tebsu | # 1 | 2012-04-22, 20:45 | Report

i have a broken n900 and the only thing i can get working is the update mode (display is broken and external monitor doesnt work as well) it was a waterdamage but as far as i can see, only the graphic chip is damaged (as the lock-key behavior still works with the led and background light going on and off depending on the lock status. also the led for loading works and when loading is completed, therefor, i guess that the system somehow still works. now i can get it into update mode via pressing "u". now, is there a way to make a "backup" via the update mode?

i have some basic linux knowledge (just for your information)

timoph | # 2 | 2012-04-22, 21:16 | Report

I'd boot Nemo from ssd with it and ssh my way into the filesystem. although that requires that you have uboot installed.

If you don't have uboot one option is to use flasher to load a kernel and a custom initrd that brings up usbnetworking and provides some essential utilities for mounting copying, etc. I think you could do this by modifying the meego emmc installer [1]. Basically you need to extract the initrd image, modify it to fit your purpose, repack it and hope for the best. The space to load the kernel & stuff is very small so you can't put that many things into the image. Can't remember the exact size.

edit: this isn't too easy but a good change to learn a thing or two about Linux

[1] https://gitorious.org/qa-tools/meego-ai and timoph.fi/de-installer.tar.gz

The simple option would be trying to get it connected to a pc as a mass storage. If the screen still registers touch events that might work.

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Last edited by timoph; 2012-04-22 at 21:21.

misiak | # 3 | 2012-04-22, 21:21 | Report

if it works, you may try this:
1. insert microsd card (preferably clean and formatted) to microsd slot (it should be big enought to hold all data from your internal n900 storage, so 32gb will be big enought for sure, but if you have less data - maybe 16gb or 8gb will do)
2. power on n900
3. press these three keys at once: "Ctrl", "Shift", "X" - this is a shortcut to open x-terminal with path set to /home/user
4. type (be carefull, as you cannot see what you're typing and better not make a typo, note this is case-sensitive): 5. wait a few minutes (maybe even longer... i don't know how much data you have on your n900, but i guess copying all files on-device is quite time-consuming).

If you remember your folder names, you can use them in step 4 - replace "MyDocs" with "MyDocs/FOLDERNAME", e.g. "MyDocs/Downloads"

Before you start, you can also do 1, 2 and 3 and try to type: Then remove the microsd card from device, put it in computer and check if there is file "text.txt" on it - if there isn't - there's no point in doing that as there may be more damage than just gpu chip. You may want to ask in some hardware-related threads here wheather the lock key is software- or hardware-handled. I mean, the device may be completely damaged, but one little chip (which may accidentaly be responsible for led backlight and lock key) may still work.

I hope you will get your data back

SIDE NOTE: well, CSSU-guys, maybe (I have no knowdlege of disk mounting scripts/software in maemo) you could change /media/mmc1 mounting point to something more like /media/sd1, as mmc cards are no longer used since n800? (correct me if i'm wrong)

timoph | # 4 | 2012-04-22, 21:26 | Report

nice one misiak. I had totally forgotten about the keyboard shortcut. I would certainly try that first before starting to hack around with initrd images

misiak | # 5 | 2012-04-22, 21:28 | Report

i now think that it won't work.. you know, when you take your battery out and put it in again, ***** "set your time and date" applet starts immediately when you boot your phone... i remember reading few days ago here about a nemo-based kernel (which can be flashed using flasher) which just boots and enables usb mode - try searching, if i find something, i will report here.

edit, found that: http://wiki.meego.com/ARM/N900/Using_Rescue_Initrd no flashing required

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Last edited by misiak; 2012-04-22 at 21:31.

tebsu | # 6 | 2012-04-22, 21:46 | Report

"Now the device boots and you can see a rescue menu."

is that menu in the console of my windows/linux or displayed on my N900 ? if so, that wont work for me

misiak | # 7 | 2012-04-22, 21:54 | Report

on n900, but if you look further, you can see that all it does is displaying options and current state... you can blindly press "u" on your keyboard then, as it goes to usb mass storage mode

timoph | # 8 | 2012-04-22, 21:55 | Report

yep. that's why you need to modify the initrd so that it does what you want without showing the menu. the init script inside the rescue image is just a plain text shell script.

edit: need to go to bed. I'm thinking about too difficult solutions

misiak | # 9 | 2012-04-22, 22:02 | Report

I take it you are a programmer, like me - our brains work different way you reminded me something (off-topic) : http://xkcd.com/530/

Kain Blueriver | # 10 | 2012-09-19, 20:09 | Report

Hello, i am trying to do the ARM/N900/Using Rescue Initrd that Misiak posted, but i find it hard to understand,

it says i have to download both images and i did but it then sys to extract it, and i did, but i dont understand the "Now you have a ./boot/ directory in the current dir where the initrd and vmlinuz files are located. " because i dont have any directory with that name, but i have both of them in both folders of the extracted images,

also, does flasher have to be in same directory and folder as the images?