on, then 5 minutes, then 10. It was at around 10 that it came back to life.

mopperx2

2007-11-29, 18:02

Same thing happened to me. It was at night so I left the battery out the whole night while I slept and popped it back in and it turned on like normal.

vvaz

2007-12-17, 16:49

Just joined the club. New N800, charged half an hour, pull plug, turn on and *puff*, nothing...

akd

2007-12-17, 17:17

Before turn it on try giving a full charge...

DataPath

2007-12-31, 20:46

I'm in the same boat.

It worked as expected for me the first several times, but lately, if I tell it to turn off, I can't turn it back on.

Pulling the battery for a bit and putting it back seems to work.

I wonder if the OS gets stuck during shutdown - it's already turned off the screen, but hasn't shut down yet and gets stuck on something.

geneven

2007-12-31, 21:00

DataPath

2007-12-31, 21:12

When you get it started again, what does the battery status indicate? Does it show half full or fully full?

My N800 with OS2008 is sometimes dead when left overnight, but I know that means the battery is out of power, so I just put a full one in, since I always have a freshly charged one next to my battery charger.

Fully full. I had just charged it. It's completely repeatable: every time I shut down, it will be 5-30 minutes before I can power it back on. Or I can pull the battery and wait a few minutes.

sahinem

2008-01-03, 06:56

Datapath I seem to have the same problem as you do.

I've just received my n800. I switched it on for the first time and as soon as I switched it off the machine went dead. After reading this forum I took the battery out wait for at least 30 min to 60 min than it works. Every time I switch off it goes dead. I am afraid the pins of the battery will be damaged while taking the battery out and inserting back. Anyone have any idea for this problem ?

oakleeman

2008-01-10, 17:44

Am experiencing the exact same problem even after upgrading to OS2008. Wonder if there was a bad batch?

Ordered mine from tigerdirect.com end of December. What number could we use to compare if they are from the same batch or not?

ennui

2008-01-10, 17:52

i just got one from tiger direct and upgraded to 2008...

it seemed like it wouldn't turn on after i upgraded, but i found that you had to hold the on button and wait for the LED around the arrow key pad to light up fully and then it would boot...

but if i held it for too long the light would go out and it wouldn't turn on... sort of strange... look to see whether the blue light goes on when you think it is dead...

oakleeman

2008-01-10, 18:14

Yeah, I noticed the blue led would light up when it would boot but when it won't boot the leds won't light up.

It wouldn't turn on this morning so I plugged it in to let it charge for 2-3 hrs. Tried turning it on about an hour ago and it wouldn't come on. Took the battery out and went back to working. I just now put the battery back in, it booted up, I let it connect to the wifi and then shut it down. I did notice before shutting down that it said that the battery was still low.

Now it won't turn back on. Am also noticing that when I plug it into power the charging indicator doesn't come on either. Don't remember if the indicator came on this morning or not. Removed the battery for a few seconds and put it back in and then tried plugging it in and the charging indicator still won't come on.

I've taken the battery back out and set the unit aside again. Will put the battery back in after 30 minutes or so and plug it into the charger to see if the indicator comes on before trying to power the unit back on again.

Just found the following on another thread:

I have a short lists of some issues that need to be looked for first before going nuts and asking the same old questions again and again.
If you are having trouble with your N800, please do the following:

1)Remove your battery, and both memory cards. Wait five minutes.
2)Reinstall the battery and cover, leave the cards out.
3)Press and hold the power button until the device turns on.
4)If it doesn't power up, plug in the charger and hold the power button again.
5)once it's booted, hold the power button in again to shut it back off.
6)Replace the internal card. Use the stylus to move the little metal tab over the memory card to hold it in place (I think some people aren't even aware this feature exists, so their cards jiggle out of place and error out.)
7)Try booting it again. If it doesn't boot or it can't see the card, then the internal card might be bad.
8)Stick the external card back in and go.
If the external card gives you trouble, you can power down and swap card position to see if it's the slot or the card. Look into the hole for the external card to see if any debris or pocket lint lives in there. Blow it out and do not use anything metal in that hole!

Took out the included external 256MB SD card, put the battery back in, and plugged it in. Was able to turn it on/off several times while plugged in. I'll let it charge for a couple hours and then see if I have any issues turning it on/off with the SD card removed.

plexus

2008-01-10, 18:58

I got the n800 at the beginning of january. I took it to work and my colleague, who has one, helped me flash it to OS2008. we used a PC. we plugged it in the to the USB, ran the flasher, turned it off and it would not turn back on. confused, we moved onto something else and i put it on the charger. I noticed after about 30 mins that it started up again. so we put it on the flasher and flashed it to OS2008. i turned it off and it would not turn back on. i then discovered, like you, that if it is connected to the charger after about 10-30 mins will re-active and then it can be turned on. but if i turn it off, it wont turn or power on until its put back on the charger.

today i decided to down-grade to OS2007 to see if that would work. I used the 770Flasher app for Mac OSX. I did this just now at work and i dont have the power adaptor here so I knew it was a risk. It was powered on, connected to the USB and i ran the flasher.

The flasher reported some shared library errors and i couldnt make out if these were with respect to the flasher app or the n800. after the errors i was able to select the firmware OS2007 file. when i hit OK, the flasher told me to disconnect the n800 and power down. I did this, and reconnected it to the computer. nothing happened. then i thought, maybe it needs to be powered back on. so thinking it wouldnt power on, I powered it on, and it turned on!

the flasher ran, showed some info about the existing system and then reported an error. i wish i had written all this down or taken screenshots but alas, i didnt. so i disconnected the n800. quit the flasher and decided to turn it off and try turning it back on...

... IT WORKED!

and now, in the last hour i have turned it off and back on successfully about 5 times. I'll try it again....

... of course ... this time it didnt turn on.

but wait... lets try the process again...

... now it turns on and off again ok.

i was able to capture the output of the flasher:

Nokia 770 Flasher for Mac OS X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) Andrew Flegg 2005.
http://www.bleb.org/software/770/ Released under the Artistic Licence.

dyld: shared cached file is corrupt: /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_ppc
dyld: shared cached file is corrupt: /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_ppc
dyld: shared cached file is corrupt: /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_ppc
dyld: shared cached file is corrupt: /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_ppc
flasher v0.8.1 (Jun 8 2006)

Suitable USB device not found, waiting
Error opening USB device: Unknown error: -1
SW version in image: RX-34_2007SE_4.2007.38-2_PR_MR0
Image 'kernel', size 1317632 bytes
Version 2.6.18-200738osso1
Image 'initfs', size 1704576 bytes
Version 0.94-17
Image 'rootfs', size 87162880 bytes
Version RX-34_2007SE_4.2007.38-2_PR_MR0
Image '2nd', size 8064 bytes
Valid for RX-34: 1301, 1302, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1601, 1602
Version 1.1.6-5
Image 'xloader', size 9088 bytes
Valid for RX-34: 1301, 1302, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1601, 1602
Version 1.1.6-5
Image 'secondary', size 95872 bytes
Valid for RX-34: 1301, 1302, 1501, 1502, 1503, 1504, 1601, 1602
Version 1.1.6-5
USB device found found at bus 005, device address 005-0421-0105-02-00
dyld: shared cached file is corrupt: /var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_ppc

------------

this seems to be a problem with the flasher. anyway, now at least i can turn it on and off and it will mostly always work. much better than before.

i dont know if this "fixed" the problem or if it was circumstantial. perhaps there is something odd about the USB port - like maybe it gets put into a "mode" or something that prevents the n800 from switching on?

i find it hard to believe its a hardware problem. any word from nokia on this?

brett

oakleeman

2008-01-10, 21:35

So after removing the SD card, plugging it into power, and turning it on/off several times I just left it off to charge. About 1-2 hrs later I come back and the screen shows "charging". I unplug it and then attempt to turn it on...nothing. I then plug it back in and the "charging" doesn't come back up and I can't turn it on.

I took the battery out and left it out for about 30 minutes and then just put the battery back in and plugged it in...nothing. Attempted to turn it on.... nothing. Just took the battery back out and will try it again in another 30 minutes.

First_time_tableteer

2008-01-11, 16:59

I'm having the same issue with my N800. Out of the box, I charged it and it showed "fully charged." When I try to turn on w/ the power key nothing happens. I sent it to Nokia (thinking that it was a charging or hardware issue). They reflashed the OS (OS2007) and sent it back. It turned on once, then wouldn't turn on again.

If I plug it into the charger it springs to life. At this point I can press the power button.

I'm trying now to remove the SD card ( supplied card) and reboot a couple of times.

First_time_tableteer

2008-01-11, 18:46

OK, it appears that removing the nokia SD card, plugging into charger, then doing a few reboots has solved the problem. I didn't have the little metal "holder" on the SD card so perhaps it was moving around and shorting out.

My N800 won't start by just pressing the power button, though. Like some other user mentioned I have to double-tap the home key to get the blue light to come on.. then it will power up using the power button.

First_time_tableteer

2008-01-12, 00:40

So I was wrong, removing the SD card did not fix the start-up issue. After powering down it would not restart unless I plugged it into the charger.

zeleftikam

2008-01-12, 02:08

Another dead N800 user here... My device quit after 8 hours and won't turn on beyond briefly flashing the NOKIA boot screen...

http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=125901

:mad:

oakleeman

2008-01-14, 01:12

I'm pretty much to the point of sending my N800 back. I don't have any SD cards installed and have tried almost all of the combinations of plugging/unplugging power, removing battery, etc and have just about had enough. I'm going to try reflashing it again with OS2007/OS2008 to see if it helps.

As it stands I have to take the battery out for 30-45 minutes after shutdown before I can power it back up again. I love to dabble and experiment with Linux and gadgets as much as the next guy but that is ridiculous for something I paid so much for.

EDIT:

My appears to be bricked. I've not been able to turn it on at all today. I've tried every trick and method I've read on this forum and nothing seems to work....I'll leave the battery out overnight as a last ditch effort before RMAing it.

First_time_tableteer

2008-01-15, 15:35

Nokia service has instructed me to take my battery in and out of the device repeatedly to fix my "not powering on" issue. I'll keep you posted. My N800 is not yet "bricked" but turns on only when plugged into the charger. I will last several days on standby mode, so it still works. The bummer is that it won't start up into "software update" mode so I'm stuck with OS2007.

Nokia support also asked me to explore my "exchange and return" options with my retailer. Buy.com's 14-day return policy isn't helping me at this point.

I'll keep you all posted.

nhanquy

2008-01-15, 16:33

From the beginning, I thought that my N800 acted same as yours. But later on I learned that the on/off key has to be pushed hard (and not released) for a long period of time to power it on.

Do not release it quickly! Hope this help !

carbonduc27

2008-01-15, 16:43

Ok, so i signed up just to voice my problem also. I got my N800 on friday and unless it is on the charger it will not turn on. Sometimes (many times) I have to do the "wait 30 minutes trick".

I purchased it from tigerdirect.com and even though I love it, this thing is useless to me plugged in.

Any other suggestions would be great, i am willing to try anything.

Oh, and I was able to get it to turn on without the cord yesterday so i got it updated with the latest OS2008. I also disabled virtual memory so that cannot be the problem.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

akd

2008-01-15, 19:56

As our fellow Bunanson suggested me, I have opened a poll on the general section about the power on failure, so everybody is invited to vote...

geneven

2008-01-15, 20:32

If you charged your battery fully to start with and you still have major problems with it, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't put up with it. Mine works great, but if it had this kind of problem, I would return it. I think having multiple fresh batteries helps, and they can be gotten cheaply, but I didn't have any problems like this when I had only one battery.

cthindi

2008-01-16, 12:41

I had a similar problem. I called Nokia and they told me to send it for repairs. I was not fully convinced that it was any hardware issue.

This time Problem happened within an hour or so of my last tuning it off with batteries almost full, thus batteries should not have drained fully even if processor kept consuming it. After Reading through this thread I tried just taking the battery out. I did not charge it. I just left it out for half hour or so and then reinstalled it.

Voila, N800 powered up with battery showing up as full. Thus I am thinking that battery was never really fully drained. But some process is stuck not allowing it to power up.

Someone else with this problem can confirm please?

oakleeman

2008-01-17, 05:18

So it turns out mine wasn't bricked after all. The next morning I took it back out of the box and put the battery in...sure enough it turned on. I plugged it back in and fully charge. Turned it off while still plugged into power, immediately plugged it into my pc and held my breath as I pressed power. It came on and I reflashed it with OS2008.

I didn't turn it off for the next two days until just now. Turned it off while AC plugged in and was able to turn it back on. I just now turned it off with AC unplugged and let it set for 2-3 minutes...sure enough it won't turn on.

So it looks like I still need to send it back but now I have a slight problem. I misplaced the 256MB card during my testing and haven't been able to find it. Would anybody here by chance be willing to sell theirs or do you think tigerdirect would notice if I switched it out with a 1GB micro-SD?

slip

2008-01-17, 05:41

I had this problem earlier today as well. I usually just keep it on all the time, but I decided to turn it off today, figuring that maybe it would be good to shut it down once in a while like a PC, and it would not turn back on until I removed the battery for a few seconds (I did not have to wait 30 mins like a previous poster did). This would be annoying regardless, but it is even more annoying because it is so difficult to remove the battery--i have no nails and can never get any bite on the battery to pry it out.

plutard

2008-01-17, 09:13

There may be hope!

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2673

See comment #13 from, it appears, someone at Nokia:

Anyway, a cause for this bug has been found and a fix is in works. AFAIK it will require updating the device bootloader (can be done with flasher), but I don't know when the fix will be available.

bunanson

2008-01-18, 01:36

...I decided to turn it off today, figuring that maybe it would be good to shut it down once in a while like a PC...

A soft reboot will serve the above
purpose,

xterm
sudo gainroot
shutdown -r now

or try a small utility, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...=12863&page=19 thread #186

bun

plexus

2008-01-18, 04:17

I solved the problem. I returned my n800 for a new one and the new one works fine. i re-flashed the old one with OS2008 and it still exhibits the same no-power-on problem. Its hard not to think this is a hardware problem but it sounds like nokia thinks its a software problem. weird.

anyway im happy now.

i bought it from dell online and they shipped me a new one and i am awaiting their instructions to send the old one back. i used them both for a couple days and had no problems with the new one.

dogbiscuit

2008-01-19, 05:46

My first N800 wouldn't power up most of the time when it was unplugged. After 3 days I RMA'd it and got a replacement from ca.buy.com. The new one powers up reliably without requiring any weird tricks or bad language. Both are running OS2008.

The only complaint so far about the new N800 is the screen is a fraction of a degree out of alignment. I have decided that this won't drive me crazy (I think).

It seems like a crap shoot whether you will get a good or a bad device. The serial numbers between the two units were just a couple of hundred apart. It makes one wonder about Nokia's hardware QA with so many flakey devices being shipped.

myk

2008-01-31, 07:15

My new n800 also will not turn on after power off. Same problem out-of-the-box, and now with os2008 flashed. Will not charge either.

Turns out I just need to leave it for a few minutes. But I'm worried it may get worse. I'm in Australia, and bought from a US ebay seller, so warranty repair will not be easy. (But the purchase cost in Oz is double - why!?)

Someone suggested a software problem with shutdown, so i tried just dropping the battery out while on, but it still would not turn on again for some minutes.

If it doesn't get worse, I can live with it, but I ordered a couple of spare batteries, and swapping them will not be fun.

ckonkel

2008-01-31, 17:34

I just got a new n800 - have the same issue everyone else here is having.

My solution:
I got mine to turn on while pressing the power button and inserting the battery at the same time. If this is the only fix and it keeps occurring then there is no reason to keep this one. I will try for a new one and see if this problem comes up again... ugh.

-CK

myk

2008-02-01, 02:36

I got mine to turn on while pressing the power button and inserting the battery at the same time.
Doesn't work for me. Funny all the different symptoms people are reporting.

One thing I notice, the blue LED should come on immediately when I touch the power button, or insert the charger. If not, then no amount of anything will help until I wait a few minutes without touching it.

cyberbillp

2008-02-01, 13:48

Add me to the list. Got mine from Amazon 2 days ago.

Flashed it to 2008 after using it plugged in for a couple of hours. (Flashed it unplugged). Never powered on correctly afterwards. I have to futz with plugging in the charger to get it turned on. Once I get the charging indicator I can turn it on.

I really like the unit..... but this is a pretty huge problem. For now I just won't turn it off and try to just reboot it with a script. We'll see how that goes. Holding my breath for a patch.

angelb

2008-02-09, 17:51

Another victim of the "Power On" bug. Just got my N800 from Amazon 2 days ago. Everything worked fine until I shut it down to update to OS2008. After that - nothing. Dead on the water. Removing the battery for about 15-20 minutes did the trick to my relief. Worked the rest of the day without any problem whatsoever.

Just shut it down again to try updating again and I had the same problem. Tried several of the suggestions in the forums, but still I have not made it work again.
Hope I can update to OS2008 and after that I won't be shutting it down unless it is REALLY necessary.

Goes without saying that this is VERY annoying, although a working N800 is a thing of unearthly beauty :)

GeneralAntilles

2008-02-09, 17:59

Hope I can update to OS2008 and after that I won't be shutting it down unless it is REALLY necessary.

Install becomeroot and xterm in Bora. Plug the device into your computer with USB (eject any flash cards that may have mounted on your computer). Start the flasher utility. Open xterm, run sudo gainroot, then reboot. Start holding the Home key after entering reboot, and keep holding it until the flasher starts doing its magic.

angelb

2008-02-09, 21:07

Success!!! I removed the battery and after a couple of hours I was able to turn on my N800 and update to OS2008.

I hope the promised patch to this problem is available next week as promised.

GreenMonkey

2008-02-11, 13:51

My n800 did this after 2-3 days. I talked the buy.com folks (who will do RMA for replacement only) into letting me buy another one, and shipping back the old one for a refund.

Saved me $30ish anyway since it was $189 vs $217 I paid for it the week before.

I have the new unit in house. Not sure if it works properly or not yet. So far, no problems.

Betty Woo

2008-02-11, 23:20

Like I mentioned on another thread, count me in with this same problem.

Took PlayThing out of my bag to check something and black screen. Press power on and the only thing I get is about five seconds of the initial NOKIA screen, a flashing blue start button and... zip. Off it goes.

Also got it from Dell.ca. Wonder if Canada just got stuck with some bad stock?

I'll contact NOKIA about it, try to recharge it (though that can't be the problem - it was almost fully charged just 90 minutes ago), will remove and reinsert battery if required, will remove NOKIA SD card to see if that works.

In any case, having this occur about two weeks after purchase is not acceptable. I don't really care why it happened or how to continuous fix it. I'm not paying for a flakey product. Period.

I'll just consider PlayThing1 as a bit of a dud and find out how to return it (or, prefereably, get Dell.ca to send me another before I return mine).

Bad times, bad times :-P

myk

2008-02-11, 23:40

Press power on and the only thing I get is about five seconds of the initial NOKIA screen, a flashing blue start button and... zip. Off it goes.

Betty, this is NOT the common power-on problem. Rather it is failing to boot up. Try removing the flash cards, then try reflash the firmware.
If that too fails, you'll need to return it.

Betty Woo

2008-02-11, 23:57

Betty, this is NOT the common power-on problem. Rather it is failing to boot up. Try removing the flash cards, then try reflash the firmware.
If that too fails, you'll need to return it.

Um... damned.

If I reflash the firmware (whatever that is), will I lose everything including applications and files?

If so, then I might as well just return this thing and try a new one.

Crappity-crap-crap.

myk

2008-02-12, 00:18

If I reflash the firmware (whatever that is), will I lose everything including applications and files?

Its like reinstalling Windows on a PC, just in case you just have a software problem and the hardware is fine. Are you still running OS.2007? Its worth installing 2008 anyway, I think.
You should backup your data to memory card first - see backup program under 'settings'. Ahh .. d'oh! you can't - sorry.
And you would need to reinstall your applications anyway. Its all a LOT easier than on Windows though.
Of course, if your hardware is bad, it might not even be possible
to do this. See this forum for OS.2008 upgrade info.

GeneralAntilles

2008-02-12, 00:19

Betty Woo

2008-02-12, 01:17

Its like reinstalling Windows on a PC, just in case you just have a software problem and the hardware is fine. Are you still running OS.2007? Its worth installing 2008 anyway, I think.

Ah. First thing out of the box and I put OS2008 on it.

You should backup your data to memory card first - see backup program under 'settings'. Ahh .. d'oh! you can't - sorry.

Strangely, I'd made the decision when I first got PlayThing that I would only had stuff I'd already stored on my iMac, first. This included all my screenshots of... ah... my screenshots? So, aside from losing the set-up and the apps, I haven't lost anything, really, 'cept a bit of my sanity.

And you would need to reinstall your applications anyway. Its all a LOT easier than on Windows though.

Oh, God. Windows. Never been a fan and have had various Macs since the Classic. Which means I've never actually had to reformat a hard drive. I'm a stauch 'if ignorance is bliss, I want to be happy' computer person.

Of course, if your hardware is bad, it might not even be possible to do this. See this forum for OS.2008 upgrade info.

Well. I'm home now and the battery's been out for an hour. I'll give it another hour while I eat dinner and go through the steps and see what's what.

Has this been a rather post-OS2008 issue? I wonder what's happening... .

Ah, well. Also called up Dell.ca and they have a 30-day return policy. Worse case scenario: give this thing another week, see if some firmware upgrade gets belched out and take it from there. If I'm still not happy, ship PlayThing back and get another one.

Betty Woo

2008-02-12, 01:19

It sounds more symptomatic of low battery.

Then it went from almost full to zippo in 90 minutes of sitting in a bag with no applications but the basics running... .

Will report back with suitable whine or geeze after dinner and a renewed start up on a set-aside battery.

UPDATE: Plugged in battery again. Zip.
Plugged in charger, battery indicator went on. Waited five minutes, fired PlayThing up. All's well.
Unplugged recharger to see what screen indicator... um... indicates. Battery is extremely low.

But, like I said, it was damned near full less than 90 minutes before when I was checking an email downstairs and I closed all applications down whenever I put it back in the bag.

I'm still uneasy about this whole episode. Among the first posts I wrote was about the wacky battery never seeming to be fully charged, regardless of how long I left PlayThing off and recharging.

I guess I'll have to see what happens in the next week or so (before the return policy shuts me out)... .

Bleeh.

camaroer87

2008-02-12, 20:50

Mine worked yesterday, but the battery was draining really fast, now it won't turn on either. Nothing. How am I supposed to flash it if it wont turn on so that the computer can recognize it? Yes I have left it in the charger, but no battery charging picture comes up. It worked for a little bit this morning after I left the battery out over night. It booted, but there was no battery icon, so I shut it off. Then I turned it back on, still no battery icon. So I shut it off, would not go on. Pulled the battery for a few hours again and put it back in with the plug, would not go on. Now I just have it sitting here plugged in.

Also, in another post I was reading people were having problems with the n800 discharging the battery in a matter of hours when its supposed to be idle. Could that and this be related? The battery gets so discharged that it won't even turn on and takes forever to get sufficient charge to boot even when plugged in?

Betty Woo

2008-02-12, 21:06

I'm wondering if the culprit could be the way I use the tablet.

When not at home on my own wireless connection, I just toss the thing into my bag.

I *had* had the connectivity settings (through the icon) set to 'search interval: 5 minutes'.

Maybe the drain was PlayThing looking for a connection every 5 minutes, then?

I don't know how draining that would be on the batteries, though... .

I've just changed the 'search interval' to 'never'. Manually starting the connectivity search isn't a terrible task. I'm going out for a few hours tonight. Maybe I'll bring PlayThing with me and see if the battery gets drained or stays the same with the present settings.

Sorry, camaroer87 - this doesn't help you at all for your immediate problem.

myk

2008-02-13, 01:08

Mine worked yesterday, but the battery was draining really fast, now it won't turn on either.
Nothing. How am I supposed to flash it if it wont turn on?

It sounds like two problems. Can you test the battery voltage?
If it has the power-on problem, then it may not charge.
When you plug in the charger, you should see the blue LED.
If not, let it cool. Or put it in the fridge. Use a plastic bag to
stop it getting condensation when you take it out.

so that the computer can recognize it? Yes I have left it in the charger, but no battery charging picture comes up. It worked for a little bit this morning after I left the battery out over night.

It booted, but there was no battery icon, so I shut it off.
Bad move. Once you have it on, plug in the charger. Never turn it off again :-) Or at least until we get the promised software fix.

Now I just have it sitting here plugged in.
Unplug, cool it, and try again to charge.
HTH

cyberbillp

2008-02-13, 20:45

I generally don't turn it off now. I'm used to charging my palm overnight anyways, so I'm used to charging everyday.

To reboot I use a script as root. So my n800 is never off, and I always put it on charge when possible. It runs like a dream now.

Mara

2008-02-13, 21:05

I generally don't turn it off now.

Maybe now... but maybe couple days later you'll be tempted to turn it off... ;) :D

zeleftikam

2008-02-14, 02:14

This happened to me a bunch of times, until one day I couldn't revive it at all, despite all the tricks. I returned it and bought a new one.

bunanson

2008-02-14, 02:30

...To reboot I use a script as root.... It runs like a dream now.

That is exactly what I have been doing till the "fix" available. It is the best one can do out of a bad situation. No offense, just my own 2cents, pls stop telling me you can always return it, I know, I just cannot stand a day without my tablet :rolleyes:

bun

matsch

2008-02-17, 00:48

Hiho... i had the same problem with my n800 after 3 days...

my SOLUTION:

I couldnt turn it on... it either didnt start or it runs in a loop.. Nokia Logo blackscreen and so on...

Then i charged it with my Nokia6500-charger, and its working!!

...i dont know why, but hey, the original N800-charger looks cheap anyway...

geneven

2008-02-17, 01:09

Some people in this thread seem to have made the perilous mistake of taking the battery status symbol seriously. When the battery status says "almost full", it means "this battery is going down soon, baby!"

I have made the mistake of looking at the battery status bar and concluding I had plenty of juice and WAY LESS THAN FIVE MIN|UTES LATER I had to stop a Skype call because I was getting the low battery warning. Fortunately, I always have a full battery waiting in the wings.

(By the way, the "low battery" signal is also very unreliable. I was once jogging and about to take the branch of the run that makes it a seven mile loop. Then I got the "low battery" signal so I swerved off to finish a shorter run--I didn't want to jog without my sounds! To my surprise, the mp3s I was listening to were still going strong by the time I finished.)

The moral: just because you think you've got lots of juice left in your battery doesn't make it so. And many of these problems are caused by a low battery -- and I wonder if sometimes the quality of the electrical connection where you plug in to recharge also plays a role.

GreenMonkey

2008-02-17, 01:12

Mi new one apparently ran out of power today. Guess what, no boot up.

The fridge trick finally got it to power up. Battery was very low. It's recharging now (while turned on).

Will it just get so dead that the battery-charging screen / blue light won't turn on? It spent the day with the screen & keys locked and so it should have gone to standby. Are there any standby settings I can play with to save power?

myk

2008-02-17, 01:15

I couldnt turn it on... it either didnt start or it runs in a loop.. Nokia Logo blackscreen and so on...

Obviously (in hindsight) just caused by a flat battery then.
My charger is exactly the same as the one for my 6120 phone.

LordFu

2008-02-17, 03:59

N800 owner, here.

Worst case, in my experience, if your tablet won't boot, it will need a reflash. I actually mailed it off for repair one time, unnecessarily. I should have tried to flash it, myself. Newbie mistakes. ;)

If you can't flash it, or flashing doesn't solve your problem, then you have a real problem that you probably can't handle yourself. They had to replace my touchscreen, on my first repair. That was a real issue. The second time, I was just gun-shy, if you know what I mean.

The lesson, in short, keep a current backup. If you install something, make a new backup. Don't overwrite your old back-up, either. I keep one "known good" backup, and one "just installed something new" backup. If my tablet crashes hard and good, I don't sweat it anymore.

I haven't had a problem since the first OS2008 beta, though, tbh. I had a couple OS2007 updates that were flaky as hell for me. I cussed. I cried. I posted diatribes. All water under the bridge now. I'm a happy camper with OS2008.

myk

2008-02-17, 08:12

Will it just get so dead that the battery-charging screen / blue light won't turn on?

No, it shouldn't. Once the battery is too low, it turns off. Then you have the usual power-on problem.
I find that if it has the power-on problem, it won't even charge. So if the battery goes flat, I put it in the fridge for a few minutes, and then plug in the charger. You should see it wake up a few seconds later.

It spent the day with the screen & keys locked and so it should have gone to standby. Are there any standby settings I can play with to save power?

There is no 'standby' like on a laptop or TV. It just uses almost no power when idle. So close the web-browser if it may have flash or javascript running.

camaroer87

2008-02-19, 22:01

bunanson

2008-02-19, 22:07

Hey guys and gals, the new firmware is out! Gonna have to re-flash though. I am on a dial-up connection and won't be able to download and flash my n800 until tomorrow. Could anyone flash there's and post your results?

Just did it. Yup, 40 on and off without a glitch. Go for it. http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=16876,
dl your file here before it disappear, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?p=144658.

and say thanks to anidal whos kindness made it happen.

bun

David C. Kelly

2008-04-10, 13:18

I too am the new owner of Nokia N800. After charging the unit I turned it on long to restore previous Nokia data and then stupidly turned it off. Now I cannot turn it back on. I have read through this thread and tried everything suggested to no avail. I sent Dell an email asking about how to exchange it. (Assuming I can). If not I'm stuck. Any thoughts? I have tried charging, battery in and out; battery out and wait (the longest is overnight). Still nothing! When it charging there are lights, or icons just a a dark screen. Any insight is welcomed.
Thanks.

camaroer87

2008-04-10, 14:04

Yea, just do the firmware update that brunanson posted. Should cure all your problems:D

David C. Kelly

2008-04-10, 14:10

Not to be stupid but how do you do a firmware update when the unit has no power? The computer won't recognize the Nokia due to the lack of power. Or am I wrong?

camaroer87

2008-04-10, 17:09

Oh yea, forgot about that problem. :p Make sure you've got the new firmware image and everything ready to go on your computer. Then put the n800 into a plastic bag and then into the freezer for like a half hour. When you pull it out follow the steps like you normally would to do a firmware update. That is what worked for me.

GeneralAntilles

2008-04-10, 18:32

Not to be stupid but how do you do a firmware update when the unit has no power? The computer won't recognize the Nokia due to the lack of power. Or am I wrong?

http://www.internettablettalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=148932&postcount=2

bunanson

2008-04-10, 18:48

Not to be stupid but how do you do a firmware update when the unit has no power? The computer won't recognize the Nokia due to the lack of power. Or am I wrong?

I got a N800 from buy.com 2 weeks ago. It booted up only once and was dead. Dead, dead, dead. And I then also realized there is a wide spectrum of dead. That included, exchanged with a fully charged battery, plug it in overnight, press the G spot, press rapidly in successive sessions, charge between 3-5 min but not more then attempt after 2 min and 30s etc etc! Still no sign of life. Anyhow, I stucked the N800 into fridge, NOT freezer, you know, the plastic bin for vegetable for 20 min while I cursed Nokia and buy.com with the most foul language I ever learned. I took the N800 from fridge, like a physician checking some deadbody from the mort, carefully do the USB thing, bingo, it turned on and upgraded the software to 2007.51-3. It has NO problem ever since.

One small/stupid question, 2007.51-3 has been out for ages, why are vendors still shipping this kind of Nokia? Why? Am I unsatisfied? No. I am MAD! A responsible manufacturer should recall ALL unsold N800 and upgrade, or, to save expense, advertise a rapid exchange upon problem, or to sweeten the deal, if problem, will exchange with N810 instead, something like that.

Edit: a small typo, I mean "will exchange with N810WE instead", and explain to the unhappy custormer that there will be a small wait while the N810WE is being made, so and so forth.

bun

myk

2008-04-11, 00:10

Then put the n800 into a plastic bag and then into the freezer for like a half hour.
I'd try the fridge first!

And why do they still ship the buggy firmware?
Hint: Nokia have given their service/complaints division a humourously ironic name.

IcelandDreams

2008-04-11, 01:47

I bought my 4th N800 yesterday (for other people) and after an initial charge I couldn't turn it back on for the firmware update. After trying many things I did the freezer thing and was able to get it back on for the update. Everything seems fine now even with several on-off cycles. Strange but it worked.

coontey

2008-05-09, 01:02

I had many of the symptoms in this thread (dead n800 after running down battery to zero - unable to restart, occasional charging icon and/or NOKIA screen but boot never progressed beyond that)

Tried many of the suggestions but to no avail - including the fridge

I figured the battery was SO flat that the n800 might have some flawed logic in it that would not allow the battery to charge so I pulled the battery and wired it directly (using speaker wire and sellotape - not pretty!) to a spare Nokia ACP-12X charger that I had lying around. I wired it as inside + outer -.

30 mins later, when I put it back in the n800 it booted first time. It is now up and running and charging happily. If there is such a thing as an external battery charger then I am buying one tomorrow!

Meanwhile I may look at a reflash as bunanson, in post #100, seems to think 2007.51-3 has a beneficial effect

GeneralAntilles

2008-05-09, 01:09

Meanwhile I may look at a reflash as bunanson, in post #100, seems to think 2007.51-3 has a beneficial effect

51-3 was released specifically to solve the timing issues that caused the power-on problems. . . .

myk

2008-05-09, 02:29

so I pulled the battery and wired it directly (using speaker wire and sellotape - not pretty!) to a spare Nokia ACP-12X charger

OMG!! Those "charger"s are really just power supplies. You are lucky the battery
didn't explode. It is a protected cell (chip inside), but you should not rely on that.

What you want is usually called a "desktop charger" which has a chip to regulate the charging of Li-Ion cells, with both current and voltage limits.
There are plenty of cheap ones on ebay etc. Search on 'E61', which takes the same battery. $6 delivered, on ebay.

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=Nokia+e61+desktop+charger

But I don't use an external charger, as it means a shutdown and reboot for the N800 to change batteries.

coontey

2008-05-10, 13:13

Duly purchased :)

Tx

sgosnell

2008-05-13, 23:10

My N800 has only occasionally refused to turn on, and removing the battery for a few seconds and replacing it has always worked for me. I don't plan to reflash until there is a complete new OS available, it's just too much trouble.

fwartman

2008-05-19, 18:59

My 800 wouldn't go past the boot screen that says NOKIA. Tried everything including what was above in previous threads. PCs wouldn't recognize it thru the USB cable either. Finally sent it back to Nokia-Huntsville under warranty. They switched it out for a different, working one in 10 days. Not bad service! I'm used to that with Palm. They never return your unit repaired. They exchange them.

#800

2008-06-03, 12:51

Hi Folks,

As much as I wanted to kick off my membership to this forum with rave N800 reviews and victory dances, looks like it will be the flip side... Since day two of my N800 ownership, I've had the 'no power up' issue. Full charge/half charge/freezer battery/OS2007/OS2008/card in/card out/battery in and out and in and out again... you name it - no power up after turning off manually via power button.

A couple hours on the stock charger or a few on a 750mA version will usually get the charging icon up and then powerable.

Outside of the currently 404'd?!?! :(:confused:

"...http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=16876,
http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?p=144658..."

'fixes', I have not seen a cohesive, unified solution (outside of a return gamble/exchange + dowtime) in the last 11 pages of anxiety and distress to address this issue.

I have yet to launch a dialogue with NOKIA, but was wondering... Is this sheer lack of credible support odd and unnacceptable to anyone else out there?

Respectfully,
#800

myk

2008-06-04, 02:56

. Since day two of my N800 ownership, I've had the 'no power up' issue. Full charge/half charge/freezer battery/OS2007/OS2008/card in/card out/battery in and out and in and out again... you name it - no power up after turning off manually via power button.

Why are you powering it off? This is an alway-on gadget.
Have you flashed to the latest firmware? That fixes the common power-on problem. If so, you may have a different hardware problem.
As a temporary fix, cool the unit in a fridge (or freezer if that fails). You make it sound like you cooled the battery, not the unit.
you are correct that Nokia "support" is very poor. But you will find clear answers in these forums.

Mike

Nao

2008-06-13, 19:26

For whoever said they pried out the battery with a credit card THANK YOU!! My Nokia has been having the same problem as everyone elses and refuses to turn on. I attempted to get the battery out before but failed (quite miserably) and as the Nokia was a present from my papa and I'd already broken the one he gave me before (so not my fault, the whole thing was all glitchy) I couldn't exactly go to anyone for help. Seriously, there was no way I could tell anyone. Thankfully I found this thread! I could't get the battery out at all and none of the buttons were working. I then came upon the credit card post (3rd page I think) and tried to do the same thing using my student id. It worked! The battery basically flipped out and I waited for a while and then put it back in. Now my Nokia works fine and actually turns on! Good luck to the rest of you who haven't been able to fix yours yet! :)