So I thought I was home and dry, but no luck....
Backup/Restore apparently does not include installed applications, so you start from scratch. I did my reflash, then restore. All OK so far.
Multiple attempts to re-install osso-xterm have been fruitless. Install of 0.13, 0.13mh3bora2 all succeed, but when you try and run it you see it start then immediately exit with no error - it immediately closes. How does one proceed now? Reflash, delete my backup and start over with a clean slate?

Bit the bullet and reflashed (2nd time now).
Reinstalled osso-xterm 0.13 and it runs fine. So any idea what was wrong before? I do hope this isn't a taste of things to come - install something that fails, and you are trashed until you reflash and start over!

To me, w/ my understanding(or lack there of), WSOD=White Screen Of Death is a problem in which the device still "operational"(if ssh to the device, it can still work), the screen can be as serious as wash off, no display, to as non-life(device) theratening, disfunctional screen drawing. The problem cannot be fixed by anymean of the user, including flash and reflash of the OS bin files.

I'm in agreement with freement.

WSOD is a bit of a misnomer as it doesn't really describe a white screen, instead it's a situation where the LCD controller has failed or been damaged, the result being a garbled screen display which can only be resolved by sending the device to a Nokia repair center. WSOD seemed fairly common with 770s, but so far unreported on the N800.

Reboot loops may result in a prolonged white screen shortly before the device reboots, but this is not considered a WSOD. The D in WSOD is important - a device in a reboot loop can normally be recovered by reflashing!

As in this case. Hopefully this will close this thread which I should have called WSOR (White Screen Of Rebooting) ?

Final question - In order to reflash, the battery is supposed to be full, right? And the charger disconnected. If the battery is dead, will it charge whilst in the 'White Screen Of Rebooting' ? I'm concerned it is software controlled, and therefore won't charge. Could this be a problem?

The battery charging is software controlled, however if the device is off when the charger is plugged in, it enters a minimal runlevel. Hopefully this'll avoid the codepath which caused the lifeguard to reset the desktop.

OMG. Spent the day playing, email, browsing, etc. No apps/RSS hacking, just using it to surf. Fine
Just turned it off before bedtime, then decided to hook the charger up. White screen with 'NOKIA' popped up when charger was plugged in - hmm, that's strange I thought. Last time I did this it just displayed 'Charging' on a black screen. Can't boot up now. Suffers the same continuous boot-loop as I had 2 days ago (see start of thread). Remember I've already reflashed twice. WHAT IS GOING ON ?
Actions since latest reflashing with 51-6:
- add http://maemo.org/maemowiki/ApplicationRepositories (OS2007)
- install osso-xterm 0.13 package (no hacking yet though)
- install MPlayer app
- configure POP3 + IMAP email accounts (200 emails, worked fine)
- do *nothing* to RSS
I have a 1GB SD internal with 128MB Virtual enabled, and a 1GB external SD (both Ultra).
Nice concept, but personal experience is far short of 'satisfied' at this moment. Defective unit, or unstable software not ready for primetime? Any other similar experiences?
Can I debug this via my PC, return the unit, or reflash and wait for the inevitable 3rd boot failure occurence (we need a name for this failure mode!)
thanks, Clive

Opened bugzilla report #957 with a cross-reference to this thread:-
https://maemo.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=957

Feb 3rd is when my 21days is up for exchange/return at CompUSA. What is the expected turnaround time for Bugzilla responses? I'm leaning toward getting a refund and purchasing a Dell Axim X51v at this time!

What did I do wrong? I opened bugzilla report #957 and now I see also #958...

Just to update, just reflashed (3rd time) to escape the continuous rebooting every 30 seconds loop. Restored my backup, installed MediaStreamer 1.2-11 (I misquoted 'MPlayer' earlier). Let's see how long it takes to fail again, this time with osso-xterm not installed. Just the Nokia apps...My personal best is almost 2 days without reflashing!