Three times now I have had filesystem corruption through the N900 not being shut down correctly.

The first two times was when I was swapping the battery, the most recent was when I was powering off to power back on again (I know I should have done a reboot, but it's too late now).

The first time I held down the power button, but was in a hurry and am not sure I watched the light go out - I may have a dodgy power button as turning the device back on can take several attempts.

The second time I used "Switch Off" from the power menu and waited for the light to fade out. This normally works.

The third and most recent I did the same as the second. Then tried to power it on.

I'm assuming that there maybe is still some file activity after the light has faded out and I need to give it a bit longer?

Or is there a fool proof way of ensuring it's down?

Thanks.

When shutting down the device the LED blinks white and fades out, ~10 second after the LED has gone off, the device is completely shut down

You can prove it by starting to power on the N900: when you press the Power key and a blue LED starts to fade in, you know the device has been shut down. Just release the power button when the Blue LED fades in, it wont power on your phone and it will remain switched off

Thanks. The problem seems to be that the power key can be unresponsive - it may be that I haven't waited the 10 seconds. Not sure.

I've had to reflash this time round (must remember to back the phone up more often).

Thanks for the tip anyway, I'll try and power off less often but wait >10s before touching the button again, when I do.