I am reflashing my N900 after deleting a package killed the locale, leaving dates, times, menu appearing as generic labels.

I have followed the instructions getting into flash mode.

I then run

% flasher-3.5 -F RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin -f

I watch it happily writing the data up to 98%, so I assume all. Then something goes wrong. I am left with this on the terminal

--------------------------------------------------
flasher v2.5.2 (Oct 21 2009)

Image 'mmc', size 255947 kB
Version RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 010.
Found device RX-51, hardware revision 2101
NOLO version 1.4.14
Version of 'sw-release': RX-51_2009SE_21.2011.38-1.002_PR_002
Booting device into flash mode.
Suitable USB device not found, waiting.
USB device found found at bus 001, device address 011.
Raw data transfer EP found at EP2.
Raw data transfer failed: Resource temporarily unavailable.
-------------------------------------------------

Any further attempts at flashing emmc fail with errors like
SU_GET_UPDATE_STATUS_REQ terminated with error code 1
or
SU_PREPARE_DATA_BLOCK_REQ terminated with error code 3

Flashing of RX-51_2009SE_20.2010.36-2_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin results in no apparent writing actions after listing the content, I think it just stops before writing the rootfs.

Whatever, the N900 is not bootable.

I have flipped out the battery and tried this various times in various ways. Always the same results.

I am at a loss here. Any suggestion on what is happening, and how I can proceed?

Kevin

Bump. I just hit the same problem. Except in my case I do not get to 98%. In fact I do not get beyond 0%. I start like this...

It stays like that for a while, eventually to be replaced with (only the last line changes)...

Search for that last line yielded exactly two results: this thread with no answer and this other one with only "forget Windows, use Ubuntu" for answers. I use Debian.

I have also found this thread suggesting that R&D mode might core some ailments but this is all I get when trying...

Any ideas? Needless to say, I have not found the answer in the wiki either

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

Edit rather than reply so I don't bump the thread...

The above was correct as of time of writing. I have since then acquired a new laptop and hey presto, flashing suddenly worked! Weird...

The flasher can be a bit finnicky at times and I've encountered errors like the ones you're experiencing which fixed themselves a couple of pc reboots later.

I advice you to try and run the flasher from a Debian live image on a different pc - surely this is the easiest method if you've got access to a second pc and it helps troubleshoot the problem (it could be, for example, the N900 itself).

It could be just nonsense at all, but seems to me that the number of devices with reflash difficulties is growing up nowadays... Sadly, we must to admit that our toys are getting old

I just tried to flash and I'm having this problem. eMMC flash stops at 98% with "Raw data transfer failed: Resource temporarily unavailable". I have no trouble flashing the rootfs after that, though.

I even tried to flash the rootfs, then the eMMC, then the rootfs again. But the eMMC flash always fails the same way.

The device boots normally after flashing the rootfs though, but obviously something must be wrong.

I am using an old Ubuntu 8.04 laptop with USB 1.2 (is that what it is?) ports, so no USB 2 speeds. I might try this in a different system.

I noticed that when I flash the eMMC, as I hold the "u" key and plug the N900 to the USB cable, I get the dim Nokia and USB icon on top right, but then, the USB logo goes away, and in some other instances the reboot dots start up rapidly, and then it freezes on the second dot. The results are always the same though (freeze at 98%).

I also noticed when flashing the rootfs that sometimes the indicator LED will light up orange after a few seconds.

Really frustrating. If anybody has any ideas, they are welcome!

I'm starting to think that maybe I got kjudd's N900 from eBay.

pichio, did you get your problem sorted out?

Next I'm going to try to flash from a different computer with a newer version of Ubuntu, and also from Windows XP (although I doubt that will solve this).

Would running fsck on the eMMC partitions make any sense here? I am under the impression that fsck might not be necessary to run, and that the 98% stall problem points more to a hardware issue.

Also, I'm trying to update the phone with the Global version of the eMMC. The N900 is not locked to specific versions, is it? Meaning, would I need to update using the USA version instead?

Thanks!

I am happy to report that I managed to successfully flash my N900. It must be the first time that Windows saves my bacon, but I successfully did this in the same computer (Windows XP SP3 partition).

I think perhaps the flasher was having some issues in my old Ubuntu 8.04 (I installed it via the deb, by the way).

Here's the procedure I followed in Windows XP SP3:

1. Install flasher via the installer (maemo_flasher-3.5_2.5.2.2.exe).
2. Put both the eMMC and rootfs bin files in the same directory where the flasher executable is stored (by default is C:\Program Files\maemo\flasher-3.5).
3. Open a Command window.
4. Go to the directory where the flasher and the bin files are.
5. Turn off N900, and connect USB cable to PC.
6. Start the flasher with the eMMC image:
flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_10.2010.13-2.VANILLA_PR_EMMC_MR0_ARM.bin -f
6. Open N900 keyboard. Hold the 'U' key.
7. While 'U' key is held, connect N900 to USB, and wait until the dim Nokia logo with dim USB logo on upper right corner shows up.
8. Flashing will start. Wait until it says that the image was flashed successfully.
9. Now, take out the battery from the N900 (this is to foolproof the process).
10. Disconnect USB cable from N900. Leave the battery out for 10 seconds.
11. Now, start the flasher with the rootfs image:
flasher-3.5.exe -F RX-51_2009SE_21.2011.38-1_PR_COMBINED_MR0_ARM.bin -f
(Notice I don't use the -R option to reboot the N900 automatically, because I prefer to remove the battery to avoid booting while USB cable is still attached).
12. Hold the 'U' key.
13. While 'U' key is held, connect N900 to USB, and wait until the dim Nokia logo with dim USB logo on upper right corner shows up.
14. Flashing will start. Wait until it says that the image was flashed successfully.
15. Now, take out the battery from the N900 (this is to foolproof the process).
16. Disconnect USB cable from N900. Leave the battery out for 10 seconds.
17. Replace the battery and the back cover, and start up the N900 normally. Be patient. The first boot will take a few minutes due to system setup.


The moral of the story? If flashing fails, it may not be your N900's fault! Try a different computer, a different OS, USB port, etc.

I'm still shocked Windows triumphed where Linux cowered in defeat.